WSJ’s CIO Journal : A perspective

I have been reading WSJ’s CIO Journal since the launch a few years back. While, I haven’t found any groundbreaking insights, the articles and category headings have provided a pulse as to how the IT profession is evolving.

Over the last few months, the story lines are focused on the CIO Report, Consumerization, Big Data, Cloud, Talent, and Security. I would tend to agree that these are some of the flash points in the life of an IT professional today. That said I am surprised at the limited/surface focus on governance, project execution and software engineering which are critical to the efficient functioning of an IT organization.

Most IT functions suffer from material weakness in these areas which limits the ability of IT to create great solutions that advance business outcomes. These shortcomings stem from the lack of focus, will and skill at the leadership levels to build organizations around the core capabilities. This lack of action usually results in disappointed business leadership voicing and acting upon strong opinions with regards to the shortcomings of their IT organizations.

The path forward isn’t easy, but it starts with getting the fundamentals right which is a focus on people, governance, project execution and software engineering. I am happy to say that the CIO Journal’s focus on Talent is a promising start.