InformationWeek

February 16, 1999

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:
My organization has just hired its first CIO. I know what I would like her to do; however, I have no idea what to expect.

Can/should a CIO make sweeping changes in an entrenched organization? Or should this person take the helm and gently guide the ship to a new course?

What do you see as your most important job for your company? What is the most important thing you do for the staff that works for you?

Cal

Dear Cal:
Can? Depending on the level of authority delegated and the ability of the individual, any new executive can make change in an entrenched organization. The power to hire and fire, for example, is a fantastic tool for getting people's attention, if necessary.

Should? A CIO should do what is necessary to further the goals of the company. Sometimes that means change must be made drastically; other times, it makes more sense to do it slowly so as not to cause turmoil. The right course is the one that achieves the objectives in an ethical and effective manner.

Your next two questions are great ones: What is my most important job for the company and what is the most important thing I do for my staff? The answer is the same for both queries.

My job is to translate the needs of the business into a systems direction at the same time I ensure that the business plan reflects the potential of information technology. If I do this properly, then I guarantee that my staff works on interesting projects that provide them with technical growth and a secure future, whether with me or with another employer.

Dear Herb:
I have a bachelor's degree in business administration and I am contemplating returning to school to receive a master's degree in computer science. I have more than 20 years of mid-and upper-management experience.

Would you consider this a good move? What are my chances in the job market once I graduate? In what salary range could I expect to fall?

I appreciate your time.

RJ

Dear RJ:
I hate seeing answers to questions that start off with "that depends." However, the answer to your question is "that depends."

If you are attempting a complete career change and plan on becoming a systems analyst, then you will have a significant leg up on getting a job over an equally talented person with no business experience. The salary premium, however, will probably not be huge. Depending on the company and the value of that experience to it, you might see an additional 10% to 20% in your first paycheck compared with the neophyte. On the other hand, firms that want to train people in their own way of doing things and who seek to grow and groom people will tend to hire the person who has a longer potential career with them.

If you are attempting to leverage your 20-plus years of business management experience by learning about computers and using the knowledge you acquire to hone your business skills, then you might be better off taking courses at night or on the weekends in computer systems or computer science. You will learn how those silly gadgets work and about the processes necessary to build good application systems. Those skills will probably make you a more effective executive in this era, when almost every business decision can be influenced by an information technology perspective.

(Editor's Note: For a salary comparison tool, visit the InformationWeek IT Salary Advisor, which lets you benchmark your pay against those of your peers.)

Dear Herb:
I have really enjoyed reading your column. I have found it to be funny and informative at the same time, especially the article "Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!" about the security policy that needed modification.

The reason I am E-mailing you is I am in the process of determining where to focus my education to achieve my goal. I have spent the last 12 years in the IT industry, first as a computer support engineer, then running a computer service company, and finally as IT director for a very successful casino. So my questions for you are the following:

1) What is the difference between a CIO and IT director?

2) What do you feel are the most important requirements to be a successful CIO?

3) What type of education should a CIO have?

4) As a CIO, what do you like and dislike about your responsibilities?

I know that you are busy and I will completely understand if you do not reply. Also, let me say that if you don't reply I will still read your column with the same enthusiasm.

So with that said, I truly appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Jeff J.

Dear Jeff:
Thanks for the flattering letter. If I am as busy as you think I am, it is because like most of us, I take on too many things to do than are possible in the time available.

So here are my answers to your questions:

1) The difference between an IT director and a CIO?

Most noticeably, salary and job title. Also, the CIO is supposed to be able to focus on the business as well as the technology, while the IT director is normally viewed as a more technically oriented individual.

2) The most important requirements to be a successful CIO?

Balancing the conflicting requirements of your business associates while making everyone feel that you understand their problems. It also helps if you can avoid screaming at people when they want the impossible and treat you as if your mission in life is to sabotage their latest whim.

3) Education requirements for a CIO?

Doesn't really matter except that if you hear of a degree that combines technology and stress management with applied psychiatry, it might not hurt to enroll.

4) As a CIO, what do I like and dislike about my responsibilities?

Positive: challenge of many mind-bending problems, ability to make a difference in the company's well-being, opportunity to help the people in the IT organization enjoy their careers.

Negative: challenge of many mind-bending problems, difficulty in making a difference in the company's well-being, impediments in helping the people in the IT organization enjoy their careers.

Dear Herb:
Congratulations. You should go down in history for a quote I saw in one of your columns that I just blasted out to 20 people, credited to you:

"I have no problem with my wife criticizing me. It's her being right that I find objectionable."
--Herbert W. Lovelace

Truer words were never spoken.

David

Dear David:
As you might imagine, I received a lot of mail about "Mac Lives--Everywhere!" Every letter, except yours, focused either on my disrespect for the Mac or my stupidity in considering it a viable machine.

Thanks for the credit for the quote, although I was just paraphrasing an observation that Cindy once made. In a reflective moment, she commented that I handle criticism from her quite well--unless it is justified.

Dear Herb:
I read your article titled, "Mac Lives--Everywhere!" regarding the gentleman seeking to convince you to look at the Mac as a viable alternative. I'm not a Mac user, but I've noticed that corporate America seems to have a herd mentality when it comes to adopting anything other than Windows machines as a standard.

I've seen viable alternatives to the Windows operating system, but for some reason no company wants to use them. Yet, I've also seen decision-makers complain of Microsoft's dominance of the PC industry. Microsoft couldn't dominate it if businesses and individuals would be willing to buy an alternative operating system and use alternative applications.

I decided to try out OS/2 Warp to see what all the fuss was about. I like it so much that I completely switched from Windows to OS/2 version 4, and dumped my Windows suite of applications for Lotus SmartSuite for OS/2. Lotus SmartSuite for Warp 4 is a gem. It comes with a CD with more than 2,000 drivers and IBM has a driver Web site for driver upgrades, etc.

I feel gratified that I'm off the Windows upgrade merry-go-round. OS/2 is always upward compatible, and I don't have to upgrade just because Microsoft changes Windows and my programs break as a result. I would have thought that corporate America would have wanted a good operating system that allowed companies to schedule upgrades as they had business need, not because Mr. Gates decided it was time.

I don't get it. Maybe you can tell me.

FDM

Dear FDM:
No CIO will buy a product that they believe will be soon be an orphan in the marketplace. Unfortunately, because of this situation, some good software has been killed simply because people thought that it would die. It is the job of a company's marketing organization to make sure this type of self-fulfilling prophesy does not destroy a viable new operating system.

IBM has done some things over the years that in retrospect could fill a book of business blunders. The company licensed DOS from Microsoft instead of buying it (or Microsoft, itself) back in the early days of the PC. Before that, it had the distinction of not buying the original Xerox patents when they were offered to it (no real market for copiers, their research showed). In keeping with their track record, they failed to capture the hearts and minds of the corporate buyer with their marketing of OS/2.

OS/2 died because people did not believe that IBM had either the commitment to it or the talent to make it a success. Perhaps the result would have been different if IBM had made several bold moves at the time the battle could still have been won. Suppose IBM had fully funded the OS/2 project of WordPerfect, the word-processing leader at the time. Assume that OS/2 would have been given away--not sold--on all IBM machines (remember Windows could be run as a subset of OS/2). Couple these actions with an advertisement campaign that positioned OS/2 as the powerhouse system for businesses and superusers against the enfeebled original NT and the not-yet-delivered Windows 95, and the results might very well have been very different. I never really understood the slogan, "A better Windows than Windows," and I suspect no one else did, either.

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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