Utopia vs. Mundania: Coping Strategies for Living with Shrinking Resources in the Real World |-------------------------------------| | Paper presented at CAUSE92 | | December 1-4, 1992, Dallas, Texas | |-------------------------------------| UTOPIA vs. MUNDANIA: COPING STRATEGIES FOR LIVING WITH SHRINKING RESOURCES IN THE REAL WORLD Albert L. LeDuc Miami-Dade Community College Miami Florida ABSTRACT In the Utopian world, the challenge of shrinking resources is met with people working harder and smarter. Increasing productivity is a necessary goal of the times we live in, but there are limits to that framework. This paper explores these limits, noting especially suggestions for practical increases in productivity open to almost everyone. Moreover, in Mundania, the world in which we live, information technology activities are open to sniping in these times, when all of higher education feels threatened. Careful and accurate communication may help reduce the lack of institutional support that this sniping could encourage. Additionally, managers also have a responsibility to preserve organizational health. The greatest danger of shrinking resources is that the organization could be critically damaged. Organizations must preserve their capacity to recover to a necessary position of technical capability when times do get better. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Utopia vs. Mundania: Coping Strategies for Living with Shrinking Resources in the Real World " . . [A]ll things begin by little and little to wax pleasant: the air soft, temperate, and gentle; the ground covered with green grass; less wildness in the beasts." -----Sir Thomas More, Utopia. "There's no magic in Mundania." -----Piers Anthony, Man From Mundania. Utopia is a land where simple solutions produce elegant results. It is a land where people read sales brochures that promise productivity increases--and they believe the brochures. It is a land where salespersons can make extravagant claims for saving money while heightening capability--without fear of contradiction. It is a land, in brief, where expectations are never disappointed. To be practical instead of mythical: Utopia is a situation in which information systems deliver all their promises, including the reduction of costs and the satisfaction of every need. Executive management in many enterprises holds the wistful view that Utopia has arrived in the Information Technology area. In fact, there is a sizable body of managers that buys a set of unfortunately simplistic aphorisms whose basic premises are unrealistic: --an organization's productivity can be increased by working harder. --when the going gets tough, the tough get going. --deadlines are always to be met, no matter the circumstances. --an organization's productivity can be increased by working smarter. Unfortunately, we don't live in Utopia; we live in Mundania. In Mundania, there are no magic solutions, no cure-alls, no quick keys to success. In Mundania, there is little appreciation for the costs of technology, either in time or dollars. And resources to accomplish anything are shrinking. Ironically, shrinking resources means that not only does information technology bear the burden of helping organizations meet increasing demands, but it must do so with shrinking resources itself. Furthermore, information technology gains little sympathy for its intrinsic complexity. While executive management aphorisms may be excessively cheerful, those people in the trenches of the fight quote vaguely cynical phrases to one another: --There is always time to fix the problem, but never enough time to do it right. --The cobbler's children never have new shoes. --If anything can go wrong, it will. --Double the estimate. But there is no abiding need to tail off into permanent disquiet over this state of affairs. Utopia never will come, fond hopes to the contrary. But there can be success stories coming from Mundania. This paper concentrates on elaborating a few successful coping strategies available to any information technology organization in recent times. Increasing Productivity Several practical strategies are available to aid personnel productivity. In the case of programmers, the field is rife: fourth- generation languages now have sufficient maturity to be used effectively. As programmer assist tools they may enhance productivity as much as on-line programming tools like TSO did 15 years ago. Some organizations are showing productivity improvements even beyond the salespersons' claims of trebling output over a fixed length of time. 4GLs may have considerable deficiencies when it comes to non-programmer use, but programmers definitely benefit. Some report writing tools fall in the same category of productivity enhancers, especially when training time is reduced as those tools have become more user-friendly. (And does it matter whose productivity is increased? Not at all, if effective reports and data are in the hands of the right people in a timely way.) Other types of programmer skill-enhancing tools include screen-painting software for teleprocessing, cross-reference tools for data debugging, and PC-based language tools. The latter can allow programmers who are used to mainframe-based coding and debugging to write production programs on their PCs for later transfer to the mainframe. In today's environment, the savings come in two ways: more effective use of desktop computing power, and the reduction of use of costly teleprocessing and mainframe components during business hours. There really are many wonderful strategies for increasing programmer productivity. Most have achieved at least part of their promise. But while an individual programmer can generally be at least a magnitude more productive than his or her counterpart of twenty years ago, what about the put-upon analyst? Because of a much closer attention to analytic tasks over this same twenty-year period, analysis is actually less productive. The business of taking vague desires and turning them into a set of rigorous requirements is intrinsically difficult. Translating the needs of users into some formula capable of satisfaction by technology has never been easy, nor is it a job for amateurs. The industry response has been to tout the benefits of the Computer-Assisted Systems Environment (CASE). While many of us would like to find a magic bullet to end the frustration that seems to accompany all analysis, whether CASE is Utopian or suitable for Mundania has yet to be determined. While CASE tools are reportedly used by about 1/3 of all MIS sites, one survey indicates a market penetration of only 15% in Education sites. Auditors (and many managers) now expect a systems development methodology (SDM) to govern the entire process of systems development and maintenance. Whether it is home-grown or purchased, an SDM is now fashionable. But it is more than that; it should be a productivity enhancer. How is that possible, when an SDM requires an organization to document and approve many things that were taken for granted in the past? An SDM actually does two things; first, it places development on a contractual basis, formalizing agreements. Secondly, it places develop- ment in an engineering context, in which activity occurs in a linear fashion; from incomplete understanding, to requirements definition, to product. At each step along the way, specificity is increased. The gain in productivity occurs because there is far less risk of a system solving the wrong problem. The implicit rigor forces users to be clear about their needs and makes analysts and programmers deal with the actual problems, rather than some perceived problems. Time and money is not wasted on hardware and software that is "neat" but does not substantively and favorably change methods of operation. A good systems analyst may do all these things instinctively, of course; an SDM turns even inexperienced analysts into change agents for increased productivity. Training is also a key to increased productivity. Too often, in times of financial stress, training moneys are difficult to come by. It should not be so, because training has enormous leverage. Staff development is the key to any future of greater fulfillment of institutional need. As a famous billionaire said, "developing people exceeds the value of capital expenditures ten times out of ten." People become ultimately more productive when they learn of new tools and methods and want to use them. As Seymour Papert was fond of noting, "if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Crude tools result in crude products. But productivity is increased in the long run by spending money in the short run. How is this possible, in the era of shrinking resources? One of the key phrases the manager must learn to use is "investment for the future." Almost everyone understands that grim times require grim cost- cutting. The important point is to continue to insist that all the productivity enhancements that have a sure payoff (software for programmer productivity, a systems development methodology, staff development) are seen as the foundation for a better situation when resources are in better supply. Every institution understands the need to invest in the future. Hardware Cost Advantages Perhaps the best way of making significant change in information technology cost parameters is in the area of hardware. Opportunities need to be explored that may have been ignored in the past. One such is the used equipment market. That market is well-defined, extremely competitive, and ripe for bargain hunting. In the mainframe CPU arena, some institutions have reduced their annual investment-amortized expenditure for CPU support to 20% of former costs by using the technique of buying on the used market. Certainly, there are some cost increases in terms of space, environmentals, and maintenance, but the net result is still a substantial reduction in costs. Similar results are possible with terminals and mainframe disks. Most authorities will caution against purchasing such items as printers or tape transports on the used market, but ordinarily any cost analysis that considers the cost of maintenance will see that cost factored in. Maintenance companies are not in the business of losing money, and if boxes cost a lot to maintain, the customer will pay that cost. Another technique used very successfully by many companies in these times is "down-sizing." In this context, the term is meant to refer to taking applications that are on a presumably expensive mainframe and moving them to a smaller platform. There is some controversy about this approach, as there is with any discussion of economy of scale, but there are areas where it is apt. Almost no one advocates using a mainframe word processing system, for instance. Down-sizing also can mean that users have data on their own PCs for use for reports and studies. Additionally, downsizing can mean that applications themselves that previously might have just been on a mainframe can be placed on a departmental stand-alone machine or on a local area network. Down-sizing has the potential of reducing mainframe costs, both in hardware and in technical personnel. Institutions need to keep below the technology wave crest. By that it is meant that the high cost of new technology should be avoided. We see this in our home lives: the first people on the block to buy VCRs ended up with klunky, unreliable, and feature-poor machines that they threw away because it was too expensive to repair them. There are business analogues. Pioneers, it is said, can be recognized by the arrows in their backs. There is always plenty of time to find out if a technology is going to be a mainstream technology before committing resources to it. A current example is optical disk technology: it is very attractive to people who have substantial hard copy records. But it is also very expensive and very inconvenient to use with many records repositories. Perhaps that situation will change--as it seems to be changing now with CD-ROM in the instructional area, where suddenly the critical mass of customers has reached the point where software can be sold for almost a reasonable price. A few other techniques for reducing hardware costs can be mentioned in passing. Although it is hard to endorse these for every situation, even a casual survey of options needs to look at the following: 1) Insurance for maintenance costs. There are companies that will insure the organization against excessive costs under a time-and- materials maintenance arrangement. 2) Plug-Compatible Machinery. From mainframes to PCs, there are bargains available by purchasing equipment that does not have a common household name. 3) Third-Party Maintenance. Companies are very willing to come in and maintain equipment that they did not manufacture, usually at low cost. One point often forgotten is that, for every dollar saved by any of these techniques, there is some displaced cost elsewhere. For example, a maintenance insurance contract requires constant supervision and there is a lot of paperwork. Communication and Connection The context of the times needs to be considered. Everyone, in all academic settings, is feeling the pinch of economic constriction nowadays. A key for the information technology manager is to understand that the IT situation is not unique within the institution. Hence any campaign for support needs to be in concert with the belt-tightening going on all around. Stridency does have its merits. But the IT manager should actively seek support from other areas to actually start the kind of change that either cuts costs at the expense of service understandings or raises costs in order to provide better service in the future. Communication is the key. Other areas within the institution need to be informed about what is being done, so that the IT area can be seen as part of the common solution to institutional problems. If communication is not effective and constant, there is the danger that computing and telecommunications can come under attack as a cost sink, into which dollars are dropped, never to return in any form. Because so much of IT is not directly connected with the teaching/learning mission of higher education, that attack can be particularly vicious. The Third Land: Panacea While Utopia presents a vision of a whole set of optimistic ideas that shimmer in the distance, as a mirage, and Mundania is represented by plodding along and slogging through, we are also tantalized by Panacea. Panacea is even more tempting than Utopia. Can there be one special circumstance or nostrum that can solve our problems? There are forces that call to us, siren-like, over the tumult of increasing cost and complexity: these beckon to us to simplify, reject, finesse, or otherwise remove ourselves from the rough-and-tumble of technology. What about these? --out-sourcing The current darling of the trade press, with each instance of corporate use given great publicity, out-sourcing is facilities management in a more subtle guise. Many places that have out- sourced key information technology areas have failed to achieve the expected cost savings and have also found that the management task of controlling the out-sourcing organization is not as passive as they had hoped. --the "death of the mainframe" Idealogues are persuaded that, because so much attention is being paid to desktop machines, the mainframe and its attendant complexity and cost, will disappear. And perhaps it will, at some point. In the meantime, the mainframe continues to serve as a large file server, a repository of vast amounts of data, and as a transaction processing machine for most organizations. In any event, the platform shift to the desktop is bringing its own costs and complexities to even more locations. --user and departmental computing A consequence of the democratization of computing is that resources are now much more widely spread in an organization. Removing the "high priests of data processing" from the picture was said to simplify technology for the common folks. Users now know that premise to be ironically false, as even the most naive LAN managers are thrust into technical complexity and tasks that they didn't know about before. And there are more of those tasks that will become hot topics in the future: security, documentation, standards, backups, licenses, disaster planning, etc. And do organizational costs go down? No. --strategic planning A standard shibboleth of most managers is that strategic planning will help either the organization get a grip on its IT situation or the IT situation will be forced to conform itself to the goals of the institution. Well. As a useful exercise to focus attention and provide a vision, strategic planning cannot be faulted. As Panacea, it fails, chiefly because information technology by its nature is very tactical. Often IT objectives are expressed in terms of the extreme emergency of the hour. Objectives beyond a year or two are very hard to deal with. Among many other reasons for this peculiar pace is that the speed of technological change destroys plans even as they are being written. Preserve Organizational Health In the midst of whatever running around needs to be done in Mundania, a key point is the need to preserve organizational health. Organizational health is defined as the ability of the personnel in the organization to continuously contribute to goals in better and better ways. This may be as simple as a preservation of morale issue. It may be as complex as not allowing financial exigency to chase off the superstars in the organization. The issue sometimes becomes one of management attention to the protection of talent. An information technology organization is defined by the talent it has, by the means by which that talent converts into useful activity, and by the encouragement that occurs for talent to continue to develop. We work in a dynamic field. Earlier, this paper discussed the need for staff development, certainly a key to organizational health, but there are other psycho-social factors that must be considered. Utopian solutions may lead to burn-out and terminal discouragement. It is never going to be good for a manager to insist on longer and longer hours or increasingly impossible deadlines: we have to back off and admit that working harder or even smarter may not pay off. We can't just throw new methods at people and expect them to train themselves. We can't try to motivate (pep-talk) people without some means of organizationally providing motivating factors: interesting work, recognition, promotion, appreciation. Organizational health can easily be destroyed by a heavy-handed approach in times of financial crisis. And, finally, we have to work hard to prevent organizational activity deterioration into solely a fire-fighting mode. The point to remember is that capability and talent need to be greatly encouraged at these times so that we can keep pace with future needs. Conclusion Mundania, the land where we live and work, is a land of great challenge. Neither easy answers nor hard work lead toward guaranteed success in information technology. But attention to personnel management principles, with the goal of preserving organizational health, is of paramount importance. Additionally, there are some investment strategies that can be used to provide for a better future. And there are several cost-savings ideas that need to be tried, because our institutions deserve shrewd and careful management in this time of financial crisis. Acknowledgments: Ideas and encouragement for this paper were given to me by Marlene Gomez, Charles LeDuc, Ellen LeDuc, Margaret Massey, and Jean- Charles Ruf.