InformationWeek

Ask The Secret CIO

By Herbert W. Lovelace
Issue date: Dec. 3, 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.

Dear Herbert:

I think your column " Choose Your Allies With Care " (July 8, p. 112) is an excellent candidate for a Dilbert Zone cartoon. Why don't you send it to Scott Adams on America Online?

One thing: Why do companies use people on development teams that don't know the first thing about applications? I used to work for a health-care company that spent $20 million per year for five years and never implemented a line of code in their new system. They put operations and systems people in charge of the whole thing, but not one person with an applications background! Also, they used CASE because they believed they would not need programmers! Why don't companies wise up to three things? 1) When you're building applications, use applications people; 2) When yo u're building applications, don't get Big Six consulting firms involved; 3) Most important, when implementing teams, find people who can and do work together. Thanks again for writing about your experience. It was right on.

My best,
Burt

Dear Burt:

Scott has some great ideas--in fact, you may have been at the InformationWeek 500 and heard him share some of the strips that did not make it past the PCP (politically correct police) into the newspapers.

The main reason is clear why companies use people (including some very impressive consultants) who know nothing about building systems to build their systems: The big shots making the decisions also know nothing. Remember, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man shall rule supreme--even if he left his glasses home.

Dear Secret CIO:

We have an IT governance board that consists of heads of each department (the VIPs, if you will), along with our CFO and CEO. There are 10 total. Six of them don't even have a computer, and two of them still use paper to fill out the annual budget for the company. Also, more than one of them refuse to learn how to use E-mail. So you can imagine the discussions at these meetings. Projects that are so easy to do a fifth-grader could have completed them have been put on "hold" because the VIPs want to discuss it some more. Do you experience this problem? If you do, how do you handle it? If you don't, what suggestions do you have?

Thanks,
Keith

Dear Keith:

I had a similar problem. The way I handled it was to try to find one computer application that was important to each of the members of our executive group. For example, I was surprised to learn that Gornish, our CFO, wanted to do his own presentations, so I got him training on the corporate presentation graphics package. As soon as I was able to get a few of them using a computer, the overall tenor of the meetings improved. Of course, because I used the same graphics package as Gornish to make presentations with p retty pictures, things went even better.

Dear Herb:

I always read your column in InformationWeek first! I wish that our organization had CIOs who could communicate the way your columns read. You are so right about those team-building meetings (" Team Building Is For You ," Oct. 7). I am learning so much from you, and I'm glad to see that someone in your position sees things the same way that I do.

Janet

Dear Janet:

Thanks for your letter. We obviously have a lot in common. Not only do we see things the same way, but, like you, I also always read my columns first.

Herbert,

I've been through a few of these off-site sessions meant to bring the corporate entity closer to the company. This has led me to the same conclusion that you had. To the novice, it seems like a great forum for voicing opinions and ideas, but it is just a macrocosm of our everyday meetings: Identify areas of opportunity while mystically bypas sing recent real-life events so there is no actual blame for the supposedly totally foolproof plan created by all our managerial know-it-alls that sputtered when implemented. No one asks, "How come we aren't doing this stuff now? If we already have the answers, what's keeping us back?"

It's always easiest to see what someone else is doing wrong, and there always seem to be more time and more dedication to do something about it later. A large corporation is run mainly on image. We leave the content to the new employees and get ourselves a free meal.

Dave

Dear Dave:

It probably isn't quite that bad. Most leaders are struggling to improve their company. Some just have difficulty understanding how to fix the problems they see. As a result, they keep trying to identify new issues or redescribe the old ones, because it is easier to try to find a silver bullet to make things right. Thus, Quality; thus, Reengineering. It is sort of like the guy who is on his hands and knees under a streetlamp searching for his car keys, even though he lost them a 100 yards away in the dark. Intuitively, he knows he won't find them there, but he can see better under the streetlamp.

Dear Herb:

Just a line to let you know how much I have enjoyed your comments over the past months. The company I work for is merging with another and everyone is "concerned" about positions open or lost. I, being a non-IS person, have other skills to fall back on should my position be eliminated. The scramble among others to create and maintain "kingdoms" is laughable. If only people would learn that the best way to keep your job is to provide value and service for the pay. Your column (" Dining At The Paradigm ," Sept. 23) about James Cash stating integrity, discretion, and openness are essential hit the nail on the head. People need to look outward rather then focusing on themselves. Keep up the good work. A well-placed needle in the windbags is always welcome from my point of view !

John

Dear John:

Thanks for your comments. It is very difficult for people who are scared of losing their jobs to work in a cooperative fashion. The armed forces are, interestingly enough, the model for how to get people to work together when they are threatened by an enemy. The objective is for us to make sure the enemy is our business competitors, not our management and not each other.

Jim Cash has a lot to teach people. If you have not had an opportunity to listen to him speak, try to get to a seminar where you can hear him.

Herb,

I've really enjoyed reading your columns in InformationWeek , but it was "Team Building Is for You" (Oct. 7, p. 164) that I found especially appropriate. Our organization is too small to gather all the managers for a team-building retreat, but it is large enough to experience the same silliness you describe.

At one recent project design meeting, the project manager conducted what I could best describe as a guessing ga me. "If you guess how I think this software product should work then you get to write it down, and you don't get to leave until you guess right." The only consolation prize was of course the requisite dinner.

His management style might be summed up in one exchange he had with a programmer from another of our divisions:

Manager: "Well, what do want for dinner? Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Thai food?"

Programmer: "I'd like Japanese."

Manager: "Right. We're having Chinese tonight."

Keep up the good work!

Mark

Dear Mark:

I love it. I suspect that some people think I make up the stuff in my column. As you can attest, there is no need to do that--the truth is too funny. Witness your experience.

Herb,

I enjoyed reading "Dining At The Paradigm" in your Sept. 23 issue. I was particularly intrigued by a reference to the InformationWeek 500 conference that was held in "Laguna Nigel," Calif. How fascinating! Is this one of those California comm unities that was founded by English expatriates?

Strangely, the closest match I could find on my map of California was Laguna Niguel. Clearly, the IW 500 conference was quite an exclusive event.

Malcolm
Unix Systems Manager

Dear Malcolm:

Spoken with the precision of a true Unix guru. Thanks for your correction.

Herb,

What are your ideas for determining the business value of infrastructure projects? Budgeting $23 million for a network upgrade to "improve productivity" doesn't seem to cut the justification mustard. Please share your thoughts for zeroing in on value so the company can make a wise investment.

Thanks!
Sparky Consultant Dear Sparky:

There really isn't any way of determining the business value of infrastructure projects. It is sort of like trying to sell a wonderful meal at a special restaurant with a marvelous companion based on the vitamins you will be ingesting. Infrastructure is the glue that holds the enterprise together and pe rmits the systems that help the business do whatever it is that the business does. The best way I have come across of "selling it" is to bundle it with the projects that people want. If one project won't support it (and $23 million is a lot to put on the back of any project), then I propose a slate of activities that people want, and say the infrastructure allows each of them to be done. I have never proposed infrastructure upgrades without tying them to specific activities dear to someone's heart.

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