I have somehow managed my personal time well enough to complete The New CIO Leader by Marianne Broadbent and Ellen Kitzis.
At first I was disappointed with this book, however with further reflection I think it has more to do with the narrow topic I was interested in exploring than the actual contents. I did find a few points that were applicable to me and this book may be good for you too. Continue reading to find out...
I won't go through a thorough analysis of this book because I did not find that much material that was relevant to me. So who should read this book? I would recommend any CIO that has been in his/her position pre-Internet crazy days and is struggling to adjust to the changing business environment. Someone who is maybe a little more introverted or leans more heavily towards techie than business person.
The book focuses a great deal (50% or more) on techniques for being a better "leader" and "people person" and even includes a brief Myers-Briggs personality test. I would recommend any of the myriad of good leadership or interpersonal communication books before this one unless you are struggling with these issues (and happen to be a CIO in an enterprise setting).
Some interesting points...
A topic I stumbled across and am interested in learning more about is something called the "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies". This was created by The Gartner Group.
This diagram is poor but you can see the various "hype" levels surrounding a new product/service/industry. Intuitively it makes a lot of sense and can explain Google's stock price right now. All the hype these days seems to be in "Search" Not just the web... or your desktop... but all TV and video programing ever created!!! Needless to say, I think Google falls into the "Peak of Initial Expectation". However, there is no telling how long it will be before they hit the "Trough of Disillusionment". Maybe people really do need to be able to search through a 1979 episode of "The Newlywed Game"!
The order of hype levels are as follows:
- Technology Trigger
- Peak of Initial Expectation"
- Trough of Disillusionment
- Slope of Enlightenment
- Plateau of Productivity
I'm interested in learning more about this topic and will post info as I find it.
Another interesting topic had to do with Business Strategies and IT Maxims. Something I learned very early on in my career and have tried my best to be disciplined about is the building sound business practices first. Once built, you can easily wrap an information system around a solid business practice to increase productivity while aiding in the collection and analysis of data. In "The New CIO" Broadbent and Kitzis layout the following:
Strategic Intent >> Strategic Endeavors >> Business Maxims >> IT Maxims >> IT Governance >> IT Strategies
We've all heard "Form follows Function" Well now I suppose you could say "web Forms follow business Functions".
There were a few other concepts that I would like to cover however they require me drawing a few diagrams so I will pass for now.
