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October 13, 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:
I'm the head of IT ("CIO," if you like) of Revenue Canada. I enjoyed your article on the Internal Revenue Service, "The IRS Is Our Brother."

Before coming to Revenue Canada, I had worked in airlines, banks, and manufacturers, and never saw anything approaching the raw complexity of computerizing income taxes, whether corporate or individual. Our systems have to be able to reassess returns for many years in the past, using the logic that reflected the laws and rates of earlier years, recalculating interest with rates that prevailed at the time. The complexity is staggering.

On the year 2000 issue, we are in quite good shape, and at this moment all of our systems related to individual tax are running year 2000 versions, all commercial traffic at the border is cleared through our EDI systems using year 2000 versions (in Canada the Revenue Department also does Customs and Trade administration), and the remaining systems should be done by the end of 1998. We watch with interest and concern the progress being made by our government colleagues in the United States.

The point of your article that should be underlined is that government employees, who are often spoken of less than favorably, have done an incredible job of automating and simplifying complex laws in order to provide as friendly as possible an interface to the public.

Richard M.

Dear Richard:
Congratulations on your readiness for the millennium. There are many CIOs who wish they could make the statements you do about their own preparedness for New Year's Eve, 1999.

I received some letters about that particular column, complaining that I was making light of the year 2000 problem and others expressing the opinion that if there is a problem then the IRS would be getting just what it deserves. In fact, government workers in the States and in Canada do an excellent job in making it as easy as possible to comply with the law.

If I had one wish, though, it would be that the legislators who inject the mind-boggling complexity into the revenue statutes be sentenced to filling out their own tax returns.

Dear Herb:
I hope to be an IT professional such as yourself one day. Currently, I am in the IT department at Intel. I am working on my master's of business administration with a concentration in information systems, and my undergraduate degree is mathematics.

Do you have any advice for an aspiring CIO such as myself?

Thank you,
Brian D.

Dear Brian:
My first piece of advice is for you to ask yourself why you want to be a CIO. To paraphrase Tevye in "Fiddler On The Roof," being a CIO is no disgrace, but it is not necessarily a great honor, either. Frequently, a CIO is not quite accepted as being a real executive by his or her business colleagues while at the same time being viewed as somewhat technically archaic by his or her own staff.

My second piece of advice is for you to read everything you can about what CIOs actually do and analyze whether that is consistent with what you expect of the job. The position can be very satisfying and even a great deal of fun, but it can also be the focal point of constant complaints coupled with the inability to change the environment.

If you still are interested in becoming a CIO, then try to get a broad range of experience over the next few years in information technology and get onto projects that will make a difference to the business. Remember, the CIO is appointed by the management of the company and an aspiring CIO would be wise to recognize that business people want someone as the CIO who can be relied upon to clearly explain the options available to them and then to do what he or she promises.

Dear Herb:
Please give me your insight on how you motivate contractors in an age when they have virtually unlimited options as far as job choices. If you push too much they leave.

How do you measure productivity without getting them ticked off? The added dilemma is trying to satisfy regular employees while they see contractors getting paid overtime and generally getting away with murder.

Joe

Dear Joe:
It seems to me that it is essential to concentrate on motivating your internal staff before you focus on motivating your contractors. In an era in which intellectual capital is important, it is the talent that stays with you on a permanent basis that needs to be nurtured first in your set of priorities.

Although in our shop we treat our contractors well--we invite them to our meetings and celebrations--we do not forget that they are not permanent employees. While we try to make our projects exciting and value the contractors as people, the fact is that both they and we know that they will be moving on when the project is completed. Their motivation is a good reference from us, the knowledge that they obtain while working on our projects, and, of course, the premium that we pay for their services. It is the company for whom they work that has the primary responsibility for ensuring that they have the drive necessary to earn their wages.

I cannot remember a contractor being offended because a member of my staff tried to determine whether his or her output was up to our standards. Frankly, if they did get "ticked off" by us attempting to measure their productivity, that contractor would be replaced by us at the earliest possible moment.

Dear Herb:
There was a lot of truth in your article "IT People Aren't Plumbers." As an IT professional, I have to say that it truly is hard to care about a company that doesn't care about you. However, I feel that your article leads into two other important points that need to be addressed.

The first is what I see all too often: colleagues abusing the company with the justification that "The company doesn't care about me, why should I care about it?" I feel we, not just as IT professionals but as employees, have a choice to make. How can we expect to be valued by a company when we act like we're working at a part-time job flipping burgers? As soon as training and other expenditures are invested in an IT employee, the desire to earn the big bucks somewhere else is all too prevalent. Loyalty is a two-way street.

The second note is more of a philosophy than an observation. A company's one and only goal is self-preservation. And the only way to achieve that is to make money. That is a very simplistic view, but true nonetheless. I think it is absurd to expect a company purposely to lose money because it is "loyal" to its employees. I think loyalty should be placed, not in an artificial entity, but in those whose steer it.

I am not at my present employment because I am loyal to the company I work for, but because I am loyal to my director, my manager, my colleagues, and yes, even the end-users who use the systems I support. It's people we are loyal to, not institutions.

In conclusion, I feel that responsibility must be assumed by all. The key to all of this and more is to remember that institutions don't do anything, people do. The question left unanswered is, how? I sure wrote some lofty, rosy ideas, but what about the real world where resources are scarce and every effort is an expensive gamble? Who should take the first step and how?

Scott H.

Dear Scott:
First, everyone has to believe that the relationship is worth improving. Then, people have to take the responsibility for making the situation better every day, and not just by giving lip service to the idea.

Trust has to be built and maintained through actions by all involved. People may listen to what we say, but they pay attention to what we do. As I said in an article I wrote last year titled "Simple Secrets Of Success," "We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions."

I strongly believe that the only way we can improve the situation you discuss is to treat the IT staff as valued members of the company and for the IT people to earn that treatment. And, by the way, each side has to make the first move.

Dear Herb:
My CEO has expressed concern that our company (pharmaceuticals) is not certain as to its net return from its information technology investments.

One issue we face is ensuring that our people in all departments use the tools we have--and there are many--effectively, efficiently, and economically. What light can you shed on this problem: who in the company is accountable for basic computer literacy?

Michael

Dear Michael:
As you imply, the best way to ensure that people use the right tools in the right way is to train people. Let me answer your question of who in the company is accountable for basic computer literacy with a question.

Who is upset if people do not have basic computer literacy?

If the response to that is the CIO, even if line managers should be the ones concerned, then you have your answer.

Dear Herb:
My MIS manager, Olli, pointed out your article "The Perfect E-Mail System." And, I was more than delighted. You saved my day!

Hectic week, customers complaining, subordinates not cooperating, etc. To top it off, our company president was angry because I didn't read the attachment he didn't attach in the mail that he didn't send to me.

In such a real-life situation I, like yourself and most of us, tend to reply instantly. You cannot help it. An angry instant message is the first reaction. Fortunately, unlike yours, our E-mail here in Finland has the filter you required--it is called "drafts."

Messages have to be stored in the draft box for 15 minutes to 24 hours, to be forgotten or modified when needed. Never to be used as such is better. Believe me, I've learned this the hard way.

Nevertheless, I would like to present my sincerest thanks to you for the delightful and fascinating column.

With best wishes,
Markku E.

Dear Markku:
Thanks for your note. I am glad you enjoyed the article. I am probably not the only one who could benefit from the required cooling-off period imposed by your mail system.

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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