CIOpedia

Following is a curated list of resources that reflect current thinking on a topic of interest to IT leaders. You can assist this effort by contributing insight from your own real-world experiences, and are invited to suggest changes or additions here.

Current Thinking Includes:

Multiple surveys completed over the last 18 months show CIO tenure to be flat or actually increasing throughout this difficult economic period, although their methodologies differ:

SearchCIO.com: IT executive jobs average 6.3 years, a testament to both IT and the business

The average tenure for senior IT executive jobs is now 6.3 years, according to TechTarget Inc.’s annual salary and careers survey.

An upcoming Gartner survey still underway is showing that CIOs average tenure in their current positions is about 4.4 years, about the same as 2008, [Mark McDonald] said.

Forrester Blogs: CIO Job Tenure Rises – Long-term Trend or Fleeting Phase?

CIO job tenure is now averaging 4.6 years, according to the Society for Information Management. That’s up – way up — from the 2-3 year average that we saw just a few years ago.

Opinions vary on the drivers for this metric – some speculate that it is a sign of improved stature for the CIO role and IT’s importance in the enterprise, while others would suggest that the economic situation, a tough housing market and other factors are all conspiring to make CIOs keep their heads down and stay-put, effectively taking a lot of people off the market.

SearchCIO.com: IT executive jobs average 6.3 years, a testament to both IT and the business

The longevity of people in the top echelon during the worst recession in more than 50 years is a stark change from rough economic patches in past decades when the typical lifespan of a CIO was 18 months, suggesting that the CIO role is maturing.

Forrester Blogs: CIO Job Tenure Rises – Long-term Trend or Fleeting Phase?

My guess is that the post dot-com bust and post 9/11 recession triggered CIOs to hunker down and be a bit more risk-adverse. They stayed put for a few years, then facing the more recent economic slump, stayed put even longer. They stayed busy doing what they unfortunately are known for — helping with enterprise cost cutting.

[+] suggest

Alternative Views Include:

Alternative Views include those who would suggest that any recent improvement in CIO tenure is probably a short-term phenomenon driven by current economic factors; therefore we could see a substantial increase in CIO turnover as CEOs look for new leadership that is better suited for the challenges they face coming out of recession, as well as an uptick in those that are ready to enter the market and explore new opportunities to make an impact elsewhere.

InformationWeek: Global CIO: 10 Reasons CIOs Will Get Fired This Year

And I think a lot of CIOs are going to lose their jobs in the second half of 2010—not because they don’t work hard, not because they don’t know their traditional stuff, and not because they’re not committed to the company’s success. Rather, they’ll lose their jobs primarily because they have continued to resist change rather than embracing it as a strategic weapon.

CIO Corner: Reasons for the demise of many cios?

Those CIOs who have used the downtime of the recession to re-evaluate the business, examine business processes, develop a strategic plan for IT investment that awaits an economic trigger, are like tigers waiting to pounce on enacting those changes — they’ll stay put. Those at less dynamic businesses, though, are like a sprinter on the blocks for a new opportunity.

Biz-Tech 3.0: A Looming CIO Turnover Crisis?

“If and when it appears that the expansion is finally underway, there could be a surge in leadership changes, with companies opting for growth-oriented risk-takers over the ‘just-keep-the-ship-afloat’ leaders they favored in the latter half of the recession,” he said. If that happens, CIO turnover could easily increase, as new CEOs look to put together their own teams. We all know a CIO’s tenure is short, probably one of the shortest of any other C-level function head.

Forrester Blogs: CIO Job Tenure Rises – Long-term Trend or Fleeting Phase?

But I suspect the trend towards longer tenure is rapidly coming to an end. The CIOs I speak with are eagerly waking up to tackle innovation and new investments in 2010. And we’re seeing more and more ex-consultant hot shots and business execs from elsewhere in the company recently hired on to “fix IT” join the CIO ranks. More proactive, innovative, and impactful CIOs are more likely to follow ambitious career paths – or (if your a glass-half-empty kind of guy or girl) get fired for risk-taking.

CIO.com AU: The Truth About CIO Tenure – it careers, employee tenure

If the economy does rebound next year, there could be a higher rate of turnover among CIOs–but just like in 1996, many of these IT leaders will be vacating their posts not because they were fired, but because they will be pursuing new career challenges and job opportunities elsewhere.

Directionally Correct: 24-months

I believe that the increase in job tenure for CIO’s is a mirage. As the economy turns we will see a market correction in job tenure. The odds of long-term success are stacked against the role and it can be argued that with the changing demographics of the workforce the odds are getting longer. The challenge for CIOs and the executive team is to move the ball far enough down the field on the big issues while paving the way for the next CIO to tackle all the other issues.

[+] suggest