Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions
November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.
Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group
The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.
Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award
Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »January 22, 2008 — CIO —
Forrester VP and research director Alex Cullen has seen all kinds of IT plans, the very best and the very worst.
And he keeps files of both. "Most of them are pretty flawed," he says. One of the worst included a history of computing from 1960 on. Avoid these mistakes to make sure your next plan doesn't end up in his bad file.
This is not War and Peace. Aim for 15 pages, says Gartner VP Dave Aron, who saw one IT plan weigh in at 250 pages. Consider PowerPoint instead of Word as your medium of choice, says Cullen. It fosters brevity. And limit it to 25 slides.
There's nothing as worthless as what Aron calls the "write once, read never" plan. "The strategic plan needs to be a living thing," says IT consultant Laurie Orlov. To avoid seeing your plan become shelfware, keep the people who helped create it involved, have it handy and refer to it often. "One CIO I know starts every meeting with a strategy moment: He asks, how will our business win and how does this meeting help?" says Aron. "He had to cancel the meeting the first time because no one could answer the question. But everyone thought about it before the next."
Strategic plans "require regular revalidation and refreshment," says Orlov. Michael Hites, CIO of New Mexico State University , updates his three times a year.
Details don't belong in the strategic plan. It should be a stake in the ground, says Orlov. This is the year we introduce social networking tools in order to accomplish X, Y, or Z. It shouldn't include hard dates or product selections. "People start to turn strategic plans into project lists," says Cullen. "Then they don't know where to stop." If you feel you must include operational plans, put them in an appendix.
"You don't want to go the 'we-agreed-to-that-and-we'll-never-change-it' route," says Orlov. Expect the unexpected. "What if the company suddenly makes an acquisition or there's a leadership change?" Cullen asks. Want to really elevate your plan? Include scenario or contingency planning.
Too many IT strategic plans are written in jargon. You're setting a direction for IT to support the business. Do so in business terms. "IT people that highlight buzzwords and product names are only doing an IT plan for their own department," says Orlov. Throw out the IT lingo. Connect your goals to key business drivers.