Career / Opinions

When I was around seven years old an older - and supposedly wiser - friend gave me some advice on eating Popsicles. She told me that if I bit the top off the Popsicle it wouldn't melt as fast.

Outsourcing was often a reaction to an unacceptable state: costs were seen as too high, service as indifferent and other expertise was needed to keep technology current. Strategic sourcing is an emerging approach to delivering IT services. It starts from the premise "What's best for the enterprise?" rather than simply "How do we fix our problem?"

I'm a member in good standing of the Rolodex Club. Here's how you can tell if you are a member. The phone rings, and there's a recruiter on the line. You know how the call goes

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) have long been strong motivators in the IT decision-making process

CIO Observer - Viewing the world without spin.
A person could get shot for saying this, but chief information officer is not the hardest job in information technology. Technology sales is harder.

Peer-To-Peer - Field-Tested Ideas from CIOs to CIOs.
Are you too busy to take a summer vacation? If so, it's time to figure out what you're doing wrong.

Leadership Agenda - Strategies for building relationships.
A crash course in strategic planning.

Can Australian IT learn from the wine industry?

IT and business capabilities are linked to core competencies.

Business continuity is about the enterprise's ability to respond effectively to the unexpected - whatever it is.

It is five years ago since I was asked to write a monthly column for the new CIO magazine. I had been running the InTEP forum for IDC for three years and I was asked to comment on current issues confronting Australian CIOs. Since I am still doing both, the editor asked if I would comment on how the CIO role has changed over the years

CIOs who want to maintain credibility must be able to deliver short-term results, while still maintaining the long-term view, according to Gartner's 2002 survey of its 1500 CIO Executive Program (EXP) members.

At a recent conference, a CIO leaned over and confessed to me that he has a "terminal case of saying yes". My response? You have to say yes - in the right way. The key to CIO success is figuring out how to focus the IT agenda while you gain the reputation of saying yes

There is no greater challenge for a leader than breaking new ground

As a CIO today you are the winning jockey on Melbourne Cup day, the best looking girl at the dance, the lottery winner walking into the bar at the club. Yes, everyone in IT land wants to know you now - but that wasn't always the case

You just finished developing the technology strategy for your company. It took months of research and hard thought. But today a headline negated all that effort, revealing new circumstances that make your strategy all but useless. Wouldn't it be nice if strategies took one minute to develop and years to become outdated, instead of the reverse? How can we plan in an environment that is changing as fast as the proverbial speeding bullet?

Back in February, Com Bank managing director David Murray certainly caused a brouhaha when he took on Microsoft and - supposedly - IT in general at the World IT Congress in Adelaide.

Even in tough times, IT management means more than keeping the lights on.

Companies need to use technology for long-term business advantage while making short-term cost cuts.

CIOs have two important roles. They're not easily performed.