1. What is the biggest IT governance myth? 

One of the biggest myths in IT governance is that a tool or software will be able to resolve or fix a situation in the organization. Workflow tools / software can guide the organization’s operational activities to ensure the adherence and proper completion of a well defined process. Now we have to find the mythical character of a “well defined process”. The software / tool can only provide support for the organizational processes and these tools are not a panacea for solving the organizational issues at hand. A common saying in the IT Governance and IT Service Management industry is: “A fool with a tool is still a fool”.

2. Why is this myth so potentially harmful?

The software vendors are in business to sell their software. If you sell hammers then all problems look like nails. The software vendors are motivated and inclined to tell their clients that the software product will handle any of the issues that the customers are having today. These  software / tools should be used to facilitate the organization’s well-defined processes that help the organization achieve its goals and objectives.
Many customers of these software tools will often accept the manufacturer’s default settings for process workflows thinking that the vendor of the software knows more about what’s important than analyzing their own needs within their own company. In many cases the default processes or the out-of-the-box workflows that the software facilitates can be quite good and may in some cases be better than existing processes in an organization that have not been well defined or not historically defined very well.

Organizations often adopt a software / tool to manage a specific issue in the organization. These tools often do not work in conjunction with other tools already in place within the organization. If a software / tool does not help towards the goals and objectives of operational staff then there is a challenge of the staff not using the tool and the tool being blamed for getting in the way of getting work done.

3. What’s the best way to avoid or correct this myth?

There are two common approaches in IT Governance and IT Service Management framework implementation. The first of these approaches is to come from an academic perspective and develop processes based on the selected framework’s approach for handling IT Governance and IT service management processes. The second approach would be to use the default settings in the IT Governance or IT Service Management software / tool set and adjust the organizational work practices to work with the process provided with the tools.
There needs to be a balanced approach of using the IT Governance or IT Service Management frameworks as guidance in conjunction with the capabilities of the software / tools that can automate the process workflow supporting the organizational goals and objectives. When working on tasks it is important to understand the software / tools capabilities and how the software / tool will work in supporting the organizational purpose, objectives and defined operational processes.
The organization should first start with understanding its vision, mission, goals and objectives and how governance will guide any decisions in creating the operational processes to support the organizational vision, mission, goals and objectives. Organizational processes and practices should be developed to support the organizational objectives and the software / tools should be configured to facilitate the processes and practices in helping the organization achieve their objectives.
Tools out of the box may not align with the organizational processes.  The software / tool will need to be configured to support the organizational controls but this comes at a cost.  Organizations do not have unlimited budgets and time to create the perfect processes. Organizations should select a tool / software that facilitates the organization is reaching the organizational objectives.
A thorough process assessment should evaluate whether the processes are supporting the organizational objectives. The processes should then be  architected and drafted to support the organizational objectives and necessary controls. The software/tools should be configured as well as possible to support the processes that are facilitating the achievement of the organizational objectives.
Based on budget and limitations of the software/tools, the organization may seek to develop processes and controls that come close to their ideal target while working within the constraints of the software/tool and budget of the organization. This is the balance that most organizations will have to struggle with and each side of the equation will have to give and take a little to balance out. The proper process and controls might have to be supplemented with manual activities while the software/tool may require custom configuration to meet some of the mandatory process and control requirements.

If you don’t understand the “Why?” then you will believe that you are supporting the organizational objectives because you are completing activities that have been defined within the organization. Activities should be defined based on cascading objectives and key performance indicators from the top down through the organizational structure.