I'm excited to begin the space to bring articles, insights and (hopefully) helpful content that would benefit business and IT leaders.
I'm neither the most brilliant nor articulate IT leader even after being at this for now almost 43 years, but I have been around to see all kinds of good and bad, made my fair share of mistakes, done some things really well and built a decent network of compatriots and friends along the way. I recently read that experience is a cruel teacher - offering the test first followed by the lesson. Touché.
I've found that having great IT is a bit of a struggle for some leaders - whether you're a CEO, CFO, COO or even a CIO/IT director. Do any of these ring true?
"It's OK"
"It's good enough [for now]"
"We really should be better"
"I don't know how to make it different/better"
"I'm not sure what I'm missing"
"Others seem to get greater value from newer technologies"
"I don't really have the time to invest in IT, even though I think I should"
"I'm not sure if I should spend more or less on IT"
"How do I know I'm getting the best value for my IT investment?"
These are all questions that can be addressed by applying solid expertise and collaboration with business leadership. As an IT director & CIO over the last 20+ years, these leadership questions are not new. We all need to step off the ladder to put more paint on the brush!
A major tactic here is to bring governance - how you and your teams decide what is truly important, what criteria you use to make those decisions, and how to ensure that's reflected in spending and resourcing decisions. At the same time - how do you ensure that your existing systems continue to run well (or better) and how do you deliver great support services (quickly, efficiently, securely) to your customers and users.
If you have these or similar questions and the desire for governance rings a bell, please fill out the meeting request form on home page. It's worth a conversation and I'm happy to offer my 2-cents.
Going forward, what I'd like to do in this blog is post about topics that are on the minds of business leaders and IT leaders about what good IT looks like & what good IT leadership looks like. I'm also interested in how technology can be applied to solve specific problems - which is really an endless well. There are plenty of great resources out there, so I'll try not to duplicate. I may write a future blog about some of the sources I reference as well.
I have a number of topics lined up. If there are any specifically on your mind, feel free to leave a comment & I'll do my best.
Until then... keep your head up, your heart right, and make progress!
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