Achieving IT Credibility Through Operations Experience
March 20, 2008 by Bob Turek
Filed under Leadership
IT people with experience in operations are extremely valuable. Manufacturing Business Technology magazine’s article on how IT is driving deeper in manufacturing plants deals with reasons why this is happening. This quote from HP’s William Haskell alludes to the experience quotient even suggesting that IT hire from manufacturing disciplines:
“Operations needs to give up some control, but IT needs to groom expertise in hiring out of manufacturing. IT people don’t need to know manufacturing top to bottom, but get them working with production, and this leads to a blended cross-functional team. Familiarity and trust make collaboration occur naturally.”
One of the questions dealt with is whether IT and operations people are compatible. My take is that compatibility hinges on another capability: highly collaborative project management skills
Is it better to groom IT people from manufacturing or to teach IT people about manufacturing? Are IT people simply not cut from the same cloth as manufacturing people? I’ve known people who have migrated from manufacturing to IT management, are you one of those people? What can you tell us about the transition?
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