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Service Oriented

Joe McKendrick
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How to survive your first day as CIO

By | August 21, 2010, 6:42pm PDT

Summary: So you finally got promoted to the top job. Geek & Poke’s Oliver Widder provides some guidance on getting through the first day:

So you finally got promoted to the top job. Geek & Poke’s Oliver Widder provides some guidance on getting through the first day:

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CIO, Geek & Poke, Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments shaping the technology industry.

Disclosure

Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant, editor and speaker.

Joe has performed project work (white papers, articles, blogs, research and presentations) for the following companies in the IT marketspace:

  • CBS Interactive/CNET/ZDNet (this blog)
  • ebizQ
  • Evans Data
  • Gartner
  • IBM
  • Informatica
  • IDC
  • Microsoft
  • Systinet/HP
  • Teradata
  • Unisphere Reseach, a division of Information Today, Inc.
  • WebLayers

Joe has also performed research work for the following sponsoring organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.

  • IBM
  • Luminex
  • Noetix
  • Oracle Corp.
  • Teradata
  • Informatica
  • International Oracle Users Group
  • Oracle Applications Users Group
  • Professional Association for SQL Server
  • International DB2 Users Group
  • International Sybase Users Group
  • SHARE (IBM large systems users group)

Biography

Joe McKendrick

Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. Joe is co-author, along with 16 leading industry leaders and thinkers, of the SOA Manifesto, which outlines the values and guiding principles of service orientation. He also speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and SOA topics at industry events and Webcasts, and serves on the program committee for this year's SOA & Cloud Symposium in London. As an independent analyst, he has also authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for user groups such as SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International DB2 Users Group. In a previous life, Joe served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business management fields. He is a graduate of Temple University.

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RE: How to survive your first day as CIO
arnolwi1 Updated - 5th Sep 2010
New CIO's have the capability to cause more company destruction than any ENRON, Merrill Lynch or Wall Street could ever dream of. How many of you have seen a new CIO come in, do massive restructuring, con the CEO to start a big ERP replacement costing millions of dollars and then leave half way through it. CIO's have to know how to use common sense. CEO's need to take their blinders off and take the time to really understand what the CIO is proposing. Some CEO's think technology is to boring or complicated and simply hand the keys over to the CIO. 12 months later after hollow promises, massive talent escapes, and organizational chaos, the CIO leaves or is fired. By that time, the CEO is afraid to stop the damage since they have already spent millions with no ROI or payback anywhere in sight. "Once you jump off the cliff, there?s no $$$ or guts to pull the parachute.

This is a more common theme than most think and it has and does happen to companies of all sizes. For some reason new CIO's feel they must leave their mark or legacy in order to justify their hiring. It does not have to be that way. Leading an organizations technology assets is no easy task and so I do not want to minimize the role of the CIO. But too many times it?s so easy to say new ERP, or new Server Platform or new Outsourcing initiatives and in one big bang you have the CEO's attention. But the devil is in the details. Unfortunately those details can take longer to explain or come to fruition than a Sun Fish sail boat crossing the Atlantic.

"Been there, done that, drank the coolade", "If its not broke, why fix it".

All these clich?s seem corny, but it would save corporate America Billions of Dollars if new CIO's would take the time say them every once in a while.

Many CIO?s ignore company culture or see it as non-important. The truth of the matter is that technology is such an integral part of every company now that major technology decisions can and will affect every single department. Why do you think most large ERP Teams include organization change management? A new ERP just for the sake of a new ERP over time can and will have significant impacts to the culture. A recent Mercer survey of employers who had just completed or were about to complete a major system change, showed that 65% of all employees (not just IT), wanted to leave the company versus 11% before the system change. Wow ! Talk about damage control.

So, all you new/first day CIO?s, before you decide how you want to leave your mark, consider NOT and instead be honest and upfront with your CEO Boss and be comfortable doing nothing new and major if it makes sense. But you do decide on a major overhaul, handcuff your self to your office desk and tell your CEO not to unlock them until you finish what you started, good or bad.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
Not even mildly amusing
croberts 22nd Aug 2010
Makes Dilbert look like Shakespeare...
0 Votes
+ -
Design a screen with lots of buttons...
Richard Flude 22nd Aug 2010
give it to the mcse's to play with. It keeps them from stuffing up your servers;-)
0 Votes
+ -
RE: How to survive your first day as CIO
dennisfurr 23rd Aug 2010
You could have written something about audits, strategic alignment, SOA, MDE, IT transparency, BI, or even planned maintenance but instead we get a comic strip? I'm not opposed to having some fun and I'm thick skinned enough to take a joke but if at the CIO level there is nothing better to do on the first day than spew nonsense and leave a trail of destruction then the company would be better served by that person's absence. How about relabeling this "How to guarantee that your first day as CIO is your last".

Now that would be funny.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: How to survive your first day as CIO
arnolwi1 Updated - 5th Sep 2010
New CIO's have the capability to cause more company destruction than any ENRON, Merrill Lynch or Wall Street could ever dream of. How many of you have seen a new CIO come in, do massive restructuring, con the CEO to start a big ERP replacement costing millions of dollars and then leave half way through it. CIO's have to know how to use common sense. CEO's need to take their blinders off and take the time to really understand what the CIO is proposing. Some CEO's think technology is to boring or complicated and simply hand the keys over to the CIO. 12 months later after hollow promises, massive talent escapes, and organizational chaos, the CIO leaves or is fired. By that time, the CEO is afraid to stop the damage since they have already spent millions with no ROI or payback anywhere in sight. "Once you jump off the cliff, there?s no $$$ or guts to pull the parachute.

This is a more common theme than most think and it has and does happen to companies of all sizes. For some reason new CIO's feel they must leave their mark or legacy in order to justify their hiring. It does not have to be that way. Leading an organizations technology assets is no easy task and so I do not want to minimize the role of the CIO. But too many times it?s so easy to say new ERP, or new Server Platform or new Outsourcing initiatives and in one big bang you have the CEO's attention. But the devil is in the details. Unfortunately those details can take longer to explain or come to fruition than a Sun Fish sail boat crossing the Atlantic.

"Been there, done that, drank the coolade", "If its not broke, why fix it".

All these clich?s seem corny, but it would save corporate America Billions of Dollars if new CIO's would take the time say them every once in a while.

Many CIO?s ignore company culture or see it as non-important. The truth of the matter is that technology is such an integral part of every company now that major technology decisions can and will affect every single department. Why do you think most large ERP Teams include organization change management? A new ERP just for the sake of a new ERP over time can and will have significant impacts to the culture. A recent Mercer survey of employers who had just completed or were about to complete a major system change, showed that 65% of all employees (not just IT), wanted to leave the company versus 11% before the system change. Wow ! Talk about damage control.

So, all you new/first day CIO?s, before you decide how you want to leave your mark, consider NOT and instead be honest and upfront with your CEO Boss and be comfortable doing nothing new and major if it makes sense. But you do decide on a major overhaul, handcuff your self to your office desk and tell your CEO not to unlock them until you finish what you started, good or bad.

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