drjim

Paint By Numbers — The CIO’s New Job

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It’s becoming more and more clear that the tradition CIO job of spending time on operational issues is quickly becoming out of date. What’s a CIO really supposed to be doing with his/her time? The answer, as it’s always been, is finding ways for the IT staff to make the business able to do its … Read more

What’s More Important: Strategy, Quality, or Low Costs?

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Here’s a challenge for you: you’ve just been put in charge of an IT department / branch / project because the previous person was unable to make any effective changes. What do you focus on first? Strategy sounds very important and the business side of the house seems to spend a lot of time working … Read more

Soft Work In Hard Times

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It would appear as though the U.S. economy is starting to pull out of it’s recent downturn; however, for those of us in the IT industry, this should serve as yet another wake-up call for both ourselves and our teams: technical skills alone are not going to cut it anymore. Generally when I say that, … Read more

Gartner Reveals Top 10 Technologies

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The good folks over at the Gartner Group have revealed the top 10 technologies that they believe will change the world over the next four years: Multicore and hybrid processors Virtualization and fabric computing Social networks and social software Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms Web mashups User Interface Ubiquitous computing Contextual computing Augmented reality Semantics … Read more

Do We Really Need CIOs Any More?

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There was an interesting article in an issue of CIO Insight that talked about the changing role of CIOs. The basic point of the story was that since today’s CIOs are spending so much time (and $$$) on keeping their firms systems up and running, that they are losing their position at the strategy table. … Read more

Let’s Talk About IT Trade Shows

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I’m motivated to talk about trade shows this time around because I currently find myself out in Las Vegas attending the EMC World 2008 trade show. When it comes to IT trade shows, this is it — it’s by, about, and for IT professionals who live, eat, and breath storage for a living. I’ve worked … Read more

Alignment Sounds Like Something You Do To A Car

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Ok, so everyone’s been trying to fix IT departments almost since the first computers were put to work on business problems. So how come nobody has gotten it right yet? I believe that one reason that we keep missing the mark is because we really have no idea what a really good IT department looks … Read more