If you are aiming at goal posts, it means you already failed in your goals.
You missed the touchdown and are now attempting a rather risky kick for a few points to save face.

Every company has IT staff which can build the most secure infrastructure, write the best code or application, etc.. If given the chance, or incentive for the chance.

Nobody wants to settle for a field goal, they want to win, but even when they "win" and attain their goals, they rarely get what they deserve...namely a real raise or bonus.

The CEO gets their raise, but the working staff rarely gets anywhere near as much as the CEO and the CEO raise probably dwarfs the employee whole salary.

As an executive it is your job to lead, encourage and provide incentive to your staff, if you get a 15% raise, your whole company should as well because they helped you get there.
Impractical on a grand scale, perhaps, but I guarantee if you do it, your IT staff and all employee productivity will grow beyond your imagination.

Soccer has a very good technique actually every game have. If software is taken as game this also needs a good technique to work on. If goalpost is moved means either target is not proper or may be passes is/are not done well. In IT too things are done in phases similarly like passes in soccer.

Most of the IT development or support is done by third party and they matches the requirement well and follow the processes only when it is defined properly or explained properly, without this moving goalpost is costlier and time consuming.

I agree with you that the advert is wrong for your stated reason. Things change.

But your simple analysis misses an important point. If someone has to ask who moved the goalposts, then the person moving them didn't keep others in the loop. You can't change goals without telling anyone.

I used to be a fighter pilot. When you're flying in formation, you can't make abrupt moves - you always 'telegraph' what you're doing, either by starting a move slowly that is obvious to the wingman, or giving an outright notice of intent to move. It's the same in business.

Your recommendation #1 is clear evidence you've missed this critical point. You actually are suggesting companies hire people who like guessing what the next move is. That's a formula for disaster. I prefer someone who can fly my wing and follow my lead. And that's the real key. Leadership.

If the goalposts get moved and no one knows who moved them, then the problem is leadership, not the people trying to hit the goal.

Chris' article made me think back to an Accenture TV commercial that ran during the dot com days. It had a group of (IT?) professionals in suits seated and playing musical instruments. Then a basketball bounced into the scene, all of a sudden they were playing three on three, then a tennis ball bounced in to the scene and the commercial ended. The point was clear: be flexible and adapt to change.

I think that Chris is making a good point, it's just that everyone is struggling to make it tangible. How about this: you're updating the company web site with social networking tools in order to prepare for the launch of a novel new product when all of a sudden the company decides to shelf the product. Your goal posts have been moved -- what do you do now?

Building on Chris' recommendations, I think that IT managers in this situation need to do two things: give credit and communicate. First, make sure that credit is given for the work that was done. Just because the goal posts were moved doesn't mean that you didn't drive the ball down the field. Second, you need to communicate to the team why the product was shelved at the last minute and what the company is going to do now. Without this info, nobody is going to be happy.

Game, set, match point.

- Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting
www.blueelephantconsulting.com