What We’re Reading

Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back

By Jim Champy

Champy’s new book spotlights several underdog companies that have found success by empathizing with consumers (an exception: shoemaker Puma, which took the more orthodox path of outsourcing and slick marketing). The stories are, indeed, inspiring. Authenticity, heart and the courage to do something new abound. Given the corporate backdrop, though, it’s probably most inspiring that someone could find this many companies to feel good about these days. FT Press, 2009, $22.99 2010 Federal Budget?

Good reading—wait! Come back. We mean it. See how important tech is to the Obama administration. One tidbit: The Bureau of Economic Analysis is asking for more money for an IT revamp. They need a better handle on how innovation and energy prices impact the gross domestic product.?

CTO/CIO Perspectives

Intensely Practical Tips on Information Technology?

By Peter Kretzman

Kretzman, a 25-year IT and online veteran, shares thoughts on focusing product and application development as well as enhancing and maintaining world-class operations. He also points out that many departments survive by hiding inefficiencies, oversights and missed opportunities. Say Everything?How Blogging Began, What It’s Become, and Why It Matters

By Scott Rosenberg

One of the joys of the Internet boom was reading accounts by insiders who understood what was happening and what it all meant. Blogging isn’t the Internet, of course, but Rosenberg lays out how it’s changing notions of privacy and democracy. Along the way, we meet Blogger founder Evan Williams (now of Twitter fame), Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and other early giants. The news industry thinks it can survive blogging by libeling it, but publishers forget that they stand on the shoulders of men and women—many of them ninnies—whose only license to speak was access to a printing press. This book is the perfect antidote for stubbornly outdated images of blogging. Random House, 2009, $25.95 CIO Corner

 By John David Son

John David Son, CIO of the Marshall County School District in Kentucky, shares his implementation stories and integration techniques for K-12 school systems, reviews of new technologies and thoughts on tech initiatives in his district. ? Candid CIO?

By Will Weider

Candid he may be, but Weider, CIO of Ministry Health Care and Affinity Health System, excels when it comes to understanding core issues often obscured beneath layers of complexity. One post lauds the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, then filets the nonprofit standard-bearer for health care IT, citing its shortcomings.?