Principle No. 7 of the Keep the Joint Running Manifesto says that before you can be strategic you have to be competent.
IT’s processes and practices are how IT’s work gets done. They’re where competence, or its absence, happens.
The prior installment in this series talked about the hard truths of what it means to “improve” IT’s processes and practices. The question now is which of them you, as CIO, need to focus your personal attention on.
The answer starts with this basic principle: Managers should never personally sponsor more than three change initiatives. Exceed that magic number and you’ll lose your ability to focus, and, therefore, to lead.
