Center for CIO Leadership : Popular Threads - All Communities

IT in High School

info@cioleadershipcenter.com — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:42:25 GMT

I have an interest in determining the level of IT education that is happening in high schools around the world. High school is defined in this case as the 9th to 12th year of education. I believe that the U.S. is falling behind by not offering a rigorous IT curriculum in high school. I think that other countries are doing a better job of presenting these topics during this period when a lot of students make decisions about their future. I believe that the U.S. high school curriculum that is dubbed "college prep" is defined as courses in Math, Physics and Chemistry. I believe very few schools consider IT to be a science equal to these "classical sciences." This is despite the fact that there are significantly more jobs available in IT than in the classical sciences. I believe that a major reason for this is the need for schools in the U.S. to teach to the college entrance exam.

I would be very interested to hear from educators around the world relative to this topic. Also I would like to hear from IT practitioners who have some information on this topic.

The CIO and Finance

info@cioleadershipcenter.com — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:42:57 GMT

In the latest Center Pulsecheck Interview Synthesis: The CIO and Finance: The Integration of Technology and Business in the ‘New Normal’, CIOs recommended two key areas where the Center could provide useful insight and education:

The specific “how-to’s” of building a business case, including the nuts and bolts of financial analysis
The change management aspects of building the case for technology investment

The Center research team is looking into doing formal research on this topic. We would also like to hear from Center members. Please reply to this discussion post to provide your opinion or links to relevant articles.

How can the Center help you further your career?

info@cioleadershipcenter.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:47:14 GMT

The Center for CIO Leadership would like to hear from you. What can the Center do to support you in your current role or in finding a new role?

Is it time for CIOs to finally give up on the never ending chase for Alignment?

info@cioleadershipcenter.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:03:58 GMT

For the past decade now, CIOs have ranked "Alignment with the Business" as the number one priority on their agenda. As Founder and Publisher of CIO Insight and Baseline magazines almost a decade ago, I have seen "Alignment" top the list of every one of our proprietary research studies year after year. Likewise, every other CIO study conducted during this time has borne this same result. This begs the question - why is Alignment so darned elusive? Maybe the answer lies in the notion that Alignment just isn't attainable. Maybe the concept of Alignment of technology with the business is simply misaligned?

I, for one always believed that the "Fusion" of technology with the business was the ultimate objective. Some in our field call this "Convergence". Call it what you will, but no matter what terminology one assigns to this concept, business and technology cannot walk along parallel paths. Successful organizations are those organizations that have a cultural belief that technology is systemic to the business. Any business. Hence, any CEO that commissions their CIO with the task of alignment has set them up to run a race with no finish line. And clearly, no chance to be successful. In my opinion the challenge for the CIO then becomes how does the CIO change the rules of the game with CEO? I think once CIOs can come up with an answer to that question, the chase for Alignment may finally come to an end. I'd like to hear what you think. Better yet, I'd love to hear what experiences CIOs might have actually had in this area?