We're already one-tenth of the way through the 21st century, so I'm sure that by now you, as an IT leader, have heard that the most productive and effective IT function is one that is directly responsive to the needs of the business it serves. You've probably heard as well that in order to best serve the business in the way it needs, the IT function must have a "client relationship management culture," not a technology culture. You might even accept the idea that IT's very existence may depend on it moving from being an isolated technology management function to being a powerful and respected ally to the business.

Nonetheless, a good many of you at this moment could be thinking, "Right. That all sounds good in theory, but it has zero application to my shop here in the real world. We're too busy responding to urgent challenges and unrelenting deadlines to think about anything like that. We just don't have the budget or the time to make it happen, and I have my doubts that the business would even understand what we were up to. Besides, what would the measures of success be? We take our direction from the business, so we'll wait for the business to tell us how to make all of that happen."

I used to think the same thing, way back in the 20th century. But then I got a wake-up call.