by Mark P. McDonald | July 11, 2011 | 3 Comments
Blogging Note: Like Gary Trudeau I am taking a week off from blogging, but I would like to share a past post that may be helpful. The origional posts were made in the Summer of 2009, but much of their points remain true. I have made links to the original posts to make it easy [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT IT Governance Leadership Re-imagine IT Strategy Technology Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, CIO Leadership, CIO strategy, IT and Business, IT Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | April 6, 2010 | 8 Comments
Ask about IT metrics and you get a range of answers from “all of them are wrong” to “some more wrong than others” and “they are about all we have.” I want to single out one metric in particular – IT spend as a percent of revenue aka sales. I have no issue with the [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CFO CIO Strategy Tags: IT management, Management, Tools
by Mark P. McDonald | June 10, 2009 | 2 Comments
Two Stars – A laudable goal, but its execution sends the wrong message to business professionals It is hard to criticize a book dedicated to looking at the challenges facing IT leaders on a personal and professional level. The goal of Adventures of an IT Leader are admirable, present IT in a human light using a [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT Book Review Leadership Personal Observation Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Book Review, Business Leadership, IT Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | May 27, 2009 | 3 Comments
IT is necessary but not sufficient for enterprise success. The level of mutual understanding and respect required for success demands that the business understands the dynamics of IT. That was the subject of several blog entries on the 12 things every business leader should know about IT. It is more important that IT understand the [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CIO Leadership Tags: 12 things, CIO Leadership, IT Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | April 26, 2009 | 3 Comments
The real reason that business leaders need to know about IT is that IT is an important part of any effective business. While that sounds like a claim that is more often opinion than observation, it is something that we have been studying at Gartner Executive Programs for some time. The good news is that [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CIO Leadership Strategy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Leadership, Strategy
by Mark P. McDonald | April 22, 2009 | Submit a Comment
Technologists are quick to point out that if automobiles improved as much or as fast as computers they would run a million miles on the gallon of fuel, have more features than a driver could ever use, be able to carry an unlimited number of passengers – you get the picture. About this time, [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CFO CIO Economy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Capex, Finance, IT Finance
by Mark P. McDonald | April 13, 2009 | 3 Comments
“Everything I need to know about a company I can tell from its financials.” This statement is foundational to modern management. While we can debate the efficacy of financials as a way of knowing what is really going on in a company, financial is the language most people use to understand the business, its contribution [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CFO CIO Economy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, budgets, CIO Leadership, Finance
by Mark P. McDonald | April 8, 2009 | 2 Comments
Overhearing executives talk about IT and it quickly becomes apparent that they believe that all IT is pretty much the same. Your IT is the same as my IT, should be funded the same, managed the same, thought of as the same. With one exception – the IT that they use or the IT that [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CIO Leadership Strategy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Business, Business Leadership, Strategy
by Mark P. McDonald | April 3, 2009 | Submit a Comment
Executives often do not consider the differing evolutionary pace of technology and management thinking. Executives over invest in technology and more importantly under invest in management capability because of this gap. The result is the incomplete business cases and benefits realization rates that are endemic in IT. Executives need to recognize that IT evolves faster [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT Innovation Strategy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Business Leadership, Strategy
by Mark P. McDonald | April 2, 2009 | 4 Comments
Strategy drives executive thinking and forms the context for executive decision-making. Over the last ten years new strategy tools and techniques have come into the market based to clarify and increase the executability of corporate strategy. The strategy maps and balanced scorecards authored by Kaplan and Norton are examples. Strategists are concerned with issues of [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CIO Leadership Strategy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Business Leadership, IT and Business, Strategy
