There are many management areas. Infrastructure is such a field that is normally not too popular as a discipline. It is not directly visible, at least not in the sense that you can measure the output – in terms of number of products or services related to the investments that are done. Yet, if the topic of infrastructure is not properly set on the management agenda, it will put itself there, on the moment you least expect it. All over the world we have seen what incidents like Katrina can bring about. It is not said that the infrastructure of Louisiana was insufficient, but issues like security and safety are infrastructural. And these are difficult to manage, not only the public services that are managed by politicians and governmental organization, but also within private companies. Infrastructure is always the last point on the management agenda.

There are a number of reasons why it is so hard to manage infrastructure. Before we broach the subject, we let’s define the topic of infrastructure. We use a rather broad definition. It is all that is to do with the needed support to get the business running. It is about giving support, facilitate, serve or in different words, providing the glue to run the operation smoothly. The real fundamentals are the normal utilities like water, gas and electricity. These are the basic needs supporting the rest. Information and Communication Technology is another category meant to support the communication throughout the entire organization. As long as the functionality is not specifically dedicated to a main business function, it falls also in this support category. For all kind of maintenance applies the same. Human Resource Services like periodic trainings and general educational services are also supportive and could be categorized as such.

All the above elements of infrastructure share a common aspect which is that they all serve a general goal. They are not specifically offering one solution but they serve a broad area. In fact (infrastructural) support serves others (both humans and systems) in achieving their tasks. If you remove the infrastructural plug out of the wall, everything else stops functioning. In terms of requirements you are dealing with abstract issues. The requirements are non-functional and are addressing abstract aspects like: security and safety (internet and buildings), integrity (information), reliability (communication, electricity), accessibility (website), etc. The problem with these abstracts is that you can not measure it easily. You are talking about levels of safety and about incidents that lower such levels. Basically it is about past statistical information that is needed to address future management energy. And then the question is what level is acceptable? This can only be determined by past incidents. Like the one in Louisiana.

Most managers have a short attention-span. We care for day-to-day problems and infrastructural issues occur only incidentally. Once the ‘storm’ is literally over, the attention is moved to something else and general support is left aside; ‘Everything’ is working again. So managing infrastructure leaves you dis-satisfied; once the problem is over, people go back to what really matters, what is satisfying current needs.

Related to the first aspects is the fact that infrastructure is not glamorous. We all want to perform and the individual success is what counts most and for all. As in tennis, it is the singles final that is valued more than the doubles. It is the fact of live. And this truth is found in each organization. Personal achievements are higher valued. We stress output and performance. We have only one dollar to spend, so we rather spend it on individual bonus when a sales-target is met, rather than a bonus for a supporting team that has dealt with 2000 upset customers because of product being less than expected, damaged, mal functioning or what ever.

Another point that makes the management difficult is that issues related to support are not easily identified as such. Just check in your company the problems that occur and which are never solved. They keep on coming back. These are the symptoms. Then you know that you have deficiencies in your infrastructure. Al these problems do not have an owner, so they are wandering around as orphans in your organization. If their amount is growing, you can be sure that a calamity will be near.

To prevent this you should set infrastructure on the management agenda. You could use the balanced score card for this. And you should reserve a pool (budget) which you feed with a fixed percentage from projects and new businesses. If the symptoms are not decreasing you should raise this percentage. Better safe than sorry.

© 2005 Hans Bool / Astor White

Hans Bool (The Netherlands) is the founder of Astor White a consulting company dedicated to (the human side of) management consulting and e-advice. He has many years of experience in (project) management, consulting and business architecture. He studied economics and has recently published the book: “How to manage your organizational portfolio – just stick to your rules”.

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