Advice for Obama's Federal CIO, Part Four

CIO - Mr. Kundra: You have been hired by the Board (excuse me, the Obama Administration) to reduce federal technology spending, to increase information sharing between federal agencies, to allow greater access to government information and to ensure privacy and security. What now? Having been in IT for over 20 years (including 5 years with the RTC, God rest its soul), I offer you the following advice:

More CIOs Give Advice to Kundra

Check out the lessons learned that our other authors have to share with Vivek Kundra, the first federal CIO. Make the better both comfortable and familiar, advises Niel Nickolaisen, CIO and Director of Strategic Planning at Headwaters. Remember your customer, says Thomas Murphy, Senior VP & CIO for AmerisourceBergen. Don't underestimate the importance of your advisors, says Mykolas Rambus, CIO of Forbes Media.

Know Where You Are Going

The responsibility in front of you is daunting. As such, do not create a laundry list of objectives. Rather, pick a few specific objectives and hone in on those. Follow the tried and true strategy of "crawl, walk, run." Do not allow others to set the agenda, set the agenda yourself.

Simplify, Standardize, and Scale

Whenever possible, identify common platforms-hardware and software that each agency utilizes. There should be a standard payroll system, a common general ledger system, a common purchasing system, etc. There should be a limited set of approved hardware and operating systems. Having then simplified the approved hardware and software environment, negotiate with hardware/software vendors taking advantage of size and scale.

Look to the Clouds

You must look to the clouds from which your deliverance shall come. There you will find greater security, lower costs, and improved services for all federal agencies. There you will find software-as-a-service applications rather than multi-year ERP implementations. There you will find Google Apps, Salesforce.com, and a host of other solutions that will require minimal capital investments. There you will find solutions that can be implemented in shorter periods of time. There you will find freedom.

Don't Divide to Conquer

Many believe that if you optimize each part of the organization, you'll end up with an optimized organization. In reality, that strategy leads to many of the worst habits of organizational design (thank you Bob Lewis for pointing out this fact). Likewise, applying this organizational approach to the federal government will ensure the continuation of disparate systems and practices. Dividing responsibilities across agencies, telling each owner to take care of his/her agency will inevitably result in divisions, fighting over resources, and a federal government whose parts don't fit together. The federal government will not effectively deliver the results desired by the administration in power. Don't do that.