Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
I am on a bit of a rampage lately about organizations not addressing missed deadlines. I see this a lot. The reason why so many organizations have so much trouble doing what they intend to do on time is because when they fail to meet a deadline … nothing happens. The dates come and go…
Strategy is creative. Financial planning is operational.Strategic and financial planning require different skills, timelines, and different measures of success. You must separate the two streams of work if you want a real strategy. IT organizations are fairly expert and annual plans and budgets, but not so much at creative, strategic planning. So the money wins…
I find it interesting is that most companies do one of two extremes when it comes to succession planning: 1. Nothing at all; and/or 2. A very cumbersome process with lots of documents and checkpoints for multiple candidates which never amounts to anything. Let’s find something in the middle … Get someone ready Think about…
What should you do when the CEO keeps demanding things from IT and there are no more resources to do it? What should you do when demands pile up so high that you and your team are constantly over-worked and the work just keeps coming? I always talk about how you need to rise above…
If I could offer one idea that will have a huge impact on your success and your satisfaction with work it would be that you give yourself time to think — with purpose. (You can stop reading here if you accept that point!) I work with so many executives that tell me they would be…
I was working with a CEO and his executive team on their strategy when we came to an interesting point in the day about their needing a game-changing initiative. The group brainstormed for awhile, and discussed several potential game changers. We narrowed the list to three really cool ideas. Then came the big question: Which…
I was traveling recently, and was greeted with the following in my hotel room. I was staggered. I removed the actual hotel name, but this was real. Is it just me, or are these 19 steps to program a wake-up call a bit much? I built a successful career in technology by following one guiding…
Stupid obstacles often come in the form of people’s opinions, corporate policy, changes of direction, fire drills, conflicting goals, delayed decisions, unclear strategies … shall I go on? In IT, this is particularly challenging because no one outside of IT really understands IT. You do important heroic stuff that keeps the company running, and no…
I heard a story about a CIO who got such great personal service at a Ritz Carlton hotel that he ended up sending his entire IT staff to Ritz Carlton hotel staff customer service training. That is taking the concept of IT being a service organization to a new level! On the other end of…