The Cable News-ification of IT News and Analysis

A disturbing trend long ago infected the world of cable news and is now, I believe, worming its way into the world of IT news and analysis. Let’s take an honest look at the cable news landscape. The most complex of issues are usually summed up in 30-second sound bites (that’s down from 60-seconds), and [...]

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The Ownership Trait in IT Staffing

In the challenge to find and retain the best employees within an IT organization, there are many recommended practices, from putting developers through a brief coding test, to verifying that project managers posses a solid understanding of accepted methodologies. Prior work experience is matched against the organization’s current challenges, while education and references are checked. [...]

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What Staff Really Need From The CIO

Much has been said about the role of the CIO in the enterprise and how that role may be changing over time, the need for more innovative ideas, more accountability, better partnership with internal customers and the significant challenges ahead for IT senior leaders. In the mix of advice for CIOs and senior management, there [...]

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The Tyranny of Process Worship Within IT

A recent posting of an internal Netflix guide on its Freedom and Responsibility Culture has generated quite a lot of attention. There are many gems in this 128-page document, from a very straightforward take on what to do with “adequate” performers: …unlike many companies, we practice “adequate performance gets a generous severance package.” (in other [...]

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Flying At The Right Level As An IT Leader

Like many other professions, the career path of an IT leader, VP, CTO or CIO usually starts out at a lower level within an organizational hierarchy, and may take many routes. A business analyst fresh out of college moves through the project management ranks, leading larger teams and programs until he is responsible for an [...]

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A Contrarian View of Twitter Etiquette

Twitter has been around long enough that its users have generated a substantial body of conventional wisdom on the topic of Twitter etiquette. In fact, a Google search shows that there may be as many as two links to Twitter etiquette content for every actual Twitter member (nine million etiquette links for its four million [...]

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Being Data-Driven In A World That Increasingly Isn’t

As IT leaders we are accustomed to operating in an environment that is often brutally driven by the numbers. Managing a large cost center and IT investments represent a significant fiduciary duty to our organizations, one where cost/benefit, ROI and other financial terms are daily topics of conversation. This is made all the more real [...]

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