At Microsoft's CEO Summit this May, Bill Gates took a few moments to talk about time management. He noted that, somehow, his calendar seemed to be filled with commitments that - upon reflection - only seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, he had been foolish to make them
After a working lunch at a workshop, a senior IT manager at a global telecommunications company approached me with a problem. Over the course of several mergers, acquisitions and reorgs, his firm now had three work-order processing systems.
Collaborate or compete? That's a core strategic question for organizations seeking margins and market share. When are they better off energetically competing against their rivals? When are they wisest to collaborate and cooperate? That strategic question is even more important for the internal IT marketplace. CIOs have to determine what will better drive desirable results: more collaboration within their IT shops or encouraging smarter competition. The "correct" answer, of course, is "both". Good luck
Innovation demands discipline as much as it requires freedom
Are employees compromising security by bringing consumer tech into the enterprise? Perhaps, but if you use too heavy a hand to stop them, you'll be fighting a losing battle
When form substitutes for substance, you have an IT leadership problem
If perception helps define reality, then asking your customers how they perceive IT innovation is a simple and inexpensive way to focus your efforts
With boards of directors under increased scrutiny by regulators and other entities, CIOs should consider creating a digital dashboard that gives them a view into the key performance indicators of the business
As top investment banks have discovered, giving away software tools to key customers and suppliers can save both of you lots of time and money
When a committee is charged with achieving unanimity, the force of its decisions is multiplied
CIOs should be treating success with an application as an invitation to see what else the software can do for their business
Outsourcing your code development makes a lot less sense with the radical changes in the way innovators now create software
CIOs may think that backlogs are their biggest pain point. But the real cause of IT failure is mismanaged expectations.
One of the most important things CIOs can create is the right mix of healthy environment and reliable process in order to foster innovation
CIOs should be investing less time in brainstorming good ideas and more time in targeting the sources of resistance to change.