Fostering Innovation. Andrew Laudato

Introduction

      Are you a CIO? Then let's face it, nobody likes you. Not your team, not your boss, not your vendor partners, and, unfortunately, not your company's functional leaders. Because of the long hours you work, your family may not be too happy with you right now, and even your dog wonders where you've been all day.

      How is that possible? You work around the clock; you are constantly juggling priorities and pulling off the impossible. You and your team have saved your company from disaster on more than one occasion.

      IT leaders face many challenges. The first one is that IT can do more harm than good. When everything works perfectly, success is attributed to the functional leader. High sales result from desirable products and on-point marketing. When things go wrong, there's a good chance IT will take the blame. When the network is down, the registers aren't ringing, and the website is inaccessible, sales are impacted. When projects fail to deliver the expected value—IT again becomes the scapegoat.

      Another challenge IT leaders face is that we accomplish only a small fraction of what is desired. How many initiatives did your team complete last year? How many were requested? The gap is usually large. It's easy to dream up an extra feature, capability, or report. But it takes time, effort, and money to deliver those things.

      Another risk for IT leaders occurs when we don't understand or relate to our business. When we become enamored with solutions, we turn into hammers looking for nails. Trying to solve a technology problem with business is not the path to CIO stardom.

The good news is that there has never been a better time to be an IT leader. The world is on the fast track to digital everything, and technology is at the center of everything we do. I bet you bought this book on a computer. You may even be reading it on one. Not that long ago, we had to go to a bookstore to buy a book. As technologists drive this transformation, our standing as leaders and innovators will continue to improve. IT leaders' opportunities for career growth have never been better. More and more, IT leaders are part of the executive committee, and they have a seat at the executive table. IT leaders are being promoted to Chief Operating Officers (COO) and Chief Executive Officers (CEO). IT leaders are being tapped for corporate board seats, as the importance of technology has expanded in every type of business, big and small.

      In this book, we explore several tools and techniques for improving the IT function in your business.

Why Did I Write This Book?

      My grandmother had a saying: “If not me, then whom?” Like your grandmother, she'd be the one willing to tell you that your zipper was down, your breath smelled bad, or that dress did indeed make you look fat. She'd tell the hard truth because who else would?

      Let's face it: IT does not have the best reputation. We've come a long way since Nicholas Carr published “IT Doesn't Matter” in the Harvard Business Review in 2003, but we still have a long way to go. In many companies, IT bashing and IT scapegoating continue to be an acceptable part of the corporate culture.

      If you're a struggling CIO, I hope this book will help you turn things around. If you're a new CIO, you need to learn quickly because, in the digital age, you won't have the runway that my generation did. If you’re an aspiring CIO, don’t let this introduction discourage you. Consider this book proof that there’s a robust community of CIOs and IT leaders willing to exchange ideas and share lessons learned as you walk this path. CIO should no longer stand for Career Is Over. We're in the digital age, and the IT department can be an organization's most important asset.

About This Book

      In this book, I provide detailed and prescriptive advice on how to best run an IT department. I do so with the understanding that there's more than one way to accomplish that goal. Your approach should vary based on the company's size, the company's plans, the CEO's style, and the team's strength. External factors, including the economy, the state of the market, customer demand, and advancements in technology all impact how you should lead.

      Staying true to your values and beliefs is vital to being an open and honest leader. Don't read this book and then walk into the office on Monday morning a new and improved you. Continuous improvement concepts apply to our personal development as much as they do to our teams.

If your goal is to transform IT by pivoting to Agile and DevOps, you need to understand where your company is on its journey and adapt accordingly. IT leaders need to be agile with a little “a” before they can be Agile with a big “A.” You will find the Agile and Lean principles woven throughout the text. Although I am a staunch Agile advocate, this is not an Agile book.

      People who know me well will be shocked to see that the word project appears in this book over 100 times. Like George Carlin's seven words you can't say on television, I have a list of words I dislike. These, in no particular order, are project, user, phase, and resource. My dislike for the word project came from my adoption of Agile and its association with Waterfall project management. However, I'm okay with the classic definition of a project: an activity with a defined start and stop. We all set out to do work, and hopefully, that work gets finished in the best way possible.

      I wrote this book in plain language, making it accessible and hopefully enjoyable for non-technical readers. This book will provide insights for anyone in an IT leadership role and anyone who works closely with IT leaders. In today's digital age, that's just about everyone.

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