The Executive's Guide to Information Technology

Based on my personal experience, many of their recommedations are on target. Most small- and many medium-sized organizations can benefit from their recommedations, although not without modification. It can only benefit an IT manager whose department is growing to be alert for instituting the ideas Baschab and Piot discuss, especially concerning controls, risk and organization.

One final note: it would have been interesting for the authors to discuss how small IT departments should implement their recommendations as they grow.


Excellent resource for managers & execs who want more IT ROI   April 18, 2003
Joe Santana (NYC)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

The Executives Guide to Information Technology is an excellent resource that is a must have for IT managers and top executives that want to get the most out of their IT investments. Every IT manager and executive should read this book to understand how to effectively manage information technology for business value. Likewise, non-IT managers and executives will learn a great deal about the inner-workings of IT and how to work with their IT brethren in the most effective way for the greatest benefits to their company. (CFOs specifically will find this book incredibly illuminating and useful).

The book is extremely well organized and presents a well-balanced mixture of academic analysis and tested practices. The sheer knowledge and hard earned personal experiences of the authors comes through in every chapter. The descriptions of the challenges facing IT will resonate clearly with anyone who has ever held an executive position within an enterprise IT team. The solutions presented are equally clear and easy to follow. Overall, the book is simply packed with techniques for recognizing challenges, accurately assessing the current state of any component of IT, comparing that state to a target benchmark and developing actionable improvement plans. Finally, the CD-ROM included with the book contains all the spreadsheets, documents and checklist tools needed to put Baschab and Piot's sage advice to immediate use.

In addition to being a highly informative volume, this is ultimately, as the title implies, a guidebook loaded with recipes for IT investment optimization success. After reading it, I suggest placing it on or near your desk where I am sure you will refer to it again and again. Also, I think that buying a copy of this book for each of their key IT managers would be one of the wisest investments a budget-squeezed CIO could make. I highly recommend it.


Packed with pragmatic advice   July 29, 2003
Scott Mastbrook (Dallas, TX)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

The author's depth of experience in optimizing corporate IT departments clearly shines through in this well-written guidebook. Their philosophy for optimizing the IT function is unique and is a refreshing break from many of the "how to boost ROI" books frequently found in this genre. The text is obviously written from a perspective of a CEO/CFO/CIO, but the information is applicable at all levels in corporate IT departments and is particularly useful to IT consultants advising executives responsible for corporate technology.

In addition to their unique perspectives and philosophy, the book is loaded with pragmatic advice and methodologies that can be used immediately to put their advice into practice. For example, I found the chapter on vendor selection especially useful and immediately actionable. Using their comprehensive methodology, I was able to help my client effectively move through what would have otherwise been an arduous and oblique process while avoiding some potentially very expensive pitfalls. This chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

Overall, I highly recommend this book.


Extremely in-depth & informative, but also easy to read   April 3, 2003
Quentin Watkins (Dallas, Texas)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

The Executive's Guide to Information Technology is book focused on the "business" pieces of managing IT, such tasks as IT organization design, vendor selection and management, communicating with business users, IT human resource management, establishing IT steering committees and managing the overall demand within the IT department. The book fills the gap between abundant vocational "how to" books and the business of managing the whole IT function.

Overall the book does a good job making the case that the key principles it outlines are the best predictors of a successful IT department. The book is replete with real-life, and often humorous anecdotes from the authors experiences in turning around distressed IT departments. IT managers will quickly recognize many of the symptoms of an IT department in trouble. The book is written in a fairly readable, conversational tone, and there are charts and graphics throughout to further explain key points.

At just over 500 pages, the book is lengthy compared to competing offerings. However, it is written in a way that lets the reader pick and choose specific chapter topics, without losing much of the context. Additionally, the book includes a CD-ROM with documents, spreadsheets and links to the underlying research that went into the book, making the book a good value.

In all, the book is a relatively easy read, thought-provoking, and a great reference for IT managers (or aspiring managers) who want to learn to think like senior executives and ensure that their IT departments are running on all cylinders.

...

Highlights:

Opening chapters on "why MIS departments matter" and the symptoms of under-performing IT departments.

Vendor selection and vendor management chapters.

IT steering committee chapter - why have one, what it can help IT accomplish.

IT budgeting chapter - shows key components of IT budgdet, how-to's and benchmarking information.

Nice forward by a Prof from Harvard.

Lowlights:

Portion of chapters on IT organization describing in painstaking detail the exact roles and responsibilities for every position on the IT team. This stuff needs to be there to make the book comprehensive, but not new news for experienced IT professionals.


Great book for IT - need for my executives to read it   August 13, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This book has all the practical advice that I wish someone had told me at the start of my IT career. Instead of another course on programming or the 15th version of some algorithm, this book has the stuff that helps you think like an executive and move forward in your career.
The topics covered include everything you need to know about how an IT department really works - operations, applications, networking, etc. at a non-technical management level. A good book to buy if you are an IT exec or want to get there and run with the big dogs.