This is a great time of year to think about the longer term. If you continue to focus only on the details of day-to-day IT, you'll miss the opportunity (like a finger pointing to the moon) to be a part of the big things in the future. “It’s like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.” ― Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living It’s a great time to get out of the day-to-day for a little while to think about what you and your team are going to accomplish next year. If your budget year starts Jan. 1, it is not too late to lay out your priorities for next year and to tie them to your budget (or at least to your budget request). SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe Ask yourself some questions. Questions about the business itself: Where is the business going to be a year from now? How about two or three years from now? How much bigger (or smaller) is it going to be? Is the growth going to come from more customers, from more sales at existing customers, from new products, from an acquisition, or how? Are you going to open or close offices? What else is going to change? Questions about how technology is used in the business: What are you going to need to be able to do in IT that you cannot do now? Are there capabilities you can provide to the rest of the company to accelerate the business on its path into the future? Are you going to need to be able to do the same things you do, but faster, or are there entirely new capabilities you are going to need to learn. Are there things you do now that you will not need to do any longer? How are you going to know you are doing a good job? Do you have enough clarity to put a level or effort/price tag to what you need to do? Questions about cost: What is it going to cost to do what you have to do? Are you going to be able to lower your costs elsewhere either through efficiencies or by stopping certain tasks? If you don’t have enough money to do everything, who can help you determine your priorities or how can you team with someone to get more funds? This is a great time of year to think about the longer term. If you continue to focus only on the details of day-to-day IT, you’ll miss the opportunity to be a part of the big things in the future. Related content opinion Bad beginnings have bad endings If you get off to a bad start on a project, you may never be able to recover. By Paul T. Cottey Oct 03, 2019 6 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership opinion How was your telecation? The point of a vacation is not to work less, but to not work. By Paul T. Cottey Jul 08, 2019 5 mins IT Leadership opinion There's a new sheriff in town The challenge as a senior IT leader in an M&A situation is that the new operating rules are unlikely to be communicated clearly, if they are even communicated at all. By Paul T. Cottey Jan 28, 2019 4 mins CFO C-Suite Technology Industry opinion Look at me! Some employees are happy being unhappy and can be quite vocal about it. Sometimes, however, attention-seeking behavior is masking something else entirely. Itu2019s your job as a manager to figure out which is whichu2026and what to do about it. By Paul T. Cottey Nov 16, 2018 5 mins IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe