InformationWeek

Ask The Secret CIO

By Herbert W. Lovelace
May 20, 1997

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 letter s 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 Herb:

Concerning your article " Taste of Our Own Medicine ," (IW, Feb. 10), I was curious as to whether you actually did get your corporate card and personal card synchronized with regard to frequent-flier miles, and if you can say, was it American Express? (I ask this since I was told by them that the two could not be "linked" like this.) I realize this is a rather inconsequential question in light of the quite serious topic of the article -- a great exemplar of the sad state of our profession.

Stan

Dear Stan,

For you and all the others who have asked, yes, I finally got my card and my frequent-flier accounts linked, although it took me about an hour of data entry using a telephone. After taking even more calls than I had room to write about, I was finally told to call yet another automated line where I had to typ e in all my frequent-flier numbers using a touch-tone phone. I could not just send them a list of my cards.

Stan, as for your question as to which credit card monolith I wrote about, I don't think it would be polite for me to mention its name, but I will say that the color of the card is the same as the color that's on the back of a $10 bill.

And for Tom Bassett, who asked, "Did you ever get the card linked to your frequent-flier account, or is that food for another story?" -- you now know that I did get the card linked and I am sure there is food for another column in the gory details. To the rest of you out there, let me know your favorite tale of woe in which a computer (probably through no fault of its own) turned surly and trashed you.

Dear Secret CIO:

Good point in "Taste of Our Own Medicine," but I'll bet that over the years Gornish has, whenever possible, complained about how long it took IS to get his applications implemented. I'm sure he said things like, "We're in a co mpetitive business here, and we don't have time to dot all the 'i's and cross all the 't's. Just get it done!" If I were you I'd call the credit card company back and suggest that Sid might be headed for bankruptcy court or some other unpleasant place that would make a credit manager's blood run cold.

I can't remember where I saw it, but one of the greatest pieces of wisdom I've come across was a picture of a triangle, labeled "business rules." Each vertex of the triangle was labeled with one of the words "good," "fast," or "cheap." Below was a legend that read, "You can have any two of the above." Nowhere is this truer than in our business.

I enjoy your column. Keep up the good work.

Jim

Dear Jim:

Do you and I work together? You better believe that Gornish always complains about how long it takes to get applications implemented. He also gives long, sarcastic speeches about "gold-plating a system that probably won't operate right, anyway."

I like the idea of telling the credit card c ompany that good- old Sid is heading for bankruptcy court, but I have a sneaking suspicion that doing so would be highly illegal, and even if it were legal, it would be a mean thing to do. I don't think either of us would want to lose the high moral ground that lets us criticize people like Sid by doing something simply because it would be funny and well-deserved.

Dear Herbert,

While I found your brush with bureaucracy ("Taste Of Our Own Medicine") amusing, I may be able to top that story.

With the advent of the 'Net, you're probably aware of the proliferation of E-saver airline fares, which are basically last-minute weekend fares for seats the airlines know they'll never fill. I'd promptly received my weekly list from US Airways when, lo and behold, there was a special to Houston for $139. I promptly dialed the posted number with visions of warmth and leisure among friends I hadn't seen in years. Silly me.

As member of one of US Airway's elite frequent-flier programs, I'm treate d with kid gloves, which is nice, if people know what they're doing. So, I'm on the phone with the E-saver department and they realize that since I'm a "special" member, someone "special" has to fill my order.

At this point, all I want is a seat. But off they transfer me to their priority gold service center. They tell me that they can't do E-saver tickets. Can you guess where this is going? To sum it up, I had to listen to two agents fight over who was responsible for making my reservation.

Now you're probably saying, how long did this take? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Try just over an hour. I feel much better now, though. Today in the mail I received a generic postcard saying, "We're sorry for your inconvenience," after I wrote them a letter of complaint. Now if I could just get them to copy my name properly off the letter...while my name is Jon Leach, the letter came addressed to Lon Jeach. I can only hope they outsource their pilot training.

Jon Leach

Dear Jon,

Your story is a good one and it does top mine. Maybe a new figure of efficiency for airlines in general would be the hassle ratio. The hassle ratio would be defined as the time to make the reservation divided by the actual flight time. Let's see, if you were flying from, say, Charlotte, N.C., (a US Airways hub) to Houston, that would be a hassle ratio of more than 0.5, which is mighty high.

Herbert,

I love your stuff, but I have to take exception to the piece "A Taste Of Our Own Medicine."

The problem you encountered was probably caused by the marketing department insisting that the company give the world the image of one unified, service-oriented family. Unfortunately, from dealing with Amex, MCI, and others, I know this isn't true. You have separate businesses united by a common name and 800-number.

We in IT can provide the technology to link these businesses and train people in systems, but other departments must provide training on the services and product lines the company offers.

As a CIO I' ll take some blame, but not all.

Keep up the good work.

Bob C.

Dear Bob,

You are correct in everything you say. We can provide the technology and train the people but we cannot force the changes in the business structures that make separate businesses function as one. That doesn't keep us, however, from getting blamed for not being able to make these separate businesses appear as one.

We have an obligation, if only from self-reservation, to hammer home the importance of building our individual systems to allow this level of integration so that the heads of the businesses have this capability if they ever want to use it. Even more important is integrating the business processes -- which was the real problem in this situation -- so the customer sees a seamless environment. Having said that, it is a rare decentralized company that will ever permit the loss of autonomy that is required to provide that level of flexibility.

Dear Mr. Lovelace,

I am a 16-year veteran of the IT business and a staunch advocate of a disciplined approach to information resource management. I read your column regularly, and find it interesting and insightful. Often your comments resonate eerily with events in my own corporate environment.

However, in your article "Taste of Our Own Medicine," I believe you have observed a real phenomenon, but have unfairly implied that the blame rests with IS.

No competent IT professional would ever design a system to operate in the manner you described. That scenario has all the characteristics of a business requirement which was hastily met using isolated systems that were never intended to share information. Of course, such systems can be effectively integrated, however business sponsors seldom provide the funding or the time to allow the IT organization to do the job right. The result is the kind of disjointed solution you encountered which barely meets the business need and sends absolutely the wrong message to the external customer.

I would submit t hat it is the responsibility of every IT professional, especially the CIO, to lobby business sponsors to adequately fund system development. Quality and architecture matter. Your story proves that. Systems (enhancements) that are well designed and carefully architected can elegantly meet business needs, and always cost less over time than the type of shortsighted patchwork you described. In the end, IT professionals who agree to unreasonable schedules and budgets contribute to their own loss of credibility by accepting constraints that virtually guarantee failure. As a profession, we need to do a better job of educating our business partners on the importance (and benefits) of sound design and the real cost of achieving it.

Maybe you can keep your experience with the credit card company in your back pocket until the next time Sid Gornish wants your organization to deliver a system in half the time and with half the funding. Then remind him of your mutual credit card fiasco, and point out that a few more d ollars would have resulted in a solution that was better for the business and also impressed the external customer. I believe this should have the last line in your article, not the cheap shot you took at the IS profession.

Jim

Dear Jim:

Thanks for your thoughtful letter. I did not intend for it to come across as a cheap shot at IS since I think that the obstacle really lies with incompletely slapping together, as the result of a marketing initiative, systems and business processes that are independent.

"Herbert":

I've been reading your column in InformationWeek for quite a while now and have enjoyed it immensely. Since you mention in your Jan. 27 article "2001: An IS Oddity" a fondness for 1991 Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot (a very nice wine, I agree), I thought I would pass along a suggestion for another California merlot -- Matanzas Creek. A lovely bottle of wine (in almost any year) and one I think you would enjoy. (Call this recommendation a thank you for your entert aining column.)

Larry (Bones) S.

Dear Bones,

An excellent recommendation. Thanks for suggesting it. Maybe we should have a wine-tasting review in InformationWeek . I know I would like that. After all, what is InformationWeek , if not innovative? I wonder what Bob Evans, our esteemed editor, would think of the idea? Maybe he can address the topic in one of his weekly editor's notes.

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