The “7 Deadly Sins of Managing IT Demand” are undermining business satisfaction with IT. They’re the reason why IT struggles fulfilling business demands and answering some key questions from the business:

• What’s the status of my requests?
• Why can’t IT fulfill my demands faster?
• What’s IT doing with my budget?

So what are the 7 Deadly Sins and how are they jeopardizing IT success?

1. The Squeaky Wheel: Whether it’s constantly harassing IT or escalating requests, the Squeaky Wheel makes sure his demands get fulfilled, no matter what the impact is to the rest of IT’s efforts. The Squeaky Wheel is a surefire way to delay everyone else’s initiatives and upset the IT apple cart.
2. The Black Hole: The most common complaint of business stakeholders? They have no idea what the status of their requests is. Ideas get submitted, but they end up in an IT Black Hole and then no one can tell what happened to them. Just as bad, these requests often get released without the business knowing about them!
3. The Annual Plan: Every IT organization has a great annual plan on the amazing initiatives they’ll accomplish in the upcoming year. The problem? Things change – priorities, competitive offerings, resources – but the plan never does. And usually there’s no process or plan on how to modify the plan in mid-stream.
4. First Come, First Serve: Following close behind the Squeaky Wheel is First Come, First Serve. Without clear direction and priority, IT simply serves whoever is first in line. When something more important comes along, the initiative has to wait its turn.
5. Commitment Conundrum: Or call it Analysis Paralysis. Often times, IT organizations are too afraid to actually commit resources to initiatives that they end up analyzing and analyzing business requirements until it’s too late to do anything.
6. Death by Committee: We’ve all been there. A close corollary to the Commitment Conundrum, this deadly sin makes progress slow to a halt because no one on the governing body is willing to make a decision.
7. Unfinished Business: Even success can lead to failure! Often after the initial phase of the project, the sponsor is promoted or moves on, and the IT initiative just dies because there’s no one to champion its cause.

Once you’re aware of these 7 Deadly Sins, only then can you start taking steps to conquer them. First, I encourage you to read the brief whitepaper, “A Fresh Look at IT Demand Management: Four Steps to Intelligently Fulfill Demand Across the IT Lifecycle.” Then subscribe to the Serena blog so you can catch our upcoming post, “How to Conquer the 7 Deadly Sins of Demand Management.”