No better timing than right now to take some quality time and contemplate your plans for 2009. And why not use that good old 43things to do it in true web 2.0 style? Until now, I have been using the site to write down and share my own personal, silly targets. Meditate more. Pick up Chinese boxing training again. Create the first Yellow Raincoat painting. Write a book about Slow IT. You know, just the basic, ordinary stuff we can all relate to.

But why not do it a bit different this year and apply the power of 43Things to the world of Information Technology? What if the Chief Information Officer would share his or her ’43 IT Things to do in 2009’ with the company. Wouldn’t that be a simple and transparent tool to communicate and share the IT strategy? And wouldn’t it be a careful, interesting exercise to condense that complete strategy into a couple (7, 12, 43, whatever) of simple, straightforward targets that others can understand and comment on?

Or why not use the list to create a wish list of personal IT activities that we should definitely consider in 2009? I really hope that you readers – since many of you will now have a few days off – can help me to compile a list of 43 items that we will then publish on the site for everybody to see and work with.

To get the discussion started, here is my first list of IT activities that people may want to plan for in 2009:

1.       Build your own mashup application

2.       Become a Togaf 9 certified architect

3.       Give and get one OLPC laptop

4.        Use a cloud application

5.       Blog about your project

6.       Install Ubuntu Linux on a PC

7.       Start a community on Ning

8.       Get a  personal KPI gadget on your desktop

9.       Try an Android smart phone

10.   Use social network tools (like FaceBook or LinkedIn) within the IT department

These are just my first ideas. I am sure the wisdom of the crowd can deliver much better than that. So I’m most interested in learning from your ideas and I promise to publish the entire list once we have enough input.

And if you are looking for inspiration, why not visit 43things first and do their quick self-test to find out more about yourself? I did the test too and turned out to be a ‘Spiritual Organized Self-Knower’. Not so sure about either of these things, but sounds good anyway. If you are sharing your ideas for the list with us anyway, why not also tell us what type you are? After all, self-knowledge is one thing, but knowing the community around you, might be much more fun.

“… Hi, this is John’s voicemail. I am currently unavailable. You see, we have our annual strategy session with all of the IT management and the leaders of the business units. And it seemed perfect timing to make a change this year. Think about it: IT strategy is more crucial than ever. The wolves are howling in the deserted, grey streets of the economy and we are in desperate need of creative ideas. And not only about how to save money on the IT department. We are also looking for fresh, new ways to use technology to tackle the downturn and find a path forward.

Oh, by the way, this year we are not in that luxurious neo renaissance chateau. Instead we are in this nice little motel. Very convenient, just near the motorway and all.

Anyway, IT strategy. If it is so crucial to the success of our company,  why are we so careless about it? Last year, it was difficult enough to get all of the major stakeholders together for one lousy day at the chateau.  Well, nearly all of them, that is. Even when I was on my way, I received a hurried cancellation. Something about an emergency client tender, although I have never heard anything about that one ever since.  The rest of the attendees sort of trickled into the room during the course of the morning and actually it was already 11 AM when we were really up to speed. Just before lunch, actually (they served an excellent Californian Chardonnay, come to think of it).

So, only a few days before I had realised that some preparation might have been nice. And to admit it frankly, the supporting documentation was just hastily thrown together. Rubbish, really.

Not that it mattered. Not a single soul had gone through it. So we ended up explaining and discussing the basic arguments at least three times again. And when we finally had our session, nobody seemed to be connected. Some of the attendees where shamelessly checking email on their laptops. Others choose to use the Blackberry, hidden under the table. When one of my colleges ran out of the room for the fourth time in a row, nervously answering an incoming phone call, something just broke me.

That’s why we are doing our IT strategy planning a bit different this year. We are incommunicado for a full three days and we all left our phones at home. Also, we won’t be using a laptop to make minutes. Just to make sure.

By all means , leave a message after the beep. I may call you back. In a week or two…”.

Probably like many of you, I was touched when I first learned of Carl’s now famous example of speed-parenting. A few years ago, he was so obsessed with speed and efficiency that he initially liked the idea of One-Minute bedtime stories. Carl read about it in a newspaper, impatiently standing in line at an airport gate. While figuring out how to get the complete series as fast as possible through Amazon, he suddenly realised that things had gone way too far. Being a father of a two-year-old son, he already found himself involved in nightly confrontations, his son fancying long, carefully told stories and Carl trying to find the shortest stories and the most efficient way to tell them (you know, why not have Snow White and the 3 Dwarfs…?). All because emails were waiting, calls had to be made, decisions had to be taken and every minute seemed to count.

The experience changed his life and since then, Carl has been one of the proponents of the Slow Movement: people that believe that the important things in life need to be done at the right pace, with careful dedication and a genuine love for foundation and quality. Where this is already having a profound influence on cooking and dining (Slow Food actually started the whole movement), industrial design, travel and parenting, I believe that the world of Information Technology (IT) is now very, very ready for a proper dose of slow. I am convinced that 2009 will be the year of Slow IT.

Here’s why.

Businesses depend on technology. Actually, nowadays no business transformations exist without the crucial, enabling role of information technology. But to many people, technology is difficult to understand and evolving at an intimidating speed. No industry has produced so many buzzwords and nowhere else, trends come and go so easily. Nevertheless, you don’t need to be a professional to see the potential of technology: especially now, solutions are readily available through the Internet and in our private lives – buying things, communicating with others, being at leisure – we know all too well what technology can do for us.

It makes us even more impatient in applying information technology to address our business challenges. On the other hand, we don’t have the time. Many IT departments are kicked around by the circumstances: fighting fires wherever they appear, dealing with botched-up, antiquated systems, heterogeneous infrastructures, incompatible interfaces, undocumented specifications and shattered, often overlapping applications. Between two breaths, business and IT people may find a few moments to discuss requirements, ideas, plans (speed-dating, really). Then it is back to the usual.

Some may turn to workarounds to deal with the situation. The business side may create its own, isolated solutions. And they are likely to add to the un-integrated mess that needs to be dealt with tomorrow.

For all the wrong reasons, organisations may start to practice agile development. Not because they want a better understanding of the real business needs and a more intimate alignment between business and IT, but because they think the approach delivers fast results without the need to carefully understand, plan and design. Put it in a time-box and all your worries will be over.

It is just a matter of time before we will have the One-Minute IT-strategy.

Especially in 2009, where on one hand the budget for IT is under pressure and on the other hand technology provides the tools to address the downturn, the need is greater than ever to slow down. Not in terms of doing everything at a snail’s pace (thank you, SlowPlanet home page). Much more in terms of striking the right balance between a well-architected, carefully crafted technology platform and ad-hoc, opportunistic solutions that solve the business issues of today.

Among many other things, first of all it is about really sitting together to discuss the IT strategy of the organisation. Not in a rushed workshop of just a few hours in which half of the participants does not show up – there is always an emergency somewhere – and the other half is checking Blackberries or running in and out to answer phone calls (the latter being one of the most saddening examples of the way we let ourselves being ruled by technology). Strategy is crucial to the future of the company. It deserves the proper amount of dedication, also in the preparation and the finishing process.

This is the world of Slow IT, the art of careful technology. And as 2009 is bound to be a transformational year anyway, I am convinced that a renewed respect for properly timed and crafted technology solutions will be the unmistakable trend.

There is much more to tell about Slow IT. So much more that I thought it would be a good idea to write a book about it. And although I cannot already tell when the book will be finished (it’s ready when it’s ready, remember), I will be most happy to share some developing insights with you through this blog.

And thank you for reading this item, even if you got it through your Blackberry on a late Saturday evening.