Firefighting vs new initiatives

I've just received an email from you talking about a recent survey which suggests and i quote:

"The survey also clearly indicates that a large proportion of IT Professional’s time is being taken up by managing challenges created by existing IT investments, as opposed to new initiatives that bring competitive advantage or improved service to their organisations."

So tell me something i don't know... As an IT Manager of a pretty successful and sizeable organisation i spend my life "managing existing challenges".

My question to you, and everyone who took part in the survey or can help me here is how do i stop doing this and get my company to focus on new/better initiatives instead? Does anyone work in an IT dept that doesn't spend its whole time fighting fires? In my experience it's easier said than done.

Body [quote="Brian Snoddy"]I've just received an email from you talking about a recent survey which suggests and i quote: "The survey also clearly indicates that a large proportion of IT Professional’s time is being taken up by managing challenges created by existing IT investments, as opposed to new initiatives that bring competitive advantage or improved service to their organisations." So tell me something i don't know... As an IT Manager of a pretty successful and sizeable organisation i spend my life "managing existing challenges". My question to you, and everyone who took part in the survey or can help me here is how do i stop doing this and get my company to focus on new/better initiatives instead? Does anyone work in an IT dept that doesn't spend its whole time fighting fires? In my experience it's easier said than done.[/quote]

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I haven't read the article but in my opinion, just like with putting out fires you have to aim for the base!
Get the basics right and the rest will fall into place. You still get the odd chip pan fire but these are easier to deal with:-)
Steer well away from new initiatives until you have got all of your basic problems sorted.
Just my opinion.

Body [quote="Neil L"]I haven't read the article but in my opinion, just like with putting out fires you have to aim for the base! Get the basics right and the rest will fall into place. You still get the odd chip pan fire but these are easier to deal with:-) Steer well away from new initiatives until you have got all of your basic problems sorted. Just my opinion.[/quote]

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