CIOs Uncensored: First Things First: The CIO Agenda

I noticed a news item recently from a financial institution in Midland, Mich., called Chemical Bank. It was a press release announcing the promotion of a gentleman by the name of Gary Richardson to senior VP and CIO--"Chemical Bank's first Chief Information Officer," according to the release. "Under Gary's leadership, we look forward to making our information technology offerings a strategic advantage for the company," said David Ramaker, chairman of Chemical Bank. It got me wondering, what's the first thing a brand-new CIO should do? Given the conflicting pressures on today's IT organization, everything from cyberthreats to budget constraints to an escalating IT talent shortage, what's the first order of business? Is it network security: Appoint a chief security officer and get to work plugging holes? Is it data center resources: Are facilities adequate for powering, cooling, expanding? What about application development: Are programmers working on business-oriented, forward-looking projects? How about outsourcing? Compliance? Web 2.0? So I wrote a post about it, at our new blog site, CIOs Uncensored. It elicited quite a few interesting responses. (Note: Several responses suggest an unfortunate sexism regarding the CIO position.) There's this response from LK: "See if the existing IT group can actually get him a PC setup--with ALL the appropriate apps and access--in one day. If that doesn't happen, call IBM Global Services." Most responses were a little less, um, flip. According to RDP, "First things first: Ask for/review disaster recovery plan. Ask for/review system backup reports. Ask for/review system monitoring reports. Ask for/review IT documentation. If these don't exist, you know what to start working on ASAP." One response addressed IT-business alignment. "A current assessment of strengths and weaknesses in staff should be done promptly," says Rajeev Sajja. "Define IT goals that align with business goals and identify projects that would support those goals." Is it surprising that many, if not most, responses didn't address technology problems but emphasized management issues instead? "The first order of business should never be about task, but about relationships, meeting your people," says C-Chip. "IT people in general are about fixing problems, but my experience has been that problems are typically NOT found in hardware/software. A good manager is not somebody who just 'gets the job done,' but is somebody who inspires others to 'get the job done.' Problem solving begins with people." And then there's the challenge of managing upwards. According to MWP, the CIO "should determine who is going to evaluate his performance and then ask, 'What are my metrics for success?' If he can get this clearly defined, then he'll be far ahead of nearly every CIO in the world." That's the easy part, according to someone identifying himself, or herself, as The Old Timer. "Einstein said it best: 'The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.' Whoever hired you must have had important priorities and objectives in mind or you wouldn't have been hired. THOSE are your top priorities and should demand your full attention. These other things like security and backups and D/R are important, too, but you'd better save those for your spare time. Whatever's most important for your boss had better be most important to you, too, if you want to make it through your first six months." Good point, OT. One question: What spare time? What do CIOs want? Share your opinions at our new blog, CIOs Uncensored. Or send your comments to jsoat@cmp.com or phone 516-562-5326. To find out more about John Soat, please visit his page.