InformationWeek

June 23, 1998

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 lovelace@home.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 Herb:
What is your advice on dealing with a manager of an MIS department who lacks any technical knowledge?

Tau

Dear Tau:
Dealing with a manager of an IS organization who has no technical knowledge is like getting help from a doctor who has never gone to medical school or an auto mechanic who has worked only on typewriters. The willingness and brainpower may be there, but in the end, knowing what you are talking about is frequently a useful skill.

Before everyone who has come out of a business unit to become a CIO grows hysterical with me, let me explain that managing user relationships and setting business-oriented systems goals is an essential job, and if a CIO has good systems managers in the organization and relies on them, such a CIO can become a success. In a modern company, the IT organization must simultaneously be technically proficient and business-oriented. And therein lies the answer to your question.

First, you have to analyze whether the manager in question views himself as the above type of leader or whether he fancies himself as a newly anointed technical guru (see "Choose Your Allies With Care," InformationWeek, July 8, 1996) for what happens when you wind up with one of the latter).

If your boss is a good leader and you are asking how to communicate with an intelligent person who happens to be nontechnical, then just talk to him or her in terms that are understandable to someone who has not spent a lifetime as a techie. Under no circumstances try to snow your manager. Good business people can sniff that type of approach in a moment, and they tend to be totally unforgiving -- and justifiable so -- of anyone who tries that stunt. By making sure you are clear in your communication, you should find that you quickly become someone your manager relies upon, and you will help him or her learn about important technology.

If, on the other hand, you are burdened with an individual who is afraid to admit that he doesn't know everything, or thinks what he doesn't know is not worth knowing, you are unfortunately in a very different situation. First, you can try sitting down with your manager, saying that you recognize his time is valuable, and offer to summarize in business terms anything he would like to review. You are being nonthreatening with this technique and are using an educational method that does not blatantly expose the fact that he knows nothing about the technology side of his responsibilities. If you are rebuffed and he continues to cause you pain, then go to plan B. Plan B? Go out and get another job.

Dear Herb:
I was wondering what your role is as a CIO.

Hugh

Dear Hugh:
Good question. It's one I've asked myself. It's also one that Gornish, our CFO, has asked out loud at several meetings, although with somewhat less charity than I might have -- but that is an entirely different issue.

The answer to your question changes with what problem is hot on a given day, so on one level my role is to do whatever executive management thinks I should do that morning. Since that is sort of a vague response, let me provide another one.

As a CIO, I am the person responsible for making sure that:

The company's systems strategy is consistent with its business strategy.
The business strategy reflects the capabilities of information technology.
The systems strategy is implemented true to the plans, on time and on budget.

Now that I've answered your question as to my role, let me digress a moment to the question you did not ask: What is important to you in fulfilling your role as a CIO?

As I said in my response to Tau's letter, managing user relationships and setting business-oriented systems goals is essential to success as a CIO. I also said that in a modern company, the IT organization must simultaneously be technically proficient and business-oriented. Given that situation, the CIO needs to make sure that he or she works closely with the leaders of the business and understands their problems and aspirations. Further, the CIO must make sure that his or her staff is treated well and feels good about career opportunities with the company. It is not possible to be a success in your role as a CIO without the support and counsel of the people in your organization and the rest of the company.

Dear Herb:
Let me open by saying that I enjoy your articles in InformationWeek and sometimes get a chuckle out of them. Thanks for sharing.

I particularly liked the ones on outsourcing ("The Politics Of Outsourcing," "To Outsource -- Or Not," and "No Outsourcing For Now"). I agree with your thoughts on the subject. Outsourcing can be a very emotional decision for both IT and management. When all the facts are presented with emotions removed, the decision process is made much easier.

Who am I? I am Christie, a computer generalist. Like the family doctor who is a generalist, I know enough to diagnose and help my "patients" get better, but when I get stumped, I know enough to refer or bring in a specialist. I currently baby-sit about 150 computers. I am the network administrator for a Novell network running a mix of PCs, the Linux gateway, and Internet Microsoft Mail. I am postmaster, and I also maintain the company's Web page. I purchase, update, and fix all PC hardware and software. Along with that, I train users on the equipment and I program the company's operations software database.

When I'm not working, I go to school and I also teach continuing educational courses on Microsoft Office products. Then in the summer, I really work; I play softball.

Now to my question. Reading many of the current magazines, I see there are lots of IT positions available. Can you give me guidance on what, where, and how I should apply for these? I have already put up my resume on my Web page.

My goal is to achieve within five to seven years a CIO or equivalent position. How to get there is my question. I am looking to grow, to work on my weaknesses, and to maintain or enhance my strengths. Any suggestions, directions on a position or where I should start looking or applying would be greatly appreciated.

Christie D.

Dear Christie:
I got fatigued just reading about what you do! It's hard to believe that you have any spare time at all to look for a job, but on the off-chance that you can fit it into your schedule, you might want to start actively looking, as opposed to assuming that the Web page resume will necessarily help. I looked at your Web page, and while it is cute, I'm not sure that it can really help you get on the career path you want. The idea is to go after the job, rather than hope that a person searching the Web will come across your particular corner of cyberspace.

The old standard methods work rather well. These consist of reading the advertisements, talking to friends, cold-calling companies, and using employment firms.

Many Sunday newspapers carry sections that are specifically devoted to IT employment. Given the number of jobs in the marketplace, I think you will find more than enough opportunities.

Do not hesitate to talk to your friends, even though they many not be in the IT field. It's surprising how many people know someone who knows someone who is in a position to help. Likewise, call those companies that are of interest to you. You may be able to get your foot in the door before a position hits the ads or gets turned over to an employment firm to fill. I would probably hold off talking to an employment agency. Many companies love to hire people who come to them directly because they do not have to pay a fee. With an agency, you have little control over the distribution of your resume.

As far as what type of job to go for, I think you have to seek out something where you have the opportunity to build a track record of success with assignments of increasingly diverse responsibility. There is no sure path to the CIO job. Those people who now have CIO jobs have very diverse backgrounds. The only common ingredients, I suspect, are competence in planning, the ability to juggle multiple tasks, and some talent at meeting commitments without offending too many people.

Dear Herb:
I am 25 years old and manager of business development at a major chemicals company. My job has become boring, and I am very much interested in the computer field. I have a bachelor's degree, as well as an MBA.

I have no computer programming background (except Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Act!, etc.).

I have been told by many to do an SAP training course, or one of these programming courses. I am so lost. I know I want to join this field, but how? Your help will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Nailesh

Dear Nailesh:
If you want to work on a help desk, then a course in one of the packages you mention would be helpful. With your background, becoming proficient in SAP could be very interesting to you, but learning SAP is another story. SAP technical training courses are very expensive and most companies have no intention of sending people to them who have no experience. However, there is a way around this situation.

I know of several people in similar situations as yours who have made the transition you desire. The way they did it was to get on an SAP implementation project as a user. They then took their skills in knowing the business and worked on configuring the system. Configuring in SAP meanings filling out the table to tell SAP what to do when a particular situation occurs (for example, what should happen if the customer does not have an existing customer number).

They were given the training necessary to do configurations. Naturally, the more knowledge they had, the more their companies were willing to invest in them by sending them to classes in the technical side of SAP. In a year or two, they absorbed more and more technical information until they were able to move over to the IT organization and become full-fledged members of the IT staff. Some of them were even given management jobs because of their strong mix of technical and business skills.

Good luck, and let me know how things work out for you.

Herbert W. Lovelace is CIO at a multibillion-dollar international company. Herb practices his day job under an alias and has changed the names of colleagues to protect the guilty.

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