“…constantly being accessible makes you inaccessible."... is in reference to use of PDA devices and a phenomenon Linda Stone calls, “continuous partial attention, CPA” ”
Linda Stone, former Apple and Microsoft executive, quoted in March 27, 2006 Newsweek article by Steven Levy

IT New Year's Resolution Progress

Given the prevalence of Continuous Partial Attention (CPA) everyone is suffering from these days, I thought mid-year would be a good time to check in on the progress of 2006 New Year’s resolutions. Not the ones we all made about fat, fitness, food, friends or family, but Gartner’s top 10 CIO resolutions published by CIO Magazine. In the list below, I’ll highlight three of their CIO resolutions, and offer some suggestions and resource ideas pertaining to IT staff.

Top 10 2006 CIO Resolutions

1. Create alternative plans for the unpredictable year.

   With the IT job market highly competitive, global business demands growing, pandemic crises management an issue, aging staff ready for retirement, and world situations affecting immigration and military obligations not slowing, 2006 continues to wage unpredictability.
   
   Are you planning for pandemic crises, departing IT retirees, feeding your leadership pipeline with college graduates, and honing your organization infrastructure (jobs, work environment, etc.) for a global workforce?
   
   For some help with one large issue we're all facing, you can check out Mercer HR Consulting's white paper on pandemic planning. It contains great tips and preparedness checklists. The Emerging Global Pandemic: HR Implications

2. Decide whether to be technology managers or business managers with IT knowledge; invest in the appropriate skills.
   
   
3. Use regulatory compliance demands to invest in related, strategic areas.
   
   
4. Get the IT staff media-ready and try to foster external public relations.
   
   
5. Drop “on time and on budget” as a key performance indicator for IT staff. Set new performance indicators.
   
   
6. Get hands-on experience on new key technologies.
   
   
7. Combat IT complexity by creating simplification policies.
   
   
8. Elevate business process thinking to the management level. Decide process first and applications second, for example.
   
   
9. Build a relationship and collaborate with the HR director on strategy for IT staff changes.

   This white paper describes tips for HR and IT managers on building a collaborative relationship and creating a staffing strategy so when staffing issues arise, the best possible outcome for IT and the employee is assured. You do need a SHRM membership to access this white paper: Paul, Donna Bernardi. "Talent Management." SHRM Online. (October, 2005).

10. Critically review the capability of your IT organization and its leaders.
    Through my work with organizations, maximizing staff alignment to increase capability is key. In the same way that rapidly changing hardware and software requires refreshing every few years to insure the best possible performance, in a rapidly changing business, the organization needs to refresh its work and talent alignment or risk the slow decline of productivity. But the problem is larger than just matching talent to work. IT organizations need to be sure that:
    1. The “work that needs doing” is very clear.
    2. Job descriptions (title, expectations, development) are accurate and fit the work to be done.
    3. Compensation matches the job description.
    4. Measured employee skills and motivations are all in the best possible alignment with the work employees are doing.
    5. All of these factors line up with the business strategy.

If you haven't noticed, there is a theme here around job descriptions, career paths, needs and crisis. If you are like so many other IT and HR leaders, the items in this resolution list are critical to your organization. If you’re suffering from Continuous Partial Attention (CPA), it may be time for CPR! Hopefully you still have some “resolve” left and the time to affect the 2007 budget to address them!

Charan, R., Drotter, S. and Noel, J. (2001) The Leadership Pipeline. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Three consultants, who have shaped the cutting-edge practices of many world-class organizations show companies how they can develop leadership at every organizational level. Moreover, they integrate their leadership development process with a cussion planning process that enables companies to constantly renew leaders at all levels.

Glen, Paul. (2003) Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Paul Glen provides rare insight into managing often confusing and complex IT professionals.

Carter, Giber, Harkins, Sobol and Tarquinio. (2005) Leading the Global Workforce: Best Practices from Linkage, Inc. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
This book provides a handy guide for international organizations that must achieve results in managing and sustaining a global workforce. The fourteen illustrative cases outlined address the major concerns—recruiting and developing global leaders, global organizational learning, cross-cultural communication, outsourcing line functions, and managing global careers and transitions—from sixty of the world’s best-practice global organizations. Each case shows how the organization advanced a global business strategy with a new initiative in the areas of global leadership development, cultural change, career transition, succession planning, change management, outsourcing, and global performance.

• A Crisis in Management, Fall/2005
• Launching A Virtual Team, Spring/2005