Symptoms: Executive management feels that the strategic direction of the IT function is unclear, poorly defined, or incorrect. Often characterized by project expenditures that do not appear to support the aims of the business, projects that, upon implementation, do not work as promised, and “pet projects” that are not fully explained to executives.

Fixes: Similarly to frustration with IT execution, unclear direction can be a result of a communications failure. More often, however, it is a result of the IT management actually being unclear on the appropriate directions to take. It may be that the aims of the organization are unclear to them, or that they do not understand how they are to support those aims. It may be that the IT organization is unskilled at thinking critically about appropriate actions to take.

Most Commonly Experienced by: CEO, Executive Staff, Board of Directors, External Advisers

Relevant Services: Strategy, Management: Interim CIO / vCIO