InformationWeek

Ask The Secret CIO

By Herbert W. Lovelace
Issue date: Sept 9, 1996

Your letters to my print column and this online forum ask some serious questions about managing IT in today's world. But since today's world is essentially absurd, my serious responses may sometimes sound a little whimsical, and my occasional whimsical one, serious. In any case, if you want to participate, write to me at secret@cmp.com . I'll respond to thos e letters that I can. I reserve the right to edit for size and content. Just sign your E-mail the way you want it to appear online.

Due to a technical glitch (I bet this sounds familiar) I never received the mail that you sent to me from late June to early August. So, if you are willing to take the time to send it again, I would be delighted to see it. Sorry about the problem.

Dear Herb:

I found the article on project directors (" Choose Your Allies With Care ," InformationWeek , July 8) extremely true and to the point. This is exactly what happens in our place of work. We have more of the type #1 person--those that know nothing, won't admit it, delegate everything, but attend all of the important meetings and make it seem they're doing something. But we also have the type #2 project directors who screw things up so badly that the staff covers up, then the person takes credit. Also, you are so right about how management takes notice and then the p erson takes the credit and is promoted. If a project goes smoothly, management says that it couldn't have been that hard! Right on with that article.

Milton

Dear Milton:

Many senior managers do not have a clue as to how their function operates and really cannot evaluate the quality of the heads of business-critical projects. On the other hand, look at it this way: If people like that were not employed in our companies, imagine all the damage they could do to the country if they ran for political office.

Hello, Herb:

Your column "Choose Your Allies With Care" is one I've cut out and framed. My boss (a #2 flavor) couldn't figure out why. Everyone else in the department wanted a copy. Thanks for making the simple old alphabet sublime.

Valerie

Dear Val:

The fact that the boss can't figure out why you've framed it makes it a lot more fun, doesn't it? I bet he or she thinks Dilbert is about other people, too.

Herb:

While re ading your Herbert W. Lovelace column (" You Call This Progress? " InformationWeek , Aug. 5) this morning at breakfast, I recalled the pre-progress days when I had time to read magazines such as Esquire. Was The Secret CIO once undercover as Stanley Bing?

Phil Giannattasio
Business Systems Manager
Chesebrough-Pond's USA
Trumbull, Conn.

Dear Phil:

I did not write the Stanley Bing column in Esquire or the recent incarnation of Stanley in Fortune. However, I did enjoy reading them. They really communicated that he had "been there, done that."

Dear Herb:

I enjoyed reading your recent article "You Call This Progress?" I can relate to your comments more than you can imagine. Try taking a vacation in the '90s if you work for a technology company. You're given a laptop and expected to use it at all times. You are never given the opportunity to "get a break from the office," as the office always travels with you. On a recent vacat ion, I decided to boycott technology and left my laptop at home and didn't dial in to my 800 number. Big mistake. You try returning over 45 E-mails and 42 voice mails in one day (I consider myself lucky that there weren't more), and try to get your work done. It's times like these that I keep trying to remind myself that technology is my friend!

Angelia Darnbrough
Cyborg Systems

Dear Angelia:

The AT&T slogan should be modified to say "Reach Out and Bother Someone."

Dearest Herbert:

It was with admiration and empathy that I read your column "You Call This Progress?" You might ask, what on earth was I doing on a Saturday working in the office and catching up on mail and work? Well, having lost all semblance of a personal (???) life as the lead Staff Consultant for Enterprise Process Engineering, I am attempting to eke out eight hours to spend with my daughter on Wednesday. I have seen her one day this month so far -- and although she is in college, we still live t ogether. My son, himself a family man, has told me with dripping sarcasm, "Mom, I know this will come as a surprise to you, but most people LIVE at home!"

There is a recourse to this, but it is highly dependent on the lead executive's personality and priorities. My brother, who recently assumed the presidency of an international consulting practice, informed the gathered managers, in his first meeting with them, that his job was to help them balance personal and professional lives. He told me that there was a stunned and astounded silence that greeted his comment.

Second, we can and must make work more fun. I have become convinced that fun is a truly unique and human contributor to our health and success. I have a monthly column in Enterprise Reengineering, and in it I recently addressed this need for fun in the workplace. I would be happy to E-mail the text. I don't want to overwhelm you in this first communique -- you might be winging your way over the Atlantic, cupping a warm brandy in that right hand, eyes drooping as you contemplate a sunset out the window -- Sleep tight!

Nancy L. Hutchin

Dear Nancy:

I'd be delighted to read your article on the need for fun and family in achieving a balanced life. Actually, that is one of the reasons I write the column. It's my way of sharing some ideas and comments on the absurd things we all observe.

Dear Herb:

I enjoyed your column regarding the boundary between work and play ("You Call This Progress?). You forgot to mention the status involved with having all the gadetry. I once saw a beggar with a beeper--honest! I have also seen a waiter wear a beeper.

Reuven

Dear Reuven:

It makes sense. There used to be status in having a pager, but today no self-respecting executive would wear one. Status comes from having all of your subordinates wear one so that your secretary can find them when you have a whim to fulfill. I try to keep mine out of sight so that I can be mistaken for someone important rathe r than the company's CIO. They are useful, however, as a means of getting out of boring meetings. Just look at yours, frown knowingly, shake your head, and say, "I'll be back if I can get this situation squared away."

Herb:

Personally, I think the aliens did land at Roswell in '47 and are in the final phase of a structured approach to implement the complete brainwashing of the corporate populace to respond to beeps, bells, and rings regardless of location or activity. All this empowerment means we can now work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the same scale we did when we worked "five by eight." A good conspiracy theorist couldn't invent something so insidious. Some hidden government department must know something.

I always look for your work first, which says something about me.

Best regards,

Ross Chevalier
VP, Professional Services
BRAINS II, Inc.

Dear Ross:

I had not thought about it, but we could assume it is part of a plot. There are some really great conspiracy theories out there, as you imply, and why should their proponents have all the fun?

I appreciate that you look for my work first in the magazine. So do I.

Mr. "Lovelace":

In your article "You Call This Progress?" you wrote, "I recently removed a programmer from a project, on which she was doing a good job, because she admitted that the workload was ruining her home life." Can you comment on:

1) How did you make the decision to remove the programmer from the project?

2) What other solutions did you consider?

3) How did you gain acceptance from the project team and the affected programmer for your action?

4) How did the project team compensate for the loss of the contributions of the programmer?

5) What actions do you recommend to reduce the chances of a similar situation?

Very best regards,

Daniel Sloan
Houston

Dear Dan:

I made the decision to remove her after it was evident that she could not fo rce herself to take off from the job and she started to bristle whenever the least little thing went wrong. I began to see a very good person focus on her work to the exclusion of everything else that used to be important to her. We (the project director and I) tried to get her to take vacation time, but she would not take the days off; she felt others were depending on her and could not do the job as well as she could. The project team, which was very close-knit, was very concerned for her well-being, so they were supportive of the change, although it meant everyone else had to do even more. I hired contract personnel to help them as much as I could over the resultant bump. If I had it to do over again, I would have had included families in some team events to strengthen people's personal support networks and been more sensitive, myself, to signs of stress.

Dear "Herb"

Kudos (kind of). Interesting commentary in " Smelling the Tulips " ( InformationWeek , July 22). Your take on the Internet is rather refreshing! However, the cynic in me wants to ask what you would have told young "Bill" and "Steven" in the early '70s, while the entrepreneur in me wants to ask what a pair of 21st century Levis look like.

Signed,

Inter-netted

Dear Inter-netted,

There were prospectors during the gold rush who made fortunes and many more who went bust. So it will be with the Internet. Back in the '70s I would have told Bill Gates and Steve Jobs that the odds were against them. At that time I thought that VisiCalc was the greatest thing going and that Digital Research was going great guns. It's probably safe to say that with Gates tenaciously -- and with vision, skill, and luck -- guarding the operating system, he owns the jeans that the rest of us will be wearing at the start of the 21st century.

Got a question for The Secret CIO? Just send an e-mail .

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