Written by: Georges Cascales
I was asked not long ago what kept me awake at night as a CIO. This is a
great question, but an even more important question is, what helps me have a
peaceful sleep.
I can recall all of those times where I
tossed and turned, too tired to get up, but unable to go back to sleep. And I
can say with certainty, it isn’t much fun.
I refer to those things that can keep me awake through the year as my
unwelcome stimulants. Those things that
help me sleep are my relaxants. I will
cover my first three unwelcome stimulants below along with the very welcome relaxants I have used
with success.
Availability of
systems: A major outage of critical systems would be materially disastrous
for the organisations we work for or large transactions of data which failed overnight
processing would have grave consequence on the next day business operations. My relaxant is Operational Change Management. It is a critical process to
mitigate this concern. If I have confidence in it and how effectively we are
doing it then I sleep well.
Security: Environments are
getting more complex and the risk and number of threats is increasing all of
the time. One slip may have disastrous effect on systems availability and
therefore impact on the business. Well-designed security architecture and
up-to-date operational systems can avoid this and hence is my relaxant. This means being on the front foot and thinking ahead of the threat rather than being responsive to them. If I know we are doing this then I can be at
peace.
Program Delivery: There is always the need
to ensure that large programs are delivering expected benefits. However, delays
in programs or programs can have the reverse effect and actually cost the organisation
money. Effective and transparent program/project assurance is a critical relaxant
for me. Knowing qualified others are
looking inside the engine room of each Program and Project ensures I get my
much needed beauty sleep.
In my next post I will cover my last four
unwelcome stimulants, that include my concerns for Staff Well being, Stakeholder
Engagement, Vendor Relationships and Ethical Behavior. Plus the must have relaxants that are tied to each.
I'm also aware, from experience, that there are
perhaps things that I don’t know.
This
means I need a general set of relaxants to help me rest easy at the end of
most days. I’ll also cover what works
for me in ensuring I uncover these unknowns in a following post.
IP Senior Consultant, Georges Cascales
Georges has held senior positions for over 30 years in the ICT Industry.
This has included CIO roles with Endeavour Energy and Queensland Urban
Utilities. Georges has a particular understanding of the utility (energy
and water) and Health industries. He has particular interest in program
and project delivery and methodologies, and providing assurance and
peace-of-mind for CIOs and business executives.
Labels: CIO, Georges Cascales, Operational Change Management, Process, Program Delivery, Project Assurance, Risk, Security, Systems
I was asked not long ago what kept me awake at night as a CIO. This is a
great question, but an even more important question is, what helps me have a
peaceful sleep..jpg)