Can you fix the hot dog stand?

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If you have never owned or worked in a hot dog stand, can you really be in a position to advise the owner on how to achieve its goals and objectives or how to overcome its challenges? 

Similarly, if you have never worked in or managed IT operations, can you really be in a position to understand the IT operational issues, what is causing those issues, what actions to take to resolve those issues, what actions to take to prevent those issues from reoccurring, and in general what actions to take to drive improvement?

Many will say no. I will say Yes. Although having worked in a hot dog stand or IT operations will give you additional insights. The approach to understanding what is happening, why it’s happening, what will continue to happen and what actions to take is universal in nature. 

Think about a psychologist. When you visit one, they aren’t explicitly telling you what to do. Rather they are asking questions to get an understanding of the issue. They ask probing questions. They are guiding you. They are Leading you to the insights. They're Helping you to identify potential causes, potential solutions, etc.

Similarly, in Analytics, you are using the data to tell you what is happening. You then use your communication and business skills to talk to people to understand why it’s happening, you use your skills to predict what will continue to happen and, and here is the important part, you can use your experience to recommend actions OR you work with the teams to identify a set of recommended actions.

So Yes. Even if you never worked in a hotdog stand or IT operations, as long as you have a methodology and framework, you can still help to improve them.

A hot dog stand isn’t much different from IT operations. Both have the goals of ensuring the uptime and availability of their products and services.

What does this mean?

A hot dog stand needs to ensure it has all the material it needs such as the hotdogs, the buns, the condiments, the drinks, the fries, etc. It has to ensure the refrigeration unit, stove, electricity, gas, and cash register are working. Otherwise, it will not be able to make any sales.

Likewise in the IT operations world, the teams have to ensure that the company’s products and services are available for sales. They need to ensure the websites are up and running. They need to ensure the applications, the middleware, the databases, the servers, the storage, the network, the mainframe are all working so that the company can conduct its business.

Aside from ensuring that the products and services are available for sale, both the hotdog stand and the IT operations teams are focused on minimizing disruptions, responding to and resolving issues in a timely manner, and both are focused on providing a great client experience.

As you will see, the IT operational management reference framework that has been developed by us is universal in nature and in its applicability. It can not only drive improvement in IT operations, but it can be applied to the hot dog stand, the shoeshine box, the lemonade stand, the pizza store, or to any organization that is struggling or wants to drive improvement.