A Few CIOs are Out But Not Down

CIO Position Eliminated

On April 13, 2009, after experiencing a 10% salary reduction department-wide, my CIO friend (serving as the Head of ITS of a large integrated school district) had his position eliminated due to budget reductions and departmental reorganization. His position…and several others…now replaced by a single Executive Director I role. These cuts and realignment project $25M in savings to the company department-wide.

On Dec 01, 2009, a CIO mentor of mine, serving as regional CIO of a large nationally known financial institution, had his position as Regional CIO eliminated due to CEO budget cuts. He described his last week as “hectic” to say the least.  He stated in an  email, 

“My employer eliminated the CIO role (and my job) yesterday. That was a first for me. I thought firms of a certain size always had CIO’s.”

Out…But Not Down

As part of their search for a new opportunity to “take IT to the next level”, these two guys share a similar game plan. They plan to:

• Work on their personal brand. (I recommended they become more active in the blogosphere and twitterverse and
• Stay focused and actively seek new opportunities. (I recommended they take advantage of social networking sites like LinkedIn. It helped me get my current role.)
• Stay in the game and don’t give up.

They are out of work for now…but actively seeking new opportunities. So, please offer any advice you might have for these two leaders. I’ll pass it on to them.

— John

Leadership Blog

I found a very useful blog on Leadership I’d like to share with you. There is lots of great content here:

http://www.bretlsimmons.com/

Bret does a great job of mixing video and print within his blog. Go check it out when you can.

– John

 

Ethics 101 – Integrity Before Profit

I just finished reading (again) The Power of Ethical Management by Norman Vincent Peale and Kenneth Blanchard (Author of The One Minute Manager.) The book has been in my library for several years where it serves as  a reference all year-long. 

I recommend this book not only because it is short and concise, but also because it will encourage your company’s leadership to empower all employees to think (and act) ethically by implementing a simple checklist system of “five principles of ethical power.” 

According to the authors, there are 5 basic principles to keep in mind when creating your company’s ethics policy:

The 5 P’s of Ethical Power:

Purpose. A purpose combines both your vision as well as the values you would like to see upheld in your business. It comes from the top and outlines specifically what is considered acceptable as well as unacceptable in terms of conduct in your business.

Pride. Pride builds dignity and self-respect. If employees are proud of where they work and what they are doing, they are much more apt to act in an ethical manner.

Patience. Since you must focus on long-term versus short-term results, you must develop a certain degree of patience. Without it, you will become too frustrated and will be more tempted to choose unethical alternatives.

Persistence. Persistence means standing by your word. It means being committed. If you are not committed to the ethics you have outlined, then they become worthless. Stand by your word.

Perspective. In a world where there is never enough time to do everything we need and want to, it is often difficult to maintain perspective. However, stopping and reflecting on where your business is headed, why you are headed that way, and how you are going to get there allows you to make the best decisions both in the short-term as well as the long-term.

— John

CIO as a Mentor…Virtually

CIO as a Mentor…Virtually

Last week I blogged about how experience and mentors make great leaders. But virtual mentoring has also allowed me to gain more insight into lessons learned from those who have the battle scars that go along with that experience. One of the reasons I created this blog was to share my experiences in IT, business, and leadership. Lately, I’ve found a more valuable use of this blog…as a place to centralize the massive amounts of advice I collect from leaders who have “been there, done that — got the t-shirt.” 

In their 2003 publication for Western Carolina University titled From Traditional to Virtual Mentoring, authors James J. Kirk and Jennifer Olinger explain the evolution of Virtual mentoring and compare and contrast it to traditional mentoring in today’s society. 

Traditional mentoring is face-to-face communication and synchronous; time and location of mentoring can be an issue; it is all personal touch and communication, can be expensive, and is not recorded so it can be confidential. — (Kirk/Olinger) 

The problem with this approach is that in today’s world of work/life unbalance most IT Leaders are too busy to help.  Although many want to help, few can actually find the time for traditional mentoring. Enter the virtual mentor!

The authors explain that,

“…as society looks to technology as a vital resource in everyday life, virtual mentoring has emerged…” — (Kirk/Olinger)

They also define virtual mentoring as,

“…communication via computer and asynchronous; time and location are not issues; there is no personal touch or communication, can be inexpensive, and is recorded so it cannot be confidential.” — (Kirk/Olinger)

So, how does this relate to me? Well, Wayne Sadin is one of my CIO mentors. (He is also one of the few IT leaders I’ve seen with a social media strategy.) Now, I know he doesn’t have enough time to sit down with me and share a Star Trek Vulcan “mind meld” knowledge transfer of his experiences as a transformational CIO.  Not because he doesn’t care, but because it wouldn’t be possible given the increased demands put on him by the business he runs, Loomis US.  But that doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t keep me from adopting him as my “virtual mentor.”  

Yesterday, I received an email from another online mentor of mine (retail industry) about how he created his company’s IT strategy. Embedded in the body of the email were a link and a personal note – a few simple words of advice from a guy who has turned around many fledging IT departments on a global scale.

And today, I received a Twitter message (a “tweet” as it’s called) from a very well-known senior IT leader suggesting I watch an online video of his recent participation in a CIO roundtable discussion on Cloud Computing. After watching and the video and exchanging numerous twitter messages and email communications, I added him to my list of virtual mentors. See, it’s that easy to learn from others.

“With virtual mentoring, the pool of mentors to which mentees can match is greatly expanded and thus increases the possibility of highly successful mentoring relationships.” — (Kirk/Olinger)

That’s great news! You are free to learn from as many IT leaders as you can. I believe it was Coco Chanel who coined the phrase,

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

But be very careful and selective when choosing virtual mentors. Wayne and my other e-mentors all share the same values that I do. This is key when selecting virtual mentors.  No, I’m not imitating these folks, just their successful business practices. They are some of the few CIOs out there not afraid to share their experiences…virtually.

Virtual mentoring, e-mentoring, online mentoring…no matter what you want to call it, if you post any amount of wisdom or advice online (in your blog, Twitter, or LinkedIn answers) there is a good chance someone is reading it, digesting, and possibly even learning from the experiences of your universe.

 — John

The CIO as the Heart of IT Leadership

Army Officer Candidate School (OCS) is a 12 to 14-week program which graduates commissioned officers in the United States Army. When I was in the Army, one of my tours of duty as a commissioned officer was that of a TAC Officer at Officer Candidate School on an Army installation in my home state. 

TAC stands for teach, advise, and counsel…key elements of the officer role as defined in the academy’s Leadership Standard Operating Procedures.  The procedures, which are in large part from Army manuals, stipulate that the most important element of the Military Academy leadership environment is the TAC officer. Now, don’t think of a TAC officer as a drill-sergeant for officer wanna-bees. Instead, think of him as a mentor in an officer model which promotes responsibility, self-confidence, and teamwork by assigning candidates to various rotating leadership roles. 

It is the TAC officer’s role in this military officer training model to teach leadership…and its attendant good qualities, which can happen in two mutually reinforcing ways:

• One way is through the “referent power” of the TAC officer, the possibility that young officer candidates will identify with TAC’s and emulate their good qualities.
• The other way is by internalizing the program’s discipline as self-discipline. This happens when officer candidates experience successes in training and they identify with leadership provided by their officers during the course of those successes.

Just like TAC Officer is the key leadership element in the military academy, the CIO is at the heart of the leadership environment within IT. The CIO may not always Teach, Advise, or Counsel, but it is the CIO’s individual application of leadership that guides IT departments to success.

Much like a TAC officer, CIOs also have referent power and influence (especially within IT), acquired from being well liked or respected by their staff. This power is earned through IT successes associated with the leadership provided by the CIO.

Do you as a CIO remember the leadership and guidance you provided on a recent IT initiative? Did the folks in IT identify these successes or failures with your leadership as CIO? I’d like to know. Drop me line when you can.

—John

 

SharePoint 2010 Governance – Differing Views from the SP Conference 2009

During the SP2010 conference in Las Vegas, I had an opportunity to sit in two different sessions on Governance with two different approaches to creating SharePoint Governance:

• Governance, Politics, and Diplomacy with SharePoint: Success Factors Beyond Technology by Craig Roth of the Burton Group
• SP2010 – Still a need for IT Governance, by Dana Berg and John Roe at SpeakTech.com

The first session (SpeakTech) drilled into more of the technical inclusions needed and gave an example around building a SP2010 Governance plan, albeit from an “IT Governance Plan” perspective.

The second session (Burton Group) focused on Governance from a “website umbrella” or theory point-of-view and then gave a very useful slide listing all the things a good SharePoint Governance plan…or Statement of Governance…should contain.

SharePoint Governance definition one: (SpeakTech)

“The set of people, process, procedures, guidelines, and tools affecting the organization in order to maximize the potential for providing business value, reduce risk during deployment, ensure compliance, eliminate gaps in accountability, set appropriate steering of the service, and ensure the solution can scale with growth and increased usage.”

The speaker went on to describe governance as, “…a balance between users and IT; a balancing of IT systems with the Service, Application, or tools users need; with compliance as a foundation…” He also answered basic questions around:

• What is Governance and why do we need it?
• How to Conquer Governance
• Key Governance Considerations in SP2010
• A look at some common business needs

SharePoint Governance definition two: (Roth – the Burton Group)

“Website governance uses people, policy, and process to resolve ambiguity, manage short and long range goals; and mitigate conflict within an organization. Roth went on to explain that, “…ambiguity exists because development teams are often led by unspoken rules…” He mentioned that the inclusion of governance allows you to mitigate conflict – a major value point as it helps to predetermine who wins in an argument before it elevates to a meeting with the business leader. He described the short and long range goals needed as, “…something that optimizes for the organization as a whole…”

While both presentation sessions were very good, I think I took more notes in the Burton Group (Roth) session primarily because I’ve created many detailed IT Governance Plans in my past global SharePoint implementations and I wanted more information from a higher level point-of-view. Roth’s presentation offered that. (I know I’m biased in my note taking, but this was just what I needed. I’ve included more of my notes from that session below:

According to Roth, Governance is not:

• A maintenance manual
• Standards list
• Information architecture
• A rule book
• Management
• IT Governance
• A place to put chargeback information (although place it in an appendix if you must include it in your governance plan.)
• Anything that doesn’t deal with people, process, or policy. Separate these things into a different, more lover level document.

 Governance is:

• Governance provides a framework for the above docs and lists and helps ensure their success. Use a federated model to set high level policy but allow for freedom for other groups to make decisions within your framework.
• Governance describes the “why” as well as the “how”
• The authority of governance derives from executive buy-in which is lost or difficult to obtain for low level details.
• A set of issues that HAVE to be addressed.
• Main audience is owners of SharePoint sites and portals, both the business owner and his/her IT partner. (although IT audience should be considered as the secondary audience, which is often not the case.)
• SharePoint Governance is adopted gradually if the organization has a culture of conforming to website governance.

According to Roth, Governance helps prevent many forms of SP pain:

• Wasted investment in time and software
• Internal competition among similar communication mechanisms
• Difficulty finding info across sites
• Posting of abusive, frivolous, offensive, and legal actionable information

…and SharePoint has proven vulnerable to chaos when ungoverned due to:

• Ease of deployment
• Grass roots nature (placing creation in non-IT hands)
• Lack of multi-farm management
• Frequent overlap with installed capabilities

Creating a Governance plan – a “Statement of Governance”

Roth offered the following points in his session:

• Don’t talk Governance without also discussing compliance. (How you will actually check up on it.) Talk with business folks on policies, risk, internal politics, to create a statement of Governance.
• Include social enforcement in addition to central control.
• Remember a “Statement of Governance” is a living document

Governance Authority:

• Executives…Governance Committee… Owner…Resources and stakeholders

 An example Statement of Governance (SOG) Document Outline: 

1. Introduction
   • Includes scope, problem statement, and relationships to other documents
2. People – a seat at the governance table
   • Includes the governance team members, rotates members via a fair practice to pick team representatives.
3. Policy
   • Anticipates and answers the audience question, “why?”
   • Is like the constitution in that it lays the intentions and directions that processes will attach to.
   • Grants authority and justification for governance processes
4. Process
   • Includes one level of detail drill down on policy that answers the question, “how?”, for each policy
   • Ideally, each process is attached to one policy
5. Measurements
   • Answers the question, “How will compliance be measured?”
   • Answers the question, “How will the effects of compliance be measured?”
   • Step 1 – Benchmark before you deploy SharePoint, so improvements after SharePoint project can be tracked
   • Step 2 – Use surveys or polling to measure policy
   • Step 3 – Use iterations over time to measure process.
6. Timelines – place a rollout schedule in this section
   • Publish a schedule of when new processes will take effect, and desired metrics over time
   • Include time for socializing the Statement of Governance

All-in-all the SharePoint Conference 2009 gave plenty of insights into SharePoint Governance. If you are looking for more information on Governance, send me a comment, contact the Burton Group directly, or contact the guys over at SpeakTech. 

I’ll try to post more later…John

Cloud SLAs Aren’t Enough Assurance

There are many people talking about Cloud Computing, risk, and SLAs. My CIO friend Arun Manansingh has written a very good blog post to a recent MacWorld article on the subject.  I agree with my peers when they say the companies offering cloud computing services aren’t yet able to sign the service level agreements (SLAs) or give the expected level of assurance that our customers need to entrust their core computing tasks to. 

But an SLA certainly doesn’t keep outages from happening. (At least not in my experience.) I believe an SLA is no substitute for good old fashioned failover capability.

Infrastructure level SLAs for cloud computing are still emerging as the market and services mature, but the same is not true at the application level. I’m seeing some A-M-A-Z-I-N-G stuff in the works as my customers are architecting applications at design time with the cloud in mind. Folks, this a very big shift from just taking an existing application and trying to retrofit it for the cloud.

Still, we are still a very long way from the reliability expected from my Financial and Oil and Gas customers in order to move core apps to the cloud.