Let me start by suggesting that every IT organisation should have a “Vision Statement”. I don’t just refer to a bland marketing phrase that serves no real purpose, I mean a short summary of what the organisation aspires to become. Something that attracts staff and customers to the organisation, sets direction and acts as a benchmark for decision-making. Here are a few example vision statements from familiar organisations:
Amazon: Amazon’s vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.
Apple: Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Dell: Dell’s mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.
Facebook: Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Google: Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Microsoft: Microsoft’s mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential.
Skype: Skype’s mission is to be the fabric of real-time communication on the web.
Twitter: Twitter lists its mission as “a work in progress” as it has yet to be fully developed.
Yahoo!: Yahoo!’s mission is to be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses
YouTube: YouTube’s mission is to provide fast and easy video access and the ability to share videos frequently
So apart from appearing on some static page on a corporate website, these statements can be very useful in lots of different ways. One of the key ways that I use a vision statement is to create an organisations key design and operating principles.
Here are some suggested steps to follow:
- Use these statements to create a set of Organisational Goals, statements of strategic intent.
- Use the Organisational Goals to create a set of Operating Principles.
- Use the Operating Principles to make decisions on certain key aspects of the organisation include the rationale and consequences for each principle.
- Get the principles agreed at the highest level – no avoiding this step this has to happen.
- Once agreed use these principles to inform not only the design of the organisation, but its ongoing business behaviour.
