April 2002
Volume 18
Number 1
The CIO's Biggest Test
Few of the challenges a CIO faces will concentrate the mind as wonderfully as the prospect of installing a major software system. This may well be the toughest duty on a CIO’s watch.
There are other big tasks – articulating an IT vision, unifying IT’s disparate constituent groups – that are certainly very difficult, but they are more abstract and indefinite. The software installation is concrete and definite. It is also highly public, involving many people and affecting even more. There is no bigger reputation-maker or career-breaker, period. Making sure this job gets done successfully – on time, on budget, and as promised – calls for all the skills and experience a CIO can muster.
There is no other person or position in campus administration or the IT organization that can provide the many different aspects of leadership that are needed to assure that the installation of an enterprise-wide administrative software system happens successfully. Even when partnering in the project leadership, this is not a job to be delegated down to someone else or entrusted to a committee for management.
Necessity
The challenge begins with helping the institution decide when and why
such a big undertaking is necessary. Necessity can be the only reasonable
criterion for launching one of these projects. The cost, disruption to
campus life, and the pain of the effort are all too great to be justified
by anything less. No college or university would adopt a new
administrative software system for its incremental advantages over the
current system. Nobody has ever thought that any new system of this kind
would bring the institution a competitive edge with respect to the
competition.
The rationale for proceeding must be that there is simply no alternative. These systems get replaced because they can no longer be supported or cannot evolve to meet new needs. They do not get replaced just to provide new features or take advantage of new technologies. And they almost never get replaced because new senior management prefers something else.
Consequently, the CIO’s job is to take the lead when necessity dictates a change of system. Making the case and overcoming the objections and delaying or diversionary arguments are the key tasks when a system change is what is needed.
High-level buy-in
Establishing necessity has to happen at the highest levels of campus
administration. The case cannot be made from the grassroots, although
staff at that level might in fact have been the first to become convinced
of the need. Nor can the case be made effectively by department and office
heads. On even the smallest campuses those administrators do not have
standing necessary to argue institutional necessity. Their role of
persuasion comes once the senior administrators, alerted to the need,
check back to see whether their organizations agree.
A CIO who reports to the president is far better situated for this key task of leadership, as there is just no substitute for being already a trusted member of the highest reporting circle. CIOs who report lower in the organizational chart are at a corresponding disadvantage and will have to work that much harder to carry the argument. There is no alternative to support from the highest level in the administration. If it is not given enthusiastically (it rarely is), it must at least be given with firm resolve. There are many obstacles ahead that only the biggest bulldozer will sweep away, so everyone needs to know that the president believes the necessity and is prepared to act.
Staff buy-in
Senior staff buy-in, critical though it is, is not sufficient. The
rank-and-file staff of the campus need to be in agreement as well. Now the
CIO’s task shifts to the tougher diplomacy of conducting credible and
persuasive consultations with at least the mid-level staff. In larger
institutions, meeting with all staff is not something the CIO will be able
to do personally – other IT managers will need to join the effort, and
other avenues of communication (and here is why the CIO needs to be an
excellent writer) have to be used.
If the old software really needs to go, then getting the buy-in of the staff should be doable. If it still serves some offices reasonably well, their staff may not buy into the change process, and the whole project is in jeopardy. Those staff will be correct (for themselves) in their refusal to go along: if the need is uneven across campus, the necessity of change for everyone is not there either. Then the case has to be made for this change being best for the institution as a whole.
Staff buy-in needs to be genuine. These are the people whose backs will carry the project’s load. If they are not fully and constructively engaged in the process, break-downs, delays, and even outright failure of the installation are quite possible. Obtaining staff buy-in is probably the hardest part of the whole undertaking; and the CIO may need all of his or her patience for diplomacy at this level in the campus organization. But it is exactly on the point of staff buy-in that most unhappy projects come to grief.
Process
CIOs whose previous positions were in the commercial world are
uniformly astounded at the lack of administrative discipline in higher
education with regard to process and budget. All CIOs need to make special
efforts to ensure that participants at all levels in the project
understand and remember the basics of project management – the
relationships among time, money, and specifications. If that focus can be
maintained, there will be at least a good basis for working through the
big and small items of managing the project.
IT projects in the academic world are notorious for running over in time and budget. Typically, specifications are set, budget is then also locked down, and the time line – though published with confidence – is really just wishful thinking. The CIO needs to keep all three of those factors from becoming ossified. As the project unfolds, and runs into the inevitable surprises and crises, keeping all parties aware of the three elements that they can work to adjust the project will be invaluable.
Communications
Good communication in a project this large and difficult goes far
beyond delivering news and updates.
Keeping alert to signs of difficulty means talking more or less constantly with those doing the critical work. It is not enough to conduct project meetings or to wait until news of problems filters through to the CIO’s office. This is the time for "active listening." Keeping everyone else talking and listening to each other is important also. In addition, the CIO will need to remind everyone why the project is happening and repeat the key elements of the plan. Once the reality of difficult work settles over the participants, the original resolve may begin to unravel and need to be mended.
It is important to know that basic reassurance and encouragement are vital throughout the project. The toll on morale can be serious, and it will be up to the CIO, as well as the president, to encourage positive attitudes and a proper sense of proportion and perspective.
Repairing breaks
Large information systems are too complex to be replaced or upgraded
without significant crises. To some extent these problems can be forecast
through good analysis, but only imperfectly. When the inevitable
break-downs occur, the CIO needs to act quickly and decisively, and with
the full authority of the top administration. There are too many
ramifications if unexpected problems threaten all the planning,
preparation, and resolve gathered at the outset of the project.
There is no script to follow in these instances; the best expedient is for the CIO to be squarely and energetically involved in negotiating solutions to impasses.
Managing expectations
Through every step of the process there has been a common thread: the
need to manage expectations. Good software installs do not turn on product
or technology choices, vendor relations, or IT staff management. Those are
all important, too, but they are all secondary to the larger need to set,
calibrate, and adjust the expectations of everyone even indirectly
connected to the project.
Managing these kinds of IT projects is mostly not about IT. Today’s CIO needs to have strong skills in diplomacy, advocacy, organizational psychology, writing, and listening, in addition to the more obviously needed strengths in management and IT knowledge. No aspect of a CIO’s work is more challenging, more rewarding, or more appreciated when done well. TW
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