Chief Information Officers and Technical Communication

1. Chief Information OfficersandTechnical Communication Mark P. Haselkorn Department of Technical Communication University of Washington markh@u.washington.edu Haselkorn 2003

2. Overview • Introduction and Thesis • ICT System Management • The Role of the CIO • The CIO and Technical Communication Haselkorn 2001 Haselkorn 2003 Haselkorn 2003

3. Introduction • Standing Technical Communication on its head • Thesis: When the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) is properly understood, the training and experience provided in the field of technical communication, augmented by additional training and experience in management, best suit the demands of this position. Haselkorn 2003

4. ICT System Management • Not primarily a technological activity • Dynamic, “open” systems • “System integration” goes far beyond technical issues • Balancing cross-organizational tensions Haselkorn 2001

5. ICT System Management • Toughest problems occurred not within areas under responsibility of an ICT manager, but rather within areas that cut across those responsibilities • These more holistic problems aren’t about “hard” machine issues—involve integration of and communication across the entire system of systems that constitutes how an organization knows what it knows and uses that knowledge to help achieve its mission • For example… Haselkorn 2001

6. ICT System Management • Balance central management and local execution • Consider evolution of ICT issues over time • Clarify ownership of and responsibility for ICT systems • Consider the impact of local diversity on ICT • Consider the role of local autonomy in ICT • Build trust between local ICT administrators and central managers • Strengthen horizontal ICT relationships across the organization Haselkorn 2001

7. ICT System Management • Overcome funding disincentives to working across organizational boundaries • Assure that central ICT guidance is at an appropriate level • Address cross-boundary issues in life-cycle management of ICT systems • Tackle the informational effort needed to support management of integrated ICT systems • Address issues of organizational culture that impact ICT Haselkorn 2001

8. The Role of the CIO • Since the mid 1990’s, CIOs have increasingly been charged with managing an organization’s information and knowledge systems, but there has been considerable uncertainty as to the exact nature of and appropriate skills for this position. • What is enterprise-wide management of an organization’s information and knowledge systems? • What does an entity devoted to this activity do? Haselkorn 2001

9. The Role of the CIO • CIO’s office initially seen as an extension of already influential acquisitions and system development function • Technology the central component of an organization’s information and knowledge activities • CIO’s primary role as “owner” and manager of that technology • Activities centered on standardizing and “keeping up” with new information and communication technology Haselkorn 2001

10. The Role of the CIO • But as the list of system management tasks demonstrated, enterprise-wide ICT management is not primarily about functionally organized technology • If the CIO owns anything, it is the space between these nodes of responsibility • CIO’s focus needs to be on the conversation and interactions that link the functional parts into a strategic whole Haselkorn 2001

11. The Role of the CIO • Distinguish functionally bound ICT issues from enterprise-wide ones • Where issue resides within a functional responsibility, role is greatly minimized or non-existent (But often an incorrect assumption that a cross-functional issue is bounded within a particular functional responsibility) • When an ICT issue is identified to be enterprise-wide, take ownership Haselkorn 2001

12. The Role of the CIO • “Ownership” means assuring a single point of contact providing consistent guidance at the appropriate level • Under normal circumstances, “ownership” does not mean that the CIO’s office should be that point of contact or own the problem parts • The CIO owns the space between the parts—the space that makes it a cross-enterprise issue • Primary role is to identify relevant organizational perspectives, determine best available representatives of those perspectives, and then link, guide, and empower those people and units to manage the issue Haselkorn 2001

13. The Role of the CIO • Under the CIO’s guidance, a cross-boundary entity defined to represent the relevant organizational perspectives on an issue becomes the point of contact • Only such an entity, acting with the guidance and authority of the CIO’s office, can balance competing organizational goals that surround a cross-boundary ICT issue • CIO is the fulcrum in this balancing act—team-building, facilitating cross-boundary communication and activity, assuring that ICT activities are aligned with organizational goals and strategies, and institutionalizing desired change Haselkorn 2001

14. The Role of the CIO “Given the high risk for failure of teams, the CIOs who lead [collaborative] groups require business, technology, team-building, project management and communication skills to be effective.” Jessica Lipnack, co-author of Virtual Teams Haselkorn 2001

15. The Role of the CIO • At special times, CIO must go beyond the “fulcrum” role to one of greater authority and stronger leadership. • At critical times like mergers and during security threats, CIO may be required to assure speed and flexibility in the face of slower, more traditional methods • Serve as a single point of contact for ICT coordination outside the organization Haselkorn 2001

16. The Role of the CIO • But during “normal times” • the CIO is not an owner of functionally organized technology; rather the CIO’s office is the glue that integrates the many facets and perspectives of an enterprise-wide ICT system • the CIO works partly through central authority, but more commonly through the creation and ongoing support of cross-functional entities focused on cross-boundary ICT issues Haselkorn 2001

17. The CIO and Technical Communication • The fundamental skills the CIO must employ to achieve these ends include communication, facilitation, team-building, and creative use of information tools—central skills of technical communicator Haselkorn 2001

18. The CIO and Technical Communication • CIO generally needs to adopt a perspective focused on strategic goals, the use of information to achieve those goals, and the role of individuals and information tools to facilitate that use • CIO’s perspective must consider the boundaries of organizational lines and functional distinctions, even as it works to remove their potential negative impacts on cross-functional information issues and objectives • Again, this recognition of multiple audiences and communicating to achieve multiple purposes is the primary perspective of the technical communicator Haselkorn 2003

19. The CIO and Technical Communication • CIO is owner of the information space between functional nodes of an organization • CIO is a communicator, a facilitator, and a politician • CIO is a technical communicator with extremely high-level management skills • Technical communication needs to partner with related fields to produce these people. They are sorely needed throughout industry and government Haselkorn 2001

20. …We are a culture that values mastery and control, that cultivates self-sufficiency, competence, independence. But in the shadow of these values lies a profound rejection of our human wholeness. As individuals and as a culture we have developed a sort of contempt for anything in ourselves and in others that has needs, and is capable of suffering. It is not a gentle world. As life becomes colder and somehow harder, we struggle to create places of safety for ourselves and those we love through our learning, our skills, our income. We build places of security in our homes and our offices and even our cars. These places separate us from one another. Places that separate people can never be safe enough. Perhaps our only refuge is in the goodness in each other. In a highly technological world we forget our own goodness and place value instead on our skills and our expertise. But it is not our expertise that will restore the world. The future may depend less on our expertise than on our faithfulness to life. …The solution to the destructiveness in this world is not more technical knowledge. Repairing the world may require us to find a deep connection to the life around us, to substitute the capacity to befriend life for our relentless pursuit of greater and greater expertise. It has been said that it has taken us thousands of years to recognize and defend the value of a single human life. What remains is to understand that the value of any human life is limited unless there is something in it that stands for the benefit of others and the benefit of life itself. Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.