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Planning for Success: A Practical Approach to Technology
By Kayza Kleinman Technical Assistance Program Coordinator Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island Technology costs money. We need to make sure we don't spend more than we should, and that we get the most for our dollars. A major means to that end is good planning. Good planning helps you define what you have, what you need, and how you intend to get from here to there. It also helps you find out if you're on the right track before you dig a hole that's too deep to crawl out of. Best of all, good technology planning is like most other types of strategic planning you do already. How to Start A good plan starts with a vision, a statement of goals. Where do you want to wind up? Everything you do with technology is there to help you accomplish the mission of your agency. The goals you set should reflect that mission. Do an inventory. Of course you'll look at your equipment and software, and what type of wiring already exists. But more importantly, look at your infrastructure and human capital -- what do your people know, and who knows it? What procedures are in place? How do people feel about all this? Think about your staffing patterns, and how they may need to change. Find out the constraints of your funding sources, contracts, and any other legal regulations. Think about public perceptions, ranging from your board and other constituencies to the public at large. Where You Want to Go Define the outcomes you expect. What needs are there? What functions would add real value? Set priorities. Clarify acceptable and non-acceptable tradeoffs. Remember that any plan that increases your front-line staff's work without some benefit to them will meet with resistance that could, and should, stop the project. Anything that hampers their ability to provide service is doomed to failure. Decide which things need to be done first and which can wait. It's rarely possible to do everything at once, and smaller successes can build on each other. How to Get There Lay out a road map. Create a meaningful mechanism for your staff to let you know what's right or wrong. Communicate with people; make sure they have the information they need and that they know it. Expect change, both in the technology and in the rest of your environment. Staff, contracts, needs, regulations, and public perceptions are all subject to change. In short, life happens. The more flexibility you have, the better your chances of swaying without breaking. Plan on lots of testing, before you commit to a particular solution and during every phase of your implementation. Implement continuous monitoring and evaluation of all this feedback. Last, set the stages of your implementation, in a general way. Decide what will be done when. Include the identification of possible solutions and funding strategies as early stages. Remember to allow sufficient time and resources to create detailed implementation plans for each stage. You should wind up with a plan that will help you get where you need to be without being too rigid, and which will sound its own alarm bells if things get off track. Role of Outside Professionals Many organizations have the skills they need for most of the tasks involved in technology planning. A common exception is the actual knowledge of technology needed to ensure that technology plans are indeed appropriate. One solution is to engage an independent third party to help write specifications and evaluate proposals. We provide such services. Contact us at (718) 449-5000 or us on the Web at http://www.coney-island.org. |
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