BONUS POST: Boardroom vs. War Room discussion from LinkedIn group "IT Transformation"

This was a great question that I hope can reach a more general audience - so enjoy the re-post!

Original Question from LinkedIn Group:
Thanks for the post and link to your blog. One question I have is 'what are the boundaries of the War Room' from your perspective ? For example, my experience from a prior roles and with our current clients indicates a true distinction in the use of the War Room for internal IT action and the relationship with the Business customers. Interested in your thoughts :) !

Answer:
think what you are talking about is – do we want or should we let the customer see how the sausage gets made? Generally, I think the answer is no. However, the interesting aspect to the answer is should we look at the process on a percentage basis and only answer “no” to part of the process?

When I was a kid I remember a diner where the handoff from the kitchen to the counter was a little slit in the - the food magically appeared. Now, my local diner has a big glass wall where you can see the cook hard at work using meticulously placed ingredients that are constantly refreshed. He is entertaining the patrons convincing them this is the cleanest, hippest place to grab a stack of pancakes and hash browns. Many Krispy Kreme stores have large glass walls where the kids can see the donuts being proofed and dropped into the fry pit and then rolled through the glazing machine. All of these things market the value and quality of the process while obfuscating the less attractive pieces. No one sees the ingredients being prepared, no one sees the dishes being cleaned, no one sees the ham come out of the freezer, and no one sees the donut being mixed or the pots being cleaned. The process is part of the marketing and assurance you are spending your money and time wisely.

Roll that same concept into IT and you get how I handle the War Room. We perform some type of significant maintenance to all or part of our domestic infrastructure every quarter. Usually this is over a weekend. We start the weekend off with a War Room that is IT only and dedicated to managing the maintenance events. We don’t communicate much about this part of the exercise until the infrastructure and associated systems are ready to go and then we start a check out process. The folks engaged in the check out process now start interacting with the War Room staff to verify – from their perspective – everything is ready to go. Now, on the next business day we actually set up a War Room in a visible location within the building and broadcast to every stakeholder where we are and what we are doing. They know we are on the job and focused on issue management, resolution and follow up. Of course, the risk is low at this point because of the process over the weekend. However, the sense everyone has of what we are doing and why is strongly enforced. The trust we are on the job is enhanced. If a problem does materialize people can reach us easily and feel good about the status. I think this “part” of the War Room process is shared with everyone and results in a very healthy outcome!