Who Owns Applications?

Most organizations do a terrible job of defining the responsibilities of application ownership. The IT team can build, install, and manage an application, a system, or a device, but the business side of the house must define the project (to ensure it fits a corporate need) and monitor it (to ensure that, over time, the investment continues to provide value). There can be decades between application “inception” and “decommissioning,” during which time a lot of handoffs and shared responsibility can occur across the organization. Here, I discuss some techniques and key axioms to help manage this life cycle, particularly in the early stages.