The Adventures of an IT Leader, Updated Edition with a New Preface by the Authors

by Robert D. Austin, Shannon O'Donnell, Richard L. Nolan

Updated with a new preface by the authors.

Genres: Business, Technology, Leadership, Management, Fiction, School, Health Care

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Johnny Prime · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't get a single thing from this book... life hack, have a bar mate and a partner that have all the answers? Suck at work constantly... yay? what was this book about?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

Unlike Eliyahu Goldratt (eg. The Goal) and the almost idential Gene Kim (eg. The Phoenix Project) format of education through narrative, which relies on having a central mentor that drives the protagonist toward resolution, this story is based more on trial and error and exploration, with multiple mentors that assists our witless protagonist.

Similar to the aforementioned approaches, however, it follows the "extended narrative approach" (the authors' term) which the authors mentioned was based on Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey/monomyth." That was a great reference and inspired me to read Campbell!

Overall, however, this book had major issues, which collectively undermine much of the impact both at the narrative level and at the educational level.

Firstly, the plot: there wasn't really anything to push the plot forward. A shake up at management. But what for? What were the objectives of the board and how did that impact Barton's goals? There was an opportunity to place the story in a context of much more tension, driven by an overarching goal, which was missed. As such, the story felt like nothing was moving it forward and it felt as though it wasn't moving toward an eventual outcome. If Barton succeeds, what would happen? He gets vindicated as being better than his predecessor afterall? It sooths his ego? In other words, what were the stakes that would make us care about the protagonist's success? And, while, we're at it, why was "success" defined as jumping ship? What did he do to earn the admiration of all these top companies seeking to hire him? Why was nothing resolved?

Finally, when the big security issue happened, it kind of fell flat! The tension wasn't carried forward. Nor were long-term plans enacted. It was presented like an event, rather than a transformative challenge.

Even when Williams began acting like a crazed lunatic, behaving unethically and illegally, destroying the careers of those that opposed him, just to maintain the illusion of his own success and short-term shareholder value, nothing really happened. There was no big battle between Barton and Williams, no comeuppance, and no resolve. He just did it and that was that and everyone moved on and there were no consequences.

Secondly, there were many highly important points that were brushed off as being answered without appropriate consideration. For example, it mentions budget allocation and cost assignment without really considering how these should be best handled and what the consequences of handling them are. It also mentions value, introducing CQ analysis, which was interesting but has huge flaws. For example, how do you measure it objectively? How do shareholders and the board respond to value being measured in this way when ROA and proportion of sales are so ingrained? How can you ensure you have an accurate and up-to-date survey of what is equilibrium-defining technology so competitive advantage categories can be identified? What measures are used for competitive advantage? I could go on. The whole book could have explored that one question, but it just forgot about it as if it were settled.

Elsewhere, it mentions project management, creating a dichotomy between agile and traditional, as if agile is the one methodology out there for IT! Forget DevOps, Scrum, TOC Chain PM, Sprints, lean...etc... and then...poof!...it wasn't discussed again!

In another example, it mentions the importance of standardisation (as opposed to consolidation, which is what was really needed in the example given) without contrasting it with adaptability/flexibility, although it does, admittedly, raise the question in the end-of-chapter discussion questions. It also mentions using a novelty-of-technological-infrastructure standardisation approach, which assumes a generally agreed upon set of ideas of "technological novelty." It raised the very important question of how they could ensure agreement of the novelty categories and then ended the discussion, never to mention it again!

In other words, nothing is resolved. It just presents problem after problem, many of which isn't even presented in full scope. They did mention in the epilogue that this was done purposely but I can't imagine this approach being very useful to anyone that doesn't have a couple of business degrees to support understanding. But, I could see this making a great in-class business-school framework to discuss the points raised in more depth. Maybe that was what this was actually designed for? If so, I don't think they made that clear enough.

Despite these issues, however, i did enjoy it! It got me thinking and it was easy to listen to. I do have a couple of business degrees to suppory understanding, so I actually took a lot away from the open-ended questions. The pacing was also easy to follow, which you can't always say about Goldratt's books! And it was blessedly free of jargon, which you definitely can't say about anything Kim has written! It was a good template for better execution or in-class teaching.


What do you do if you inadvertently find yourself as CIO?


• Know what you don't know: Survey the broader picture of knowledge areas that impact your ability to succeed, and most importantly, the knowledge areas you're unfamiliar with.
• Find the key people: those who's technical knowhow would most impact the company if they left.
• Figure out the budget and how costs are allocated and assigned. Consider how value is currently measured.
• CQ analysis: Qualifiers are technical requirements needed to maintain competitive equilibrium; this is distinct from infrastructure that brings distinct Competitive advantage. This is a great way of understanding IT value but limited in terms of access to intelligence and quantifiability.
• Project management: consider how teams are managed relative to the culture and how effective current practices are.
• Immediately risk assess any major security flaws. Identify the mechanisms in place for recognising and identifying intruders and what safeguards are in place for system-wide failure and identifying its root cause quickly and effectively. What security procedures are being undermined as part of practice and how could they be exploited?
• Consider how management would respond to a loss of service and compare that to the willingness to invest in security projects. There should be a direct correlation in strength.
• Determine how IT projects are pitched and how well IT management are communicating with other departments, as well as how they are typically perceived and received.
• Set an immediate policy of proactiveness to issues representing major risk. If you feel yourself just responding to issues, consider the more general from which these issues are born.
• Develop a consolidation policy to ensure new technological platforms are compatibleand manageable with current systems.
• Consider policy for managing vendors, whether custom or off-the-shelf solutions fit best within budget and timescale.
• Consider policy for managing mobile devices and ensuring they meet security standards.

[Aliena Debelak]

Ready to be a CIO now

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly not a comic book (thought so at first by the illustrations), but also surprisingly good. If you ever wanted to know more about the world of IT or if you needed a book to empathize with, this is the one! Great characters, realistic situations, and some sound advice make this both enjoyable and educational. Apparently there is a book 2 about CEOs, and have already secured my copy.

[Kelly Hinnebusch · Rating 3 out of 5]

psa read this for grad school it was not free will thx

[Kevin Schafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for school.

I was rolling on the floor with this one - just the level of self-seriousness is so funny and so unexamined. This microgenre brings me endless joy.

[Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a good storyline for a required MBA class reading. The ups and downs of being a manager felt very realistic and easy to put yourself in their shoes to wonder "what would you do?"

[Amy Kinney]

This was against my will

[Franceen R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my IT business school course. What I liked about the book was that the authors made it a practical and easy read geared toward the non-tech business professionals. Many of the events within the story are realistic occurrences that the average person has experienced in their work. You come away learning to apply what the main protagonist has learned in his journey as an IT leader, into your own professional life.

[Greg Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to give this book 5 stars. The story held my interest and I know first-hand how difficult it is to write a business book that keeps readers' interest.

I like the premise of Jim Barton, with no IT experience, thrown into managing an unfamiliar IT Department. One reviewer said only IT pros should manage IT Departments and compared it to somebody with no finance background acting as a CFO. I've made the exact same argument - a CIO with no knowledge about IT could be a recipe for disaster.

But this book makes a persuasive case that an appreciation of IT might be even more important than knowledge about IT. Perhaps the important factor isn't a lifetime of IT experience. Maybe wisdom and a willingness to listen, learn, build a good team, and evaluate fact from fiction are what makes a good CIO. Or a good CFO. Or a good CEO. After all, CIOs don't usually configure routers or write code or place servers into production or take help desk calls. Perhaps appreciating those skill sets is more important than possessing them. Jim Barton is a smart manager with a good team. He starts out shaky, but learns quickly about not knowing what he doesn't know and he grows into the position. The story works.

But I can't give this book 5 stars. It has problems. Some of the scenarios Barton faces are too contrived and some are unrealistic. And the proposed solution to a possible security event - shut down the whole company for a week and rebuild everything from backups? No way. Doesn't make sense. And doesn't solve the problem.

Don't get me wrong - the concerns using that event as a vehicle are real. And it's a good premise. But if there's a database problem, go through the database and fix it. IT pros in the real world do this every day. The problem could be a hardware glitch or a bunch of other factors. Security breaches are real, as we've all seen from recent headlines, but assuming a security breach because of every unexplained problem is not justified. This company is a Microsoft shop - the problem could have just as easily been a bad patch from a Windows Update. How many times have we seen those mess up systems?

My jaw dropped when the new CIO recommended to the new CEO to shut down the whole company for a week while they rebuild everything from backups. Nobody in their right mind would recommend or do that. It just didn't make sense.

My other problem with the book was the HR issue. Several months into Barton's tenure, a subordinate manager asks Barton's advice on retaining a valuable employee. That part makes sense and the chapter presents the right issues and tradeoffs. But what doesn't make sense is, Barton had never heard of this employee and didn't know anything about the retention issue until the subordinate manager talked to him. What?!? You're running the department of a few dozen people and you don't know who the people are? Doesn't work. Barton is too smart of a manager for that.

So that's why 4 stars instead of 5 stars. It's a good book. If a subsequent edition comes out and fixes those problems, it could be a great book.

- Greg Scott

[Steven Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book "Adventures of an IT Leader," by Robert Austin, Richard Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell – not by choice necessarily, but because it was assigned reading for one of my graduate courses. It is a very novel educational tool in that it is both a “textbook” complete with end of chapter work and reflection exercises, but it is written as a fictional novel – meant to be entertaining as well as educational. It succeeds.
It is a compelling narrative that delves into the complexities and challenges faced by IT leaders in modern organizations. The book presents a fictional yet realistic portrayal of the life of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) through the character of Jim Barton. Because the book is structured as a novel, it’s an engaging read while providing valuable insights into IT management and leadership. So engaging in that, I would read ahead a few chapters, and I finished it early. I can honestly say that is rare for a college “textbook.”
The story begins with Jim Barton, the head of Loan Operations at IVK Corporation, being unexpectedly appointed as the CIO by the new CEO, Carl Williams. Barton, who has no prior experience in IT, is chosen for his critical perspective on the IT department. The company is struggling with slowing growth and falling stock prices, and Williams believes that Barton can bring a fresh approach to the IT organization.
As Barton steps into his new role, he faces numerous challenges, including gaining the trust of his team, understanding the technical aspects of IT, and aligning IT strategy with business goals. Throughout the book, readers follow Barton's journey as he navigates through crises, makes critical decisions, and learns the intricacies of IT management.
The book emphasizes the importance of effective leadership in IT. Barton learns that being a successful CIO requires not only technical knowledge but also strong leadership skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and the capacity to inspire and motivate the team.
One of the central themes is the alignment of IT with business objectives. Barton realizes that IT should not operate in isolation but must be integrated with the overall business strategy to drive growth and innovation.
The book highlights the unpredictable nature of IT and the need for CIOs to be prepared for crises. Barton faces several critical situations, such as security breaches and system failures, and learns the importance of quick decision-making and problem-solving.
I do wish they would update the book for 2025 to include recent technological innovations such as the ubiquity of IoT, SaaS and cloud services, as well as the emerging AI technologies. At the time of publication, BYOD was the emerging technology. Perhaps a sequel? It did end on a cliffhanger, but I will not spoil it.
The book “The Adventures of an IT Leader” is both a fictional tale that also serves as a “textbook via storytelling” designed for anyone who aspires to have a career in IT leadership. The book’s blend of narrative and practical advice makes it an essential read for current and aspiring IT leaders. There’s a good reason it is still used in many professional business degrees programs.

Originally posted at https://executingorder66.wordpress.co...

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for school, but I enjoyed it as a simple but informative read. I wrote this review as a discussion post for class and will use it as my review here. I recommend to anyone in business: I have a few takeaways after an initial read through the entire book. The primary scene that sticks in my mind is when Carl Williams, the CEO, explodes in the meeting about how they will not publicly announce the possible IT security breach. It sticks in my mind for one because it's an emotionally loaded scene, and it was like nails on a chalkboard to see someone choosing the "do nothing and hope for the best" approach. What it also did, though, was highlight the fact that no matter how well-intentioned and researched your idea may be in a given situation, it's ultimately your boss who makes and owns each decision for better or worse. It also showed the relationship dynamics at play in that, even those who felt they were doing the ethically right thing were still fired for being contrary to the boss. This ultimately feeds into the concept the book was promoting, that what makes a good CIO isn't simply technical knowledge, but rather the ability to manage the people and dynamics at play behind the technology. Each time Barton made an important decision, he sought out first to understand what he was dealing with, and that understanding didn't involve learning to code. He was able to apply general management principles in every situation after learning enough about it to be able to tailor his approach for mostly successful outcomes. Each chapter is a topic that can be explored for any business function, so the power of the book lies in its ability to communicate in an easy-to-understand way the IT nuances to each situation, and how someone with general business knowledge and capability can effectively mold their existing skills into a previously foreign area.

[Mike Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good look at how to handle life as a new IT manager by following the fictional, but seemingly real-life story of a new IT CIO with no IT background named Jim Barton. Most important, you learn that you have to know what you don't know. He has an IT guardian angel at his local bar that mentors him from an unusual vantage point with a twist that shows in the end that this "kid" with random musings is actually a secret IT billionaire and philanthropist who winds up offering Jim a much more prestigious CIO position at the end of the book. Key areas where Jim has to deal with unusual situations are intentionally left unresolved so readers can reflect and see how they'd handle it (e.g., your best employee is spending time at work doing something else, denial or service and how to report fraud attacks to stakeholders, pushing through new vital projects that you previously overlooked due to ignorance, and how to manage up with bosses and unreal expectations, etc.)

You also learn good lessons on complete staff work and not to bring stuff to your boss unless it's for concurrence or of vital importance. Figure out Q&A on your own with your staff and via research. Talk to folks who had your job before you for help and mentoring. Keep a whiteboard so you can digest and keep top of mind important lessons and goals. Talk to industry leaders to see how you can do better in your current job, just not competitors. Take big risks if you want big rewards just don't do it too often.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having spent my life in technology management and hopefully leadership, I have read alot on these topics as well as related subjects such as innovation, agile and lean. I found this book to be easy to consume, providing some good insights and overall very helpful. I wish I had read it earlier in my career, as I think it would have helped me to progress more quickly in the development of some of my skills. While I really like the narrative approach to non-fiction (it helps me to stay engaged), it always makes me realize just how good novelists are. Too often in narrative non-fiction, especially with business-focused efforts, the events and the dialogue can come across as contrived and not very natural. I have found you just have to ignore some of that, appreciate the narrative approach for making the information interesting and look for the lessons or messages in the story. There are plenty of great insights here worth chewing on, and the narrative is not terribly painful. I definitely recommend this for anyone early in their IT leadership career.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book that goes through the journey of a manager who doesn't have an IT background and is thrust into the position of being a CIO. There is a lot of management principles taught, especially when dealing with IT management. Many comparisons can be made from personal experience, which is probably what makes this book so interesting. I'd say about 2/3 through the book the pace was nice, but then it changed at the last 1/3 and it felt like the authors had to get to the end of the story. There's a surprisingly good amount of snippets and vignettes for take-aways that shouldn't be ignored if you're interested in IT management.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably about as good of a general IT management awareness textbook as you could ask for, and one of the more engaging texts in my MBA program. (Not quite engaging enough to read every word--got to be a skim towards the end--but not bad.) The story format is a fun idea.

The main character seems to be written as an aspirational MBA self-insert (look how rich & successful I am, look at my high-power consultant girlfriend who I fly off to Paris with, behold the rewards mammon hath bestowed upon me for worshiping him from the depths of my soul, etc.), and that component of the book made me a little bit sad for my generation of fellow MBAs.

[sammi_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

We were required to read this for my PMBA class and it was great reading for a non-IT person. It explains textbook concepts in a story fashion, keeping you little more interested. It does occasionally talk down to the reader when explaining concepts (spelling it out a bit too much) but it works for it's purpose. Definitely meant for someone starting out, not for anyone with a background in managing IT. However it may do some good for those with purely IT knowledge or those with management knowledge but lacking the connection between the two.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of how IT leadership differs from doing IT work, at least from the perspective of not having been an IT leader. The story and epilogue clearly indicate how leadership need not be involved in the nuts and bolts. Probably a great way to introduce that fact to all disciplines.

While it's always helpful to know the nuts and bolts, IT is a case where even someone who starts at the bottom will have lost touch with technology by the time they reach the top, at least some of it. So, knowing how to lead in that scenario can be really helpful.

[Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book I was ever assigned in a class. I thought the story was told in an excellent way. The main character, Jim, has no previous background in IT before taking over as CIO of a large company. This made his journey of learning more relatable to myself because I have no experience either. I found the lessons in the book expanded beyond wisdom for IT professionals. It teaches life lessons about being humble, working with difficult people, and owning up to your mistakes. For those reasons I give it a 5 star.

[Lesa Hudak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to it. This was a great book for me as I am not IT knowledgeable, but I support IT from a finance perspective. I found may parts of it immediately applicable to what I'm doing and working on with the group.

The reflections were great...makes me wish I had a hard copy of the book to come back to for occasional review.

The main character story that was weaved in ended kind of hokey, but overall it helped to see the lessons they were teaching in an applicable manner.

[Sabine Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book cannot describe what happens within IT in detail but picks the right things to think about. Being a business manager in IT helps to close the gap between It and Business as I experienced myself.
I like it when a book is told in novel style for you live through the situation and each time you wonder what you would do. There are many points to learn from this book and so I did and being in IT, I still do.

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my Business Information Systems class for school, and I really enjoyed this book. This book tells the story of Jim Barton, a business manager who gets thrust into the world of IT. As someone from the IT world who wants to learn about business, I was equally as intrigued by the premise of this book. I think the authors do an incredible job describing IT strategy, and this book is a must read!

[Marcus Wollman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essentially a textbook in narrative form, and I feel like it needs two ratings: textbook (4/5), narrative (1/5). Most of the concepts being conveyed were good, but the narrative is just awfully written. It's like everything that's awful about management books stuffed into one story, the characters are largely insufferable, and the presentation is wooden. Thankfully it's really short, but still not short enough.

[Dieter Verlaeckt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is well constructed, although the Updated Edition is also already a bit outdated in some areas. But the value is still there. The authors are asking the reader to ponder a few key questions at the end of each chapter, without giving any answers. This works in a way, but will probably also frustrate those readers who are expecting to find clear prescriptive answers.

The narration of the audiobook version is excellent.

[Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an awesome "textbook"! Reading for an IT class about project management, this book has textbook elements and points that we discuss in class, but it can be called a novel. I especially like how there weren't any characters that were just plopped in the story. This was my biggest fear for the character "the kid". Great Job!

[Eric Carzon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about IT leadership. It discusses some solid issues and concepts that you'd find in a more academic treatment in the guise of a pretty compelling story. The mixture of drama, characters, and concepts makes the concepts much more understandable and memorable. It was assigned reading for my Strategic IT Management Class and I'm glad. I highly recommend it.

[MADHUKAR DAYAL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a classic. A must read for anyone - whether starting a managerial career, in its middle or reaching somewhere near the top (no one knows when they may land up as a manager handling IT assets in a business organization! And, the truth is, whatever field or discipline you may be a manager in, you are not untouched by IT today).

[Ehsan Gazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spending my life in IT, as developer and engineer, this book helped me think of higher management and what their day to day looks like.

I guess this book was pointing to the story that IT Leader without the knowledge of this field can finally figure this out. however, They make disaster first :)

So it made me think.

[Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference

Generic work life of IT management, but can customised to our own company for general knowledge. After all, every company’s IT issues are typically unique although it looks similar.

[Adam Touhou · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have a lot of experience working in IT, this book is kinda boring.
However if you are not affiliated with IT in any way and wants a semi-boring story then this is a decent book for you.

I would not read this book again, but not a complete waste of time :-)