Alignment Maturity Model

It's common practice for most of us when we encounter a problem to seek a diagnosis that will tell us the nature, cause, and extent of the difficulty. When we have a medical problem, we go to the doctor knowing that he will examine us and potentially run a series of tests to ascertain what ails us. We do the same thing when we experience car trouble and turn to the mechanic whom we expect will check under the hood or the chassis to properly inspect the vehicle so that he can determine the source of the trouble. And we do the same thing yet again when we encounter computer difficulties, soliciting the analysis of technical support representatives whom we know from experience will run us through a series of probing questions to arrive at the root cause. It shouldn't be hard, therefore, to conclude that in business we should follow the same practice.

If one looks at the statistics and surveys of the top research firms, they indicate that most companies believe they have an alignment problem that needs remedying. ^[1] These companies have, at the very least, a general sense of the nature of the problem and some undoubtedly may already know the precise root cause. But the majority of companies still don't know the full extent of the problem nor do they agree internally on what the problem is or understand the reason why it has occurred. Ask a dozen different executives and managers from various areas of the organization about their opinion as to whether or not business and technology are aligned, and you are bound to receive a dozen differing responses. It's the influence of mental models, again, that makes it difficult for business and IT leaders to achieve consensus. What these two sides need is a formal mechanism, which will help them objectively diagnose and agree on the level of their alignment.