What do you do if you want to assess and gauge creativity in IT Strategy?

Creativity in IT strategy has two aspects - how business and technology goals will be met with the creative IT strategy and how the outcomes will be measured periodically and course-corrections done. The question arises - what are those goals and who will prioritize them? This is where "one-team" concept of business + IT + Partners helps. A rigorous steerco governance with the "one-team", with a drive to identify and prioritize goals sets the pace and alignment. Examples of goals are improving customer service, increasing revenue, reducing cost, improving customer & employee experience and so on. To do this, you have to wear creative hat and make it part of your IT strategy. Goals are reviewed on periodic basis for any change or updates.

Creativity in IT Strategy depends on the organization. For standard non-tech businesses, it is more important that IT strategy is aligned with business strategy and goals. It won't be wrong to say that Business strategy drives the IT roadmap. However, on the other hand for startups & pure tech play companies, IT strategy matters a lot when it comes to creativity which can drive consumer experience, product/platform development, agility, and so on.

Real-world IT challenges and observe their approach to problem-solving. Assess their ability to think critically, propose creative solutions, and adapt to changing circumstances. Organize brainstorming sessions where participants can freely generate ideas and explore innovative approaches to IT strategy. Review individuals' or teams' past projects, initiatives, or contributions to assess the level of creativity demonstrated. Look for examples of unconventional thinking, out-of-the-box solutions, or successful experimentation with new technologies or methodologies. Organize competitions or hackathons focused on IT strategy where participants can showcase their creativity by proposing innovative solutions to specific challenges.

Creativity in IT strategy can be tricky to assess because it's often a balance between innovation and practicality. But we can assess the strategy itself for 1. Novelty - Look for originality in the approach. Does it address challenges from a fresh perspective? Are there new technologies or methodologies being used? 2. Feasibility: A highly creative strategy might be unrealistic or too expensive to implement. Evaluate if the creative aspects can be achieved within constraints. 3. Diversity of Thought: Did the team involve people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise? 4. Use a balanced scorecard approach: Combine some objective measures (like cost savings) with qualitative assessments of creativity.

Fostering creativity is crucial for developing innovative and effective IT strategies. Organizations should encourage divergent thinking, where employees explore unconventional solutions and think outside the box. Building a culture that values innovation, experimentation, and learning from failures is essential. Cross-functional collaboration and idea-sharing across departments can lead to innovative solutions for complex problems. Allocating dedicated time and resources for creative endeavors, attending industry events, and providing access to relevant tools and technologies can further support creativity.

To gauge creativity in IT strategy, encourage a mix of technical expertise and imaginative problem-solving. Promote curiosity and continuous learning. Use established models to measure creativity and compare project outcomes to creative benchmarks. Organize workshops for idea generation and assess participation. Gather stakeholder feedback to evaluate the ingenuity of IT solutions. This approach helps identify and enhance the creative potential within your IT team.

Here are some ways to evaluate creativity: View Jobs as Both Science and Art: Encourage team members to see their roles as a blend of technical expertise and creative thinking. Foster Curiosity with individuals who are naturally curious, not just about technology but in all aspects of their lives. This curiosity drives a mindset that’s eager to explore and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Empathize with Stakeholders: Understanding the needs and perspectives of users, clients, and other stakeholders is crucial. Embrace Creativity, In rapidly evolving field of IT, creativity is not just a nice-to-have but a necessity. In your role as a senior technology leader, leveraging these strategies can help you cultivate a culture of creativity

I think it's vital to reflect upon what level of creativity you strive for, is it creativity in the sense of finding completely new things or is it creativity towards improving the current solution/way-of-working. Target the right goal and measure towards that.

-I understood "Creativity" as something that refers to the ability to generate new and original ideas, approaches, or solutions. It involves thinking beyond traditional frameworks, and devising innovative ways to address business problems or challenges. -Benchmark: Compare your strategy's innovation against industry or competitors. -Assess the quality and quantity of generated innovative solutions. -Examine how creative ideas are applied within IT strategies. -Analyze the impact of creative initiatives on IT performance. -Collect stakeholder opinions on the strategy's creativity. -Check if the company "culture"encourages creative thinking. -Review tools and methods to foster innovation in IT planning and refine how you evaluate creativity.

The whole premise of a creative IT strategy is to deliver value to business, technology, customers, employees and other stakeholders, on the prioritized goals/projects as identified in Step 1 above ('Identify Goals'). High impact items with a shorter execution timeline or investments, can help to realize the ROI quickly and build confidence in the IT strategy, which is delivering value in an incremental or exponential way. You can also categorize goals/projects/tasks of the IT strategy in such a way, where substantial impact can be seen area-wise e.g. increasing revenue or improving margins or increasing customer loyalty and so on. With the changing business scenarios, the impact of each IT strategy item, need to be assessed periodically.

When I hear the term 'creativity' it does not resonate as much as 'innovation' or 'disruption' ..It feels more of a term used when you don't know what you are doing so creativity 'masks' the gap... IT Initiatives require knowledge and 'creative' applications of the knowledge to solve the needs of said initiatives...in that context the creativity is directly related to the knowledge but more than anything the experience of the team/individual...

Creativity is a good trait to be included but it has to be measurable. Any strategy will be bound to an outcome and a timeline, if there's a creative way to pivot and achieve things then it should be included. Things like introducing a POC of a latest tech to see how it can save effort could be a creative solution. So IMO, this is very much a part of the normal cycle and we don't need to necessarily call it out as an "X" factor - creativity will always be there in some form or the other in a strategic decision life cycle.

When analyzing the impact of IT initiatives, it's crucial to align these strategies not only with immediate goals but also with the fundamental 'Why' of the organization. It is insufficient for IT solutions to merely seize new opportunities; they must also resonate with and reinforce the organization’s core mission.

Define Clear Creative Goals: Start by establishing what you want to achieve with your IT strategy. This could be improving customer experience, streamlining operations, or driving digital transformation. Gather Creative Data, collect data from various sources, including customer feedback, employee insights, and market trends. This data will provide a foundation for your creative strategy. Continuously Analyze the Data: Use analytics tools to process the data and gain insights. Look for patterns and correlations that can inform your strategy. Foster Collaboration and encourage teamwork across departments. Diverse perspectives can lead to more innovative solutions and a more comprehensive strategy.

Many innovation meetings tend to overlook basic aspects as they often prioritize futuristic concepts over addressing the real needs of the market. It's crucial to recognize that innovation isn't solely about envisioning the future; rather, it frequently involves devising new procedures and scenarios that enhance customers' daily routines. By focusing on practical solutions that meet immediate market needs, businesses can truly innovate and provide value to their customers

Your organization is set up to provide value to people and organizations outside your organization. Navel-gazing, with or without a diverse internal team, is done at your own peril. With a firm focus on Why your organization is set up, and which value you are to provide to customers or citizens OUTSIDE yourself, you can have a productive creative process internally on using technology to change HOW you work, and WHAT you do. Diversity of thought can have value in this process. But only if it serves those you are set up to provide value to. Forget that at your own peril.

During the innovation meeting, inviting representatives from every field of the company could be a valuable solution. By including diverse perspectives, ideas that aren't directly related to technologies used. For instance, something as simple as a new icon could significantly improve the product.

Reviewing your IT processes is crucial, but avoid merely confirming internal biases. Ensure processes align with the external value your organization delivers. Flexibility is key for fostering innovation, but each process must boost your effectiveness in serving external stakeholders. Balance structure with the freedom to innovate, ensuring new ideas contribute directly to your mission. This transforms creativity from a buzzword into a tangible asset for your customers or citizens. Embrace strong frameworks as constructive creativity thrives on restraints, adjusting boundaries as necessary.

Impact Mapping technique helps in aligning work around outcomes rather than just features. It connects individual features to behaviors worth changing and metrics that matter for the business. Innovation Metrics can gain insights into innovation performance by looking at core components like gross margin, R&D, and sales from new products. Combining these can shed light on the relative innovation performance of business units within an organization. SMART Goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound goals can be used to set clear and measurable outcomes. KPIs for Creative Testing based on engagement, retention, and satisfaction, which are indicators of how well the creative appeals to the audience

How does one measure creativity and that too applied to IT Strategy? The standard and conventionally accepted way of measuring the IT Strategy is the usual fulfilling of defined goals, financials, customer and employee satisfaction, etc. Can a new way of working enabled by tech be labelled as "Creative" ? Then all IT initiatives are creative. I would put forward a hypothesis that use of tech in a way that it was not designed to be used (off-label use in pharma), can be defined as creative. Would love to see examples from practitioners and fellow members

When measuring the outcomes of creativity in IT strategy, ensure that your metrics capture how these solutions enhance value for external stakeholders and align with your organizational 'Why'. Avoid metrics that are easy to manipulate or misinterpret, such as social media engagement. Instead, focus on how these innovations directly contribute to achieving strategic goals that matter to your customers or citizens. What new capabilities or efficiencies have been realized that improve external interactions or services? These outcomes provide tangible evidence of creativity's real-world impact and its alignment with your organization’s core mission.

When assessing creativity in IT strategy, consider organizing structured brainstorming sessions. Encourage team members to think outside the box and contribute diverse ideas. Evaluate these ideas based on feasibility, scalability, alignment with business goals, and potential competitive advantage. For example, propose innovative solutions like a hybrid cloud with containerization to address challenges effectively. Before implementation, conduct thorough assessments including feasibility studies and cost-benefit analyses to ensure alignment with strategic objectives. This approach not only fosters a culture of creativity but also enables the adoption of tailored, innovative solutions aligned with long-term IT strategy.

A successful IT strategy requires ongoing assessment. This review process should not only evaluate the strategy's effectiveness in achieving business goals, but also examine its implementation from innovation angle. By critically analyzing how the strategy is being carried out, we can identify opportunities to optimize both the approach and execution for even greater impact.

I believe that strategy is completely dependent on the goal. So, whatever we expect from creativity should lead to the facilitation of reaching a goal, solving a problem, or improving the current situation. In general, creativity shows itself in its best form when it creates value, whether for the organization or the customers. In general, to measure and understand the impact of creativity, measurable metrics should be defined for goals or situations. Metrics can be quantitative or qualitative.

In my experience, a good measure of creativity is the “Business Value Creation”. Business value creation through IT Strategy can be due to competitive advantages in costs due to better tech debt management, emerging tech capability, finops practices & automation. NPS measure will be a key element to gauge the creativity coming from IT Strategy as eventually IT Strategy should translate to better customer experience.

Creative IT strategy enables you to quickly turn disruptive change into disruptive opportunity. The trio of people, technology and processes creates the connected experiences. But transforming digitally to create those connections is increasingly complex. This can be quickly achieved with an interconnected view of the organization’s operating model, how IT strategy is supporting it, & how this can be impacted by multiple, parallel transformation initiatives.

I would assess willingness and ability to learn and adapt in response to emerging technologies, trends, and challenges, which I equate with being professional curious and apply it on an on-going basis. Valuable is also to address pragmatism in IT strategy, which involves balancing the need for innovation and creativity with practical considerations such as budget constraints, resource availability, and organizational goals. I am a huge fan of adopting an iterative approach to IT strategy that emphasizes continuous improvement and incremental changes.

I believe that creativity in IT strategy is appropriate for non-standard resource management and the best solution to the problems facing the organization much faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. For example, replacing an outdated service with a headless application, which can provide a seamless transition to a new product for users, without training, etc. If a strategy sets and connects goals, defines timelines and budgets, it can be a good strategy. A creative strategy is always about the opportunity to get a “million-dollar solution”, always about a radical improvement compared to the benchmark. Don’t forget to show the company a benchmark so that the merits of IT management are properly appreciated.

During the evolution of a company, it's essential not to stray too far from its core identity and values. While exploring new avenues and innovations is important, it's equally important to stay true to what the company stands for. However, the approach is quite different when a business is on the border of its industry. In such cases, it becomes necessary to reinvent itself and sometimes even discover a new core business. This could involve opening up new market segments or exploring entirely different product or service

If you want to assess and gauge creativity - look at the resolution approaches, solutions managed within the boundary constraints and ecosystem, style of managing the execution and above all the frameworks and controls to govern and guide! Goal is important!