InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
Ask The Secret CIO
By Herbert W. LovelaceIssue date: Nov. 19, 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 ones, 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.
Hello Herb,
I enjoy your columns greatly -- you manage to put a human face to your job and your co-workers.
I write this letter to you because I am curious as to what kind of joy a CIO (in general) would get from his or her job, and what's available to the CIO as a career path (besides high level consulting)?
I don't mean to be trite; being a CIO means everyone is on your back because they need you to provide a service, but at the same time, you manage a cost center, not a profit center (i.e., almost a necessary evil). Because of this, often you are in a defensive position, where you are trying to maintain things (maintain services, maintain sane hours, maintain projects which roll out new services), and not in a proactive position where you get a lot of control over what goes on. As o ne person said to me, "It's the sales guys who get treated nicely because they bring in money, but the techies get dumped on."
I am sorry if I sound naive; I'm fairly new to IT and its politics, and my experience is limited to a small-company perspective.
Sincerely,
Green
Dear Green,
I thought I had a pretty good job until I read your analysis of its stresses. Now I'm decidedly less joyful than I was a few minutes ago. Maybe that's the answer; Those of us who do this for a living probably are too busy to realize that depression is not a person's natural mood. Actually, most CIOs I know enjoy solving difficult problems. They also enjoy the interaction with both technical and business people. The dominant personality type seems to be an individual who values achievement of goals more than personal recognition. On the other hand, career paths are starting to broaden beyond consulting, but we are still probably a decade away from seeing CIOs commonly being considered for executive-level bus iness positions.
Why do we do it when we get dumped on so often and have so little control? Good question. I guess some of us like the challenge; others of us are willing to take the aggravation because of the sense of achievement when things go right; and the rest of us are either masochists or optimists.
Dear Herb:
Your article " You Call This Progress? " ( IW, Aug. 5, p. 116) hit home. It's Sunday night, my wife is watching a good movie on cable, and I'm in my office at home creating a "Field Technology Philosophy" for our organization's Central America and Canada regions, a project given to me about four days before tomorrow's due date. Part of that philosophy, I assure you, will touch on the importance of avoiding technology at appropriate times. Our field administrative personnel are increasingly "in touch" with home office and "out of touch" with field needs and personnel. The short-term impact looks efficient, but the intermediate-term impa ct yields frustration and burnout. The long-term impact? Ultimately, loss of contact with the people for whom our administrators are responsible.
Thank you for contributing your insight to your readers.
HC
Dear HC,
Thanks for you letter, and be sure to look on the bright side of the situation. The movie on cable your wife is watching may not be all that good -- and imagine if you are able to sign Demi Moore and Richard Gere for the leads in the film version of "Field Technology Philosophy." Actually, if you can, your company would be unique in having a manual to which people pay attention.
Your point about technology being used as a substitute for human interaction is very important. Too many people simply do not understand what you are trying to tell them. Like that other major innovation, television, the sociological impact of technology will take a while to be recognized and fully felt. I hope your section makes it through the corporate editing process.
Herbert,
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your Information Week column. There's always a good lesson to be learned.
Regards,
Thomas D. Steele
Information Engineering, Inc.
Dear Tom: I appreciate your comment. I showed it to Cindy as a way of justifying why I spend more time writing the column than on doing chores around the house.
Dear Herb:
Re: Your " Smelling The Tulips " ( IW , July 22, p. 100) column in InformationWeek .
You may also remember when everyone was going to have a CB radio in the car to avoid traffic. Also, when IRA's got started, if we each put away $2,000 a year at 20% interest, we'd all be millionaires in five years! We seem often to create solutions that then have to go looking for a problem . . . e.g., lasers in the '60s and superconductivity in the '80s.
Peter
Dear Peter:
Do I remember the CB radio? I still have two of them stashed away in the closet somewhere. I figure that li ke my slide rule, someday they will be valuable artifacts of a bygone era. Of course, the invention of lasers you mention has turned out to be very valuable. How could I play my opera compact disks without them?
Dear Mr. Lovelace:
How true! Your thoughts in "You Call This Progress" ( IW , Aug. 5, p. 116) are exactly what I see happening in our environment here as well. This is also compounded by all the "groupware" products being introduced to certain "groups," leaving the others wondering what all these ones are discussing. "We must be missing something!" seems to be a common thread adding to the existing stress level of the current workplace. They call this progress. . . .
Another increased-stress "progress" idea is cross pollination. A well-rounded employee is a better employee, therefore people should move around to other areas within the company. What happens to the person who is quite happy doing his job? Well . . . it seems that "cross-pollination" is one of the factors being used as a performance indicator.
Another stress factor is the "brain drain" dilemma. All this cross-pollination means that each opening has to be filled by another employee, and departments are working at below strength while the job is being filled and while the new person gets up to speed.
Don't forget we are working lean and mean these days. The question begs to be asked, are the benefits outweighing the negatives, increased stress levels all around, productivity down, increased education costs above the normal level, etc., etc.?
And they call this progress. Henry (The Secret Technical Support Person)
Dear Henry,
The hidden management agenda behind all of this movement that worries you is the excellent tactical military concept of "You cannot hit a moving target." You see, with all of this downsizing and other stuff that we management types are stuck with, we have little opportunity to promote people. So, we came up the idea that if we move everyone around enough, they would fix ate on that rather than the fact that we are not advancing them north on the organization chart.
Dear Mr. Lovelace:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your column "You Call This Progress?" ( IW , Aug. 5, p. 116) this evening and agree with it 100%.
You will be jealous to learn that, though I am an international telecommunications consultant and a budding oil pipeline executive, the sole way people can reach me is through my AT&T EasyReach 700 number. No pager, no laptop (or heaven forbid, a palmtop), no batteries, no cell phone. Life is good! I merely tell the AT&T computer where to forward my calls and give out the 700 number.
Unfortunately, my office is attached to my home, so when I am here, I work 110% of the time -- day, night, and weekends. It is when I am on multiweek travel that I actually have some free time to myself to enjoy without feeling guilty that I could be working (such as on an evening or weekend, perhaps).
To close, I would just like to add that you can add me to your column's fan club. It is one of only two parts of the magazine that I actually make time to read. The rest is just skimmed. Keep up the great observations!
Yours sincerely,
G
Dear G,
Thanks for your letter and the compliments. I like the idea of the EasyReach 700 number, but not working 110% while at home. Maybe the solution is to buy a pager and forward the EasyReach number to it -- and then leave the pager in a hotel room on one of those multiweek trips.
Sir,
I just finished reading your Sept. 2 episode of The Secret CIO (" Avoid Foot-In-Mouth Disease ," IW , p. 112).
I always wondered if you and I had absolutely anything in common. I feel a bit closer to you now; how often have I let my techie background be my worst enemy. A question sometimes isn't asked for the value of the answer, but rather is an initial thrust in a verbal fencing match. Hmm. I think I can learn how to make my answer (a.k.a. question) a verbal p arry.
Keep up the good work. Ms. Lovell sounds like one smart lady.
Regards,
Steve
Dear Steve,
You've always known that frequently a question isn't asked for the value of the answer, but rather is an initial thrust. You just haven't reflected upon it. Remember when you were growing up and you heard, "Surely you don't intend to leave your room looking like this"?
Karen Lovell is an extremely smart and competent executive. Oh, that there were more like her in corporations.
Dear Herbert,
Just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed the Sept. 2 column ("Avoid Foot-In-Mouth Disease," IW, p. 112) on office politics. I am in the middle of the IS department turning every little problem into a big one, and your article hit close to home. Glad you can play with the big boys; I've never been very good at it. I am going to use that phrase "There is a fundamental question here."
Thanx,
George
Dear George,
Happy to be of assistance. Remember that "office p olitics" is really the art of communicating. It only becomes a dirty concept if the objective is to trash someone or take advantage of another person.
Got a question for The Secret CIO? Just send an e-mail .
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