In our family, we have two college students, one high school student, and a middle school student. My son, one of our two college students, first told me about ChatGPT. It was the first week of December 2022, probably within that first five days before ChatGPT reached 1 million users. He called me up to tell me about this great new app that could compose perfect essays based on detailed user prompts. I initially responded with a lecture on academic integrity. [More]

Triangulation happens in every company, every department, and every field in business. It’s not unique to information technology. However, because of the nature of IT as a support function, inappropriate escalations are far more common in our field than most other disciplines and departments within a typical company. And inappropriate escalations can quickly turn into a culture of triangulation. [More]

No one likes surprises at work. Most people don’t even like to be surprised by donuts in the break room. (“Aw, shoot! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have grabbed a breakfast sandwich on the way into the office!”) The only acceptable surprise I ever want to hear about at work is better-than-forecasted financial performance. One of the most important responsibilities of any leader, which you will never see listed on a job description, is to prevent surprises for your leadership. [More]

It was time for the annual off-site business review meeting. As usual, all the business leaders and department heads were convening at a hotel across town for two solid days of meetings. Executives from corporate would be there, so even the guys who never wore a tie to work had one on. Everyone had spent the last few weeks gathering information from their teams and putting together their presentations. The agenda was updated at least a dozen times. The executive assistant in charge of compiling all the different PowerPoint files into a single slide deck truly deserved a vacation at this point. [More]

In 2019, real estate developer United Properties, owned by Pohlad Companies, began construction on a new 37-story building in downtown Minneapolis. Gateway Tower would be home to a Four Seasons Hotel, the U.S. Headquarters of RBC Wealth Management, and 34 private condo residences. With 1.2 million square feet of space, stunning architecture, and a historic setting, the building would help revitalize downtown Minneapolis. [More]

The relationship an IT leader has with their own leader sets the tone for the rest of the IT department and influences how the team perceives executive management. Business leaders, a productive and healthy relationship with your IT leader is essential to improving technology business alignment. It is also an effective way to reduce turnover in the IT department. [More]

Many years ago, I worked with a tech support manager named Dan who had been with his company for more than 15 years and had worked his way up from an entry-level role. He was a bright and energetic leader with a knack for building relationships and developing trust with those who counted on him. Dan had so much potential, but he had stagnated in a first-level management position when leadership changes at the company left him reporting to someone who did not see his potential and did not value the role of technology in the business. The culture of the company was declining, and technology was seen as a commodity by some business leaders and as a necessary evil by others. Dan finally decided he needed to move on. [More]

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with executives of every kind. I’ve noticed that business leaders tend to fall into certain categories based upon two factors—their understanding of technology and their approach to working with IT. Like a Gartner Magic Quadrant, let’s map these two characteristics on a basic four box diagram. [More]

Over the course of my 25-year career in IT Management, I have observed a few concerning trends in our field. When approaching problem-solving, I want to understand the root cause of the problem, so I have spent a lot of time studying these three issues. [More]