The Reckoning
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Running a BI program means having to make some really tough decisions. Probably the toughest decision any leader can make is when to cut bait. The scenario usually plays out slowly at first. You start to miss deadlines, small ones at first, then major ones. You start to lose budget controls. Then some key staff leaves the company. All of these things individually look innocuous enough, but put them together and it usually spells disaster.
What is your job at this point? You have your organization which is depending on you to deliver value. You have a team of people that are depending on you for their livelihood. Yep, that’s a bad spot to be in. The truth is, if you don’t make some tough decisions somebody else will. Someone that may not realize the implications, or can’t make some key saves because they don’t have the BI knowledge. Now is the time to prove your leadership capabilities. You need to take a very objective and distant look at the program, the staff, the deliverables and the plan. If you aren’t delivering enough value to account for the time and resources its taking then you need to determine where to cut. Save the areas that can provide quick business value. Cut areas that are focusing on long-term best practice stuff. Yes, you will need them again, but you can’t focus on the paint color when the house is on fire. Get back to the basics and get really good at them. Then if you and the program are still around in a year you can re-consider the role best practices have in your program.
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