I like this topic. I don't like the pedestrian approach though. Put simply, what should a CIO (Career Is Over) do? By my thinking, the CIO should implement technologies that facilitate the organization achieving its goals in a secure, compliant, productive and cost-efficient manner. Too often, a CIO is simply doing a mash-up of technologies, "managing by magazine" and buying whatever gear is being touted by the IT media and analysts. The CIO should be working with the CEO to lay out the most efficient tools that accomplish the company's objectives and then invest the time and effort to ensure that the tools are performing as designed. Again, too often people deploy technology and then just assume that everything is hunky-dory. "IT management" is an active concept. It required objective data, regular review by stakeholders, planning, implementation and further review. The shampoo "lather, rinse, repeat" formula is quite applicable here too. Management is a process but managers are often too busy being bogged-down by minutia than to stop and think: how are actually doing? Is our technology investment being used to promote the bottom line or being squandered frivolously?

Most CIOs I know can't answer these questions with significant effort, resources and money being spent. I talk to IT people all the time. Most are too busy managing their gear than to stop and look at processes that can make their jobs easier. Most have too many projects underway than to do an evaluation. When I explain that it only takes 30 minutes of their time and can save weeks of effort it elicits silence. "I'm too busy." Ok. I think it's the realization that if they actually became more efficient at their jobs that management might think they're slacking. For some CIOs having teams of people running around, alarms bleeping, lights flashing and constantly busy teams of people is an indication that they're doing their job. Well, if fire fighting is standard operating procedure, perhaps it's time to take the Code Enforcement Officer approach? If you can employ processes to avoid all the running around, alarms AND guarantee that your systems are contributing to the bottom line, isn't this a better use of time and money? Yes, for those of you who love all the running around!

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