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William Campbell on How to Survive as a Public Sector CIO

By William Campbell

July 01, 2003 — CIO — In graduate school, they teach you that the principles of sound information systems management are, like the laws of physics, valid throughout the universe. My experiences in the private sector seemed to bear this out, as time after time the lessons learned in one assignment proved useful in the next. So when I was hired to develop and implement a formal IT program for the executive branch of government of a large western state, it seemed reasonable to infer that my 17 years in IT management would provide solid footing for doing some truly groundbreaking work in state government. Silly me.

State government turned out to be unlike anything I had done before. Things were done according to unfathomable unwritten rules I didn’t understand, and my intuitive problem-solving "compass" kept getting me lost. I soon realized that leading IT reform in state government requires decidedly different characteristics than those found in the private sector. So for the benefit of those considering a job in the public sector, here are some differences you should know about beforehand.

Organizational turbulence can be high in state government, especially in the wake of an election. I was hired by one governor and three months later found myself working for another—one who disliked and distrusted his predecessor and valued information technology very little. Several agency directors had participated in my hiring and gave me verbal assurances of support and assistance. Within a few weeks of inauguration day, however, all but one were gone, and I found myself without a constituency. The merits of my proposed reforms were rock solid: a process for converging toward a single enterprise architecture, a mechanism for sound financial controls, a structure for correcting the vendor abuses of the past, estimated cost savings of $70 million per biennial budget period and so on. The program was designed to skyrocket Wyoming’s Digital State ranking from dead last to middle of the pack in about 18 months, and give the governor and the legislature unprecedented visibility into IT activity and spending. Even so, the new governor had no interest in my reforms, and for several months I wandered around like a rain-soaked orphan, looking for someone to adopt me. Potential state CIOs should evaluate the likely longevity of their future bosses before jumping in, especially if elections are imminent.

Grandstanders Need Not Apply

To sell my program, I knew I would have to build as broad a support base as I could outside the statehouse. I put together a high-octane presentation, driving home the business advantages of the program. I then got in front of as many decision-makers as I could to pitch it. The cabinet-level agency directors proved to be a receptive audience and a good source of support to counterbalance the absence of the governor’s sponsorship.

 

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