When Joshua Dees became the head of IT at Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., a storied maker of rock and ice climbing gear, he spent much of his first year figuring out how to take the company to the next level. Although Dees was a rock climber himself, he had spent five years at The Boeing Co. learning how a major multinational enterprise handled technology. Dees wanted to bring some of that methodology to a company that had been famous in its early days for shutting down when its founder went off on climbing and surfing trips in the 1950s and '60s.