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February 1, 2000

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 have to agree with your article "The Crisis That Won't Be". It doesn't matter how much testing has been done because chances are something will fall through the cracks.

The year 2000 rollover was like launching a new system. There is always something that falls through the cracks of testing. I think your strategy is great--to have a quick response team in place with procedures to follow in the event something does "break." It's easier to identify a problem when something goes wrong than to troubleshoot for it.

Sincerely,
Chris B.

Dear Chris:
As we have all learned, you were right. Y2K was a big yawn--due to a lot of hard work and worrying by a bunch of dedicated people. For those who might have wondered about the strategy that I outlined in the article--it worked just fine (would I be talking about it if it didn't?). We had two very minor glitches that were fixed in a couple of hours, and if we hadn't told anyone, no one would have noticed them. We are not alone, though. From talking to my friends, I learned that they also went through the Y2K transition with flying colors.

What I found interesting was the number of people who got upset with me ("Ask The Secret CIO," 6/22/99 and "Ask The Secret CIO," 7/6/99) for taking the position that I did. In fact, the only individuals who were more irritated with my approach to the problem than some of our InformationWeek readers were all of our company's auditors. They were unhappy, as they emphasized in several audit reports, that I did not have my staff going through every line of code that we own. I never was able to convince them of the key point that you articulated so well: It's easier to identify a problem when something goes wrong than to troubleshoot for it.

The funny thing is that I haven't seen any auditors around the IT shop since the first of the year. Perhaps they are too busy trying to sell some of their stockpiled Meals Ready To Eat or their diesel generators.

Dear Herb:
I liked what you have had to say about the tendency to speak in technical jargon ("Be Clear - Or Be Deleted" and "What Is It That You're Selling?"). The articles are practical and down-to-earth, and speak exactly to an issue we have been trying to address.

I work with IT performance-management software for a leading vendor. We are struggling with what kind of information we need to be able to give to the CIO and in what language to provide that information. We are trying to provide the CIO with just the information critical to his job and not overwhelm him with useless details. Our problem is, we're not sure what that would be. After years of catering to the technical operations folks, we are hard-pressed to understand this new audience.

I would love to get your perspective on what are the three or four items, measurements, or pieces of information, that you, or any CIO, would expect to get from IT.

Tricia

Dear Tricia:
I'd love to give such a list, but the fact is that the information needed by a CIO depends on the specific goals of the CIO and the company for which he or she works. Let me give a few examples. To the CIO of a financial institution, accuracy is of supreme importance. It's a bad idea to tell a customer that his or her account balance is "around" $50,000. The CIO of an airline needs systems to be available 24 hours a day. When a customer wants a reservation, you give him a reservation. To a CIO working for a company that manufactures a commodity product, cost rules the roost. Every cent that is spent lowers the profit margin since pricing flexibility is nil.

To meet your objective, you'll have to find out from your prospective clients what are the things they worry most about in their daily jobs, then build metrics that are meaningful--not just to the CIO but, more important, to the CIO's business partners. It's hard work to get this information, but you are doing the CIO a favor--metrics built this way can be used by the CIO as communication tools to the businesspeople. Unfortunately, the job in front of you is not an easy one. You see, the real problem is that many CIOs don't know what service metrics are important to the business people. That's one reason there's a fairly high turnover of CIOs in industry.

Dear Herb:
I have been a faithful reader of your articles. I can see why you have to remain secret. You would probably get fired if they found out who you were. I appreciate the insight (or incite, perhaps) you bring forth. Keep up the good work.

Aren't you afraid, though, that someone will track you down? With all the clues you've given (e.g. international company, turnover of certain key employees, etc.) I would think someone could accomplish that task pretty easily. I hope no one is successful.

Sincerely,

David E.

Dear David:
Do I worry about someone tracking me down? Not really. I've been around this business long enough to have learned that the situations I describe are not unique to my own firm. In fact, I frequently find out that something that I have just experienced has happened to one of my friends in a different company. At that point, I have a double-barreled benefit--something to commiserate about over a beverage, and also an idea for the column.

Dear Herb:
Don't you think that most "new manager" leadership problems are caused by the boss who appoints the new guy?

In corporate America it happens less than in government America, where I live, but it happens. We take an engineer who has been a leader in his field for years and by acclamation he becomes a manager. He is supposed to grow a vision overnight, become a strategist, solve execution problems and be mindful of every nuance around him without fail.

These guys, the new managers, have no education in management--and in some cases have no experience in the new slot that they've been assigned. However, they are expected to rise to the occasion without fail and without hesitation and go forth and slay the dragons. How about a little bit of mentoring before you turn these newbies loose on us. It would help them, certainly help us--and it might even help the bottom line.

Thank You,

MEB

Dear MEB:
Yes, I think the boss (even me) who appoints a bumbling manager is to blame. However, keep in mind that the boss may be blinded by the halo effect: If people excel in one area, we assume that they are experts in others. It's why sports figures and other celebrities are able to be used so successfully for product endorsements.

Ultimately, though, it's up to the newly anointed manager to recognize what he does not know and to develop a plan to rectify the gap. Formal education will help. So will building a support system--older, wiser managers and especially real live workers--to help understand the problems and potential solutions. Most important of all, however, is the desire to improve to the point where you are the type of manager for whom you would want to work.

Dear Herb:
For the past few years, I have been a devotee of your print column. You merit a place alongside Schweitzer, Lincoln, King Solomon, and the Oracle at Delphi. I'd throw in Superman and the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I don't want to get carried away.

Your print column has been a genuine source of reassurance and spiritual sustenance. I'm a Webmaster and have recommended you as required reading to our IT administrator. She is highly competent and very smart, and amazes me with her infinite patience in the face of ignorance, stupidity and hypocrisy.

Today, for the first time, I came across your Internet page, and noticed CMP's "Ask the Secret CIO" archive. Perhaps you would consider asking CMP to create a comparable archive page for your print columns, including each piece's title and date. This would be even more helpful than the "Herbert W. Lovelace" TechSearch feature found toward the bottom of your Web page.

Please keep up the good work for many, many years to come. And consider writing a book!

With best regards,

Mark

Dear Mark:
First of all, I appreciate being compared to Schweitzer, Lincoln, King Solomon, and the Oracle at Delphi. The only thing dampening my enthusiasm for your wonderful analogy is that while they are famous, they are also dead. So far as I know, I am neither, yet. Personally, I am quite happy to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. But thanks anyway for your gracious comments.

Your wish is my command when it comes to making it easier to read the column. I am passing your comments along to our esteemed (and, in my opinion, overly modest) online editor. You might, however, want to check out the latest version of TechSearch. It now lets you retrieve the title and the introductory paragraph of each article before loading it. The advanced search feature in TechSearch provides a way of accessing specific print columns from a particular time period.

About your second point, I'm working on the book and if you or anyone else is interested in it, the note at the bottom of this online column tells you how to get on the mailing list for it when it is available.

NOTE TO READERS: As I've mentioned, I am planning to put my InformationWeek columns together into a book with a little bit of additional commentary around the events and people about whom I write. If any reader would like to be notified of such an event, please drop me an E--mail. Just use the word BOOK as the subject line.

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.