Bimodal IT is a consequence, not a proposal
I agree that the happy/sad mode is not ideal and that it would be great to run everything in awesome mode, but then again, remember the push for "application modernization" some years ago? I don't have numbers to back this opinion, but I don't think it was very successful.
To me, bimodal IT is a consequence rather than a proposal. It is:
- Gartner saying "ok, we know that no matter how much we press you into modernizing your legacy apps you won't do it, so ... for new projects why don't you try this modern approach"?
- Accepting the fact that there are new kinds of IT buyers (ie CMOs) that need new kinds of projects ("why don't we build a gif creator platform to support the new advertising campaign?") that need to be built in a couple of weeks and will only be live for a couple of months.
- Recognition that it is too much to ask of CIOs to support business as usual at max stability+efficiency while at the same time developing new digital products/services. That is why we are seeing the rise of the corporate CTO. The CIO is responsible for business as usual (ERP, payroll, reporting, etc) and the CTO leads exploration/development of digital products/services. Both are important. One allows you to operate today, and the other allows you to be in business tomorrow.
