Business and IT don’t understand what each other do. And they don’t care. In a recent paper McKinsey suggests to produce a written »annual report of IT« to deal with the problem.

Like others before me I don’t think another bunch of paper comes even close to the badly needed answer.

What about a quick litmus test for this one: Are you an IT guy? Have you ever  read the annual report of your company to understand what business is up to? Did you ever want to? If you said »No.« my bet is that you are on the safe 99.9% side of the majority. I’d suspect the same holding true for the business side: Who cares about 80 pages of non-understandable tech-speak? SOA anyone?

OK then: What is the answer? My conviction is that the misunderstandings and resentiments between both sides can only be overcome by direct personal and continuous communication. Whether one key building block in this effort comes in form of regular »board-style« meetings or by installing matrix functions reporting to both sides doesn’t really matter. I’ve seen both types working. But the premise of all working solutions has been the same: Business and IT have to become one in the minds of the people in the organization. No report will ever solve this one.

Once installed the next challenge becomes to find a common language to use during communication. How can we relate business and IT goals into a big picture that everyone in the organization can understand and commit to? More a transformation than a single answer.

No quick wins in sight, I’m sorry.