Naked CIO: The pointless end-of-year rush

Why are IT departments always inundated with requests in December? It's just another example of how little the business understands us, says the Naked CIO.

There are cycles in everything and so increases in workload at points of the year are natural. However, after almost 20 years managing IT in different capacities I still find the 'end of year' rush more a result of poor planning and vision than a standard cycle of activity.

One of my staff has concocted a doomsday list that serves as the friendly end-of-year task list of items IT is expected to fulfil in short order. The list, started at the beginning of November, grows every day even though it is obvious there is not enough time to handle all the demands from the business.

It is as if on 1 January the world transforms and our business morphs overnight from the caterpillar into the butterfly - or one would believe if you assessed the urgency of the demands placed from the business to have these items completed.

From an IT perspective business leaders need to think in terms of practical deliverables and timing. What they don't understand is that most technology can be up and tested even if not implemented and can wait for deployment on a particular date if necessary. But as happens every year about this time, a rush of requests come in which IT cannot service by the desired deadline, leading to IT once again bearing the brunt of business disappointment.

In our department the doomsday list has become quite a celebrity in that it serves as a yearly reminder of both the lack of business planning and more importantly the lack of understanding our business colleagues have for our function within the business.

There is a perception that IT has spare resources and such flexibility it can pull rabbits out of hats. Furthermore, when a request comes in our business colleagues perceive that our only function is to serve that particular part of the business and that no one else matters. However at year end, not to mention other times, we experience a bottleneck that means someone will be disappointed.

No matter how many meetings or consultations we have with the business to remind them to alert us early for year end activities, it never seems to help. It comes down to a complete and utter disrespect for the department and its staff - and makes for a miserable and stressful holiday season for IT while those business colleagues who lack planning and foresight leisurely enjoy their holiday festivities.

So our list serves as a monument of stupidity. It is just a small example of how little IT is valued at a time of year when everyone is meant to show appreciation. Next year I will try to politely inform the business that all requests for year end must be submitted prior to 31 October - however, I will let you judge how successful this proclamation will be.

What is ludicrous is that with today's business continuity, seamless applications and real-time processing, the whole concept of 'year end' in the true scheme of automation has become irrelevant. The rush and the urgency are essentially unnecessary as there's no real need to have requests implemented by one particular day.