Jim Russell

A4. Ooooh, dirty laundry! A functional team asked for the (custom) restoration of an extinct feature. Dev promised to try. The result was missing the deadline by 4 weeks and loss of trust and confidence. #CIOChat

A3. For me in higher ed platform+guardrails+puppy dog eyes mostly works. The puppy dog eyes are also about trust, empathy and shared values. Leveraging those helps keep things mostly aligned and contained. I also have the luxury and extending grace. #CIOChat

Can I say no with sparklers and a cake? Sure. Have I? Maybe.

A2. I'll always promote engagement as a tool. Find a tent for everyone. The big tent of informed clients. The medium tent of subject matter experts or governance. The small tent of decision makers. Set context. Educate. Discuss. Find consensus and futures together. #CIOChat

A1 Why not both? I refer to the CIO often needing to bring the "discipline" of no to the enterprise. The CIO can't be the exclusive source of no and shouldn't say no every time. Teaching, modeling, influencing controls and limiters are often things we must do. #CIOChat

A4 Participatory solutioning. Re-org fatigue is real for many. When all have an authentic voice and role in the change and the ability to see their contribution in the result, the buy-in sticks. Otherwise folks just wait (or pray) for the next shuffling of the deck. #CIOChat

A2. For me right now not so much about decentralized as diffused. AI is changing functions and blurring the "swim lanes" for technical staff who increasingly work in more areas. So certainly not fragmenting but adjusting to a new knowledge/skill ecosystem. #CIOChat

A1.2 New tools promote low-code, no-code and digital citizenship. The IT org needs to incorporate all those fellow travelers in our thinking and work. Re-focusing on (hopefully) a thinner vendor stack and on improved customer and employee experiences. #CIOChat

A1.1 Not so much about re-org as reconnect and refocus. For smaller orgs there is a strong need to reconnect with rapidly changing functional or business requirements as our solutions and services need to be nimbly aligned. #CIOChat

A4. Most organizations are not monolithic. All in the org benefit from training and awareness but the work starts where the foundation is prepped or where the need is urgent. Some members of the #CSuite are ready now but the majority have homework or are "OK" for now. #CIOChat

As with most risk - rum! For good or ill I am leaning toward vendors that are too big to fail or be acquired. That sometimes means slower innovation but manages the risk and reduces the liquor store bill. (Checking if I can deduct rum from my taxes...)

A3. For now I am looking for #AgenticAI to align with goals (strategic or tactical) but generally support or relieve the work of existing staff. If I can make the employee experience better (hopefully #CX as well) I can retain, train and attract staff across the org. #CIOChat

A2. Not radically different than other innovation. Focus is on managing the scope. Start smaller than the grand vision. Right now the review and QA are all manual. The architecture is generally baked into the ecosystems of @microsoft365.microsoft.com or Salesforce and trusting that. #CIOChat

A1 As with other initiatives, where there are cleaner data and maturity of data governance Agentic AI has an easier on-ramp. So helpdesk triage and initial response, mature and simple workflows without ad hoc changes come to mind. Hoping for nudges eventually. #CIOChat

"Education employees" should have been Educate employees.

A4 Education is a great way. Education employees with tools (quiet time, do-not-disturb, value of camera off meetings, etc.) and managers of how to reduce stress inducing messages (late night, vague, surprise deadlines, etc.) and teach the organization not to induce burnout. #CIOChat

A3 Intervene early and often. CIO's should work to influence that RTO mandate before it is finalized and bake in awareness or metrics of how to measure effectiveness including factors other than proximity or revenue. #CIOChat

A2 Few things are one-size-fits-all. As organizations or industries might have a culture or leadership that grooves to proximity, not all employees or departments will be perfectly aligned. I encourage making space for differences and listen to how folks work best together and support that. #CIOChat

A1 While ROI associated with increased revenue is an essential metric there are others. Employee experience, operational costs from office leases and others should provide a balanced approach to forecast or determine the value of RTO. #CIOChat

A4 Articulate and show/prove the ROI where possible. IT should be mentioned in the other VP's board reports to demonstrate the matrixed partnerships. Lastly, as others have noted, prudent competitor research supports funding for new directions. #CIOChat

A3 Understanding the operations side and the 10,000 foot level of perspective are essential. Understanding the "how" of tech is great but understanding the "why" the org needs innovative technology matters more. #CIOChat

A2. Early and often. I first presented GenAI to our board in Jan of 23 and have been including elements since then. Fear is seldom a strong motivational tool for me but threats and opportunities work. Getting an outsider voice in a meeting to stimulate discussion helps.#CIOChat

A1. The best tool remains concise & coherent board reports written for the lay person. Supplementing with deep dives and cyber updates in meetings as well as with board members on academic program advisory groups and overlapping groups such as alumni associations. #CIOChat

Identity Characteristic Study Identity Characteristic Study

Women: You are invited to participate in a study of how identity characteristics influence women’s experiences of bias at work. Fill out the brief survey here: amy-diehl.com/study
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Join this week’s #CIOchat 2-3 p.m. EST Thursday. Topic: Innovating with Limited Resources

What you can do Ten ways to resist Trump II

In light of Trump II’s predictably cruel and bonkers beginning, many people are asking: “What can I do now?” Here are 10 recommendations. robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-c...

How CIOs Can Measure GenAI Success What makes an AI project successful? Learn from CIOs at the forefront of technology and discover the metrics that matter.

@ciochat.bsky.social captures where I and several other CIO’s are building, measuring and planning #GenAI www.vktr.com/ai-upskillin...

What is the minimum cost for enterprise technology in higher education? Assuming a small college of 1,000 undergrads with and without residence hall. You need an SIS, Finance system, lHRIS and LMS. You need a cloud email and collaboration suite, a network and tech in your classrooms. Plus staff.

Hawaiian Style Cooking Class (let her know how you feel about spam). Kamoauli cultural sail on a royal sailing canoe. Iolani Palace to both wonder and lament humanity.

A crumb-a rumba