Search for a new CIO

I hear that AM is so much of a disaster that the EC have engaged an executive search firm to secure a replacement. This could be the first logical decision for some time.

 

Wishful thinking. Yes he is off to a poor start, but opening new search would require the EC to admit they failed. It won't happen. They vetted him for months before he on-boarded. Now they have to give him an opportunity to succeed. I just hope the damage he does is minimal. People dropping like flies. And we are not seeing them back filled. More work for us.

 

don't expect back fills for every person that leaves. we had to release our contractors and push out our project work due to cost reductions. we have someone resigning at the end of June. I do not think we will be backfilling her. have alook at AM org chart. those top line postions are mostly vp and include a very high cost CTO. they need to fund these positions from somewhere.

 

After the all hands his incompetence is clear. Bring in a lot of expensive executives that don't know our domain and hope he can hide in his new empire with people around him who can speak executive IT babble and confuse the heads of functions. Sound very much like the failed approaches of automotive IT 20 years ago.... Hang on!
If TP really wanted what AM is moving to (a top heavy generic IT group), he should have pushed RT to outsource to HP/IBM.

 

I agree. I still can see scenarios where tech solutions is spun out or all infrastructure gets outsourced. At least AM lit a fire under NH. NH best get the India team producing better outcomes or he and a whole bunch of people there will be gone, low cost or not.

 

Where is RT in all of this? After the all hands meeting it is clear we still have duplicate functions in IT and that's a great way to waste budget. Why is AM looking for a Head Office, CIO person to build a PMO when that function exists in EH's group? It is well run and should serve all IT. This looks a lot like the tower model

 

prepping that golden parachute

 

RT either doesn't know or doesn't care what the business below the 9th floor thinks of AM. They see him take out of both sides of his mouth every day.

 

This is a very different industry than what he is used to and not easy to break into at the C level. It can be done but he must focus on learning the business and not just cutting costs to build his empire. Honeymoon is over, start leading.

 

I fear he's already gone too far on cost cutting.

 

If AM was actually cutting costs that may make some sense but he is not. He reallocating costs from resources that actually do work and know this industry to fund naive suckup executives who want to learn the industry on Qs dime. At the same time creating work for all those underneath him because he's too lazy to learn any processes and too disresptuful to attend his own set of unproductive meetings. He must have turned on the charm in the interview process because he is only negative for Q..... Wonder if he's a plant from a competitor to ensure Q loses it dominate IT position

 

What's most curious is that he believes bringing in his expensive friends will allow him to stay above it all. These people will still have to deal with the technical debt, competing priorities, obsession with moving work to Asia, and politics that exist today. There are no easy answers. The reality is that they are going to have to continue to reduce spend to satiate the CEO's thirst for foreign outsourcing. It will get worse before it gets better.

 

Every new exec gets 3-6 months before they're accountable for anything. AM has done the math. Between new hires and cost cutting he has months and months before he needs to really DO anything.

 

No. Honeymoon is over. Pressure is on. Too many broken areas in IT to ignore or delay. I'm sure by now he has seen RT switch from the come-join-us-at-Q recruitment mode into full boar a@@ kicking mode

 

So, IT didn't get broken in the last 6 months. does that mean the guys who broke it are outta the door and the new guy has to clean house?

 

the guy who broke it sits on the 9th floor. shifted large portion of IT spend to India but did not provide necessary support. did not properly hold them accountable either. result is key staff have left and one quality problem after another. outsiders now looking in and saying wtf is going on? Its not as simple as cleaning house. Its a hot mess.

 

AM is out of his depth. He thinks he can come into Q and create exactly the same top heavy organization he had while at GM. He has not spent enough time listening and learning. He has preconceived notions that are invalid and I say that as I have listened to him state his version of 'the problem' in meetings. He does not understand the difference between symptoms and root cause. Just wait until his CTO sees the technical debt that must be paid. There will be a frenzy to find money. And what's the biggest cost? People. You know what's next. By the time all of this unravels, RT will be long gone with his payout. In the mean time AM continues to piss people off by welcoming them to apply for their own jobs.

 

AM is pissing off plenty of people outside of IT too. Only people that like him are those he plays yes man to. And those will soon figure out that hes all talk and doesnt have a clue.

 

Just wait until he has to make decisions about continuing the shadowy mobile pilot (hint: pouring money into this undefined activity) or continuing to give TW more money for her security empire. And just what is she accomplishing? The best person on her team just resigned. Her buddies that she brought in are very slow to act and collaborate with teams. They prefer to remain in their ivory tower preaching about Q security flaws rather than jump in and help.

 

Mobile is an illusion. That's what you get when you combine AMs lack of industry knowledge with CBs laziness.