One of my roles as a “management consultant who happens to do tech” is to go into organizations and look for ways in which things can be streamlined and make information more accessible. Organizations of all stripes struggle with this,…
Watching the Detectives
As what some would call a “serial entrepreneur,” I have a soft spot in my heart for small businesses and those fledglings just leaving the nest. Armed with great ideas or better approaches, it’s an exciting time, and I get…
An uncomfortable book hits too close to home
The CEO (and CIO, and VP of IT) have resigned. The board president/former CEO has come back from retirement, to quell any potential stockholder revolt. In the last month, stock prices have fallen 30%. A Mid-level IT Operations Director has…
IT Makeover
It’s no surprise to say that for most of their 30-year existence, IT departments have not been held in high regard. Organizations grow over time based on perceived need. Every startup or small business I’ve ever known added a bookkeeper…
Redundancy = Resiliency
Recently I learned that one of my former employers was hit by ransomware, locking out access to a file and SQL server. They are one of a couple of higher education sites in the same state system that’s been hit…
The New (Old) World of Zero Trust
Everything old is new again. In Technology management we’re always pushing that boulder up the hill. At the same time, the hill is changing, our methods of pushing are changing, and our goals once we get to the top also…
Husbandry
This last weekend marked my Meyer Lemon’s annual trip into the house for Winter. Since lemons require a long growing season, I always bring it in just before Thanksgiving laden with lemons while silently praying that none fall off while…
Epiphany: The Marketer and the CIO Should Be Friends
Remember the movie “Working Girl”? I’m remembering the scene where Melanie Griffith’s character Tess tells Trask her train of thought that led to putting two very different companies together. TESS: See this — this is from the Wall Street Journal,…
The Soul of (All) New Machines
Remember the Tracy Kidder book, “The Soul of the New Machine“? Required reading in business school from almost the day it shipped, the author embedded with teams at Data General in Massachusetts, in their quest to build a new and…
There’s no place like home…there’s no place like home…
August 23, 2020 Make no mistake; the COVID-19 pandemic is expensive. In a macroeconomic sense: world economies sputter along in low speed, needing fewer of this and that means fewer people employed, making fewer dollars, and national and world GDP…