The Management Responsibility of Redefining the Objective Function

Introduction

The reason IT often fails is not due to poor technology choices or a lack of effort on the ground, but because management failed to define “what to optimize.” This article clarifies why redefining IT’s objective function is a management responsibility that cannot be delegated to anyone else.

What Does It Mean to Define an Objective Function?

Defining an objective function means clarifying “what constitutes success,” “what can be sacrificed,” and “which decisions take priority.” This is not merely goal-setting; it is the act of anchoring the entire organization’s decision-making axis.

In IT strategy, defining an objective function means choosing, for example, whether to prioritize “growth speed,” “reproducibility,” or “stability,” and taking responsibility for that choice.

Why Can’t the Objective Function Be Defined by Frontline Teams?

Frontline teams make decisions based on immediate results, given KPIs, and practical constraints. Therefore, trade-off choices that affect the entire organization—such as “what to sacrifice,” “how much to compromise,” or “whether to sacrifice the present for the future”—cannot be delegated to them. Defining the objective function is a judgment call that only management can make.

Why It Shouldn’t Be Left to the IT Department

The role of the IT department is to present technically feasible options, explain risks, and explore implementation methods. However, it does not have the authority to decide “which business to bet on,” “at what speed to grow,” or “which risks to accept.” Delegating IT’s objective function to the IT department is tantamount to outsourcing a core management judgment.

What Happens When It’s Not Defined

When IT investments or system implementations proceed without a defined objective function, the following situations arise:

• Different departments optimize for different axes, making integration difficult.
• Investment decisions become ad-hoc, and returns become unclear.
• Success and failure cannot be verified.

This is not due to anyone’s incompetence but is a consequence of management’s failure to define the objective function.

The Objective Function Is Not Set in Stone

It’s crucial to understand that the objective function is not fixed. What should be optimized changes with business phases, organizational scale, and market conditions. Management’s responsibility is to explicitly and continuously update “when” and “to which objective function” to switch.

The Act of Articulating the Objective Function

Defining an objective function is not about writing a mathematical formula. It is about sharing with the organization, in words, “why speed is prioritized now,” “from what point reproducibility becomes important,” or “what conditions warrant a return to stability as the main axis.” Without this articulation, IT risks being reduced to merely a “convenient tool,” a “cost,” or an “object of management,” drifting away from the essence of DX (Digital Transformation).

Management Responsibility Means “Continuously Deciding”

The management responsibility discussed here is not about taking the blame when things go wrong. It is about deciding “what to optimize,” communicating that decision to the organization, and continuously updating it in response to environmental changes. Redefining IT’s objective function is a core act within this responsibility.

The Prerequisite for Moving Forward

What is needed to make IT a management weapon again is not a new IT strategy or the latest SaaS tools. The first requirement is management’s resolve to take ownership of the objective function. In the next chapter, we will examine concretely, from a business operations perspective, how IT spiraled out of control in the absence of this resolve.