Far too many shops operate like the U.S. government: "It's not my fault,
I didn't pick that/support that" and blame their predecessors.
Honestly I see a huge amount of effort spent simply moving from one
platform to another on purely 'religious' grounds and having nothing to
do with technical capability or actual (vs imagined) need. How many
times have we heard on this list alone about companies spending a
zillion bucks on attempts to move off IBM i and even if they succeed
they've wasted huge amounts of time and money and probably lost momentum
for change. Even worse when they fail....
Joel mentioned lack of tech savvy of many CIOs. I second that to a large
degree. However, I have met some who have a strong team of 'advisers' or
managers which they actively listen to and trust. The CIO interfaces
with the other C level folks and brings back business goals, targets,
and funding while bringing to them issues, timelines, and solutions.
CIOs have to trust their people. Back when I was on the farm my Uncle
would give me a task and I would pick the equipment for it, he didn't
say "use the John Deere" etc. He also didn't let me run down the road
and just grab something from the neighbor! Shop standards in place put
parameters around what's valid and inside that staff has to have
flexibility to use whats there. I see far too many shops with either no
standards or stupidly restrictive ones.
Clearly CIOs also have to battle lower budgets in many cases and hugely
accelerated project schedules, frequently they are unrealistic. Look at
the ACA exchanges, those things are massive undertakings with very tight
schedules, is it any wonder then that they crashed and burned?
Another issue is the purported IT skills of the 'average user' these
days. It's incredible how users claim IT knowledge and then use that to
shame IT folks into shorter deadlines. "It's Just a Database, COPY it
for crying out loud, How Hard Can That Be!?"
- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis
www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com
On 10/10/2013 11:57 AM, BT Consulting wrote:
I know this is mostly a technical site, but what are the top problems bugging CIOs, especially with respect to IT and the main business? Looking for strategic concerns/problems they are trying to solve. While I know this is an iSeries-centric site, I'd like feedback from those folks that are in/around shops that have multiple platforms as well. Are CIOs still dealing with the business value of IT or are they mainly focused on technical problems; I hope they are thinking more strategic. Any questions on what I'm talking about, please ask.
Thanks,
Dave Odom
Casa Grande, AZ
midrange.com
