InformationWeek

Ask The Secret CIO

By Herbert W. Lovelace
Issue date: Sept 24, 1996

Your letters to my print column and this E-mail forum ask some serious questions about managing information technology in today's world. 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 those 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 resend it, I would be delighted to see it. Sorry about the problem.

Dear Herb:

In your column " Choose Your Allies with Care " you just don't know how close to the truth you really are!

The best section is the paragraph: "Unfortunately, they feel that by virtue of their appointment they have become technical gurus and planning visionaries, able to master every intricate detail of a large project. They try to do what has taken others 20 years to learn, while studiously avoiding the activities for which they were hired. As a result, they foul up the technical details and project planning, wh ile the critical coordination necessary to ensure that a project meets its objectives goes neglected. Important nuances of business strategy are not identified, and key decisions are not resolved."

Sometimes IT managers are simply told who they must work with from userland. When you get one that fits your description you work with the project director from hell.

Regards,

John

Dear John,

I have received a lot of mail about the column on project directors. I learned that my experiences were not unique. The next letter is one that I suspect we would all love to get from our user project directors. I know I would.

Dear Herb,

Great article in the July edition of InformationWeek ("Choose Your Allies with Care"). I am one of those business people appointed as a project director on a technology project. Based on your article I think I am one of the good guys. . .others may disagree. The problem however, as I see it is this:

Typically, the people from the business have no formal project-management training. There is a definite skill in managing a successful project. We, the business people, are used to putting out fires every day.

I know I am doing a good job, but for me that isn't good enough. I want to do a great job. What is the best way to get up to speed on project-management skills FAST?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for listening.

Joel

Dear Joel, Your are a smart person for recognizing that you have entered a different world. As you say, business people spend their time putting out fires and usually do not have formal project-management training. A very good book on the subject is an old one, Frederick Brooks' The Mythical Man-Month. Also, pose your question to some of your technical project managers. Take them out for coffee or for lunch, two or three at a time, and ask them what has to be done to make things work correctly. They will appreciate you asking. You will get some good advice bundled in with e xtraneous information, but patience is one thing that it takes to become a good project director. Some key things to consider: Is there a clearly defined goal that everyone can describe in detail and agree upon? Is there a plan with understandable and measurable checkpoints? Are the checkpoints frequent (every one to two weeks)? What specifically will be tested and by whom?

Dear Herb:

Bravo!! I thoroughly enjoyed your article " You Call This Progress? " and would like to add that the people most affected by the crashing boundaries between work and play are first- and second-level managers.

I work for what would be considered a telecommunications giant by some (no, not that one) and an upstart leading edge company by others. We remain at the forefront because of our ability to stop on a dime and give nine cents change. In order to remain competitive in this shark pool, change is a given and sacrifice is an expectation.

I was handed a laptop and persona l pager 18 months ago and I have only recently realized that I have been living to work since what I now call D-Day. In the office by 7 a.m., worked till 6 p.m., go home, had dinner, and worked on E-mail till midnight, at least. That doesn't count the multitude of business trips, urgent requests for numbers or analysis from my director that were added to the workload and cheerfully accepted with a "No problem!" response. Sure I was on top of everything. But the cost was far too high. I am only 31 years old and my life was my work, my marriage was over (I was just too busy to have the decency to end it) and my kids were growing up without me.

What do we teach our kids? "Just say NO!"

I have learned about technology and workload that I am the master. Not the reverse. E-mails will not disappear if I shut down at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. occasionally and don't check again till morning. I work hard and make a difference. That is what matters. I urge anyone who thinks this story sounds familiar to take a good ha rd look at what your skills and aspirations are, temper that with what you need to achieve personal happiness and then decide how far into your life you are going to let the electronic office.

Bob
Information Systems Integration Manager

Dear Bob:

It's a shame that the cost of learning the lesson was so high, but some people never learn it. The purpose of the column was to get people to reflect on the choices that we are making because the technology gets us hooked and permits us to be working all the time to the exclusion of everything else.

Dear Herb,

I chanced upon your column and it [piqued] my curiosity. I am a Web administrator, graphic designer, and have invented three new products for a young start-up company. I would be considered on the young side, but age should have no bearing on salary. My dilemma: After being hired right out of college, my company was able to snag my services for a song. I know I am underpaid, but what is considered obnoxious in the sense of a raise?

I currently make WELL under 30K and have seen the ads for 35-60K in the paper. I feel I am valuable. But I do know that everyone is replaceable. I know you don't have the full scope of the picture but any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Quandary,

David
Company name withheld

Dear Quandary,

Salary is supposed to be based on value, not longevity, but that isn't the way it always works. Your best strategy is to first decide what you would do if you were fired, because that is the worst thing that could happen if you asked for a raise. If you can weather that storm, sit down with your boss and explain that the marketplace for your skills are far more than you are being paid and ask what the plan is to get you in a more competitive situation. Keep your comments to a minimum and let her or him talk. If you are not satisfied with the answer--and the resultant action--then start looking.

Dear Herb,

Great column on the " Paradoxical People's Picnic "--right on the mark, with a score of 4.5 Dilberts out of 5.

I've always noticed that attending the company picnic is the best way to make an investment (or employment) decision. Growing companies have energetic picnics, with touch football, full-contact volleyball, pot luck food, much beer drinking of company-supplied beer, and lots of sexual innuendo (less in these PC days).

Mature companies have more ponderous picnics, prearranged softball teams, catered food, organized activities for the kids, and the managerial clumping you mentioned.

Dying companies have the same type of picnics as mature companies, but not enough people sign up to field a softball team, the food is always served late, all the employees stay with their kids, and managers at the higher levels come up with excuses why they can't attend.

Fun article.

John Pescatore, senior consultant
Trusted Information Systems

Dear John,

Sounds like you can write a master's thesis on these picnics.

Dear Herb,

I've found your IW articles in the past to be funny but somewhat on the dark side. This month's article about company picnics (Paradoxical People's Picnic) concerns me. Everyone in the human race has failings so we need to find and encourage the nobility in man as well as realistically see the failings. A clumsy effort by an otherwise cold-hearted executive to connect with his employees should be encouraged, not ridiculed in my opinion.

Henry
Mead PPD

Dear Henry, I could not agree with you more. I was observing, not critiquing. What I found fascinating was that although the event was planned in a cool, analytical way to have a warm fuzzy outcome, it worked. Who knows, if we do it often enough, nature may imitate art and the camaraderie may even become real and unforced.

Dear Herb,

I just finished reading your article "A Paradoxical Peoples' Picnic" in the Aug 19 issue of InformationWeek. I assume you were in t he class of "genuinely prefer the company of real workers to that of other executives" or else you wouldn't have written the article. I am just getting started in the technical-corporate world--well, for the last 3 years anyway (I am 22 years old). I aspire to become a CIO or something fairly equivalent to that someday, so your article rather intrigued me. I detest politics, even corporate politics, yet I know that I can't avoid it if I desire to continue in the corporate world. I was wondering if you have any tips on remaining a down-to-earth person who doesn't look down on other employees just because they have a lower-ranked job. Or maybe better, how to relate to executives without seeming like I am trying to be a brown-noser (if you will allow the expression). Personally, I don't care much for that sort of thing.

Thanks,

Chrys

Dear Chrys,

The single best rule I have found is to remember that the clerk in the supermarket checkout line could not care less what you do for a living. Don't t ake yourself too seriously and recognize that you can learn a lot from other people, regardless of their position in the company. Guess what? If want to understand employee morale or how things really get done, talking to a vice president is probably not the place to start. Your second question about relating to executives is difficult because some of them like down-to-earth people, while others of them are defined by their job, and surround themselves by fawning types. They tell you to be open and candid, but will cut your throat if you are. Just act polite and keep a low profile around them. By the way, you can normally spot them. They are the folks who introduce themselves to strangers by using their full titles instead of just their names.

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