What do you think?
Rate this book
IT's hidden face: Everything you always wanted to know about Information Technology. A look behind the scenes
An experienced Banking-CIO reveals the world of Information Technology in a company. There's a Grand-Canyon-sized gap between the expectations of computer users and what an IT department can effectively do. And this gap creates many victims-on both sides! This book is a one-of-a-kind bridge-builder for computer users to understand IT and to be able to talk to IT experts. It is deliberately written in layman's language and avoids IT-specific technical terms. Why do IT projects fail or always take longer than expected? Why is software so unstable? What do IT experts do all day, and why are there so many? What about IT security? This book is a translation of the second edition of the bestselling German book "Eine Million oder ein Jahr".
286 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2009
26 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 29, 2016
A (former) Chief Information Officer of a bank in Luxembourg provides an interesting view on the role of information technology nowadays. He states (quite correctly) that information technology is still very immature compared to, say, automobile industry. In particular, aspects of reliability and security are way behind what one can find in the other industries. I found author's comparisons to automobile world quite thought-provoking: one quote from the book is that "If the automotive had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside”.
It was also intriguing to read the author's sarcastic thoughts on software development by external vendors (an author is someone who has been ordering it from outsourced companies): for example different sales tricks that software developments contractors consistently use ("This is just a plug-and-play system!").
On the other hand, the author's sarcastic jokes, anecdotes from the past and off-topic chapters tend sometimes to override the serious messages of the book. The English translation of it (the original is in German) is perhaps not the best one either, as it does not always read that fluently.
Overall, an interesting read if one is trying to understand the scope of work of corporate CIOs.
It was also intriguing to read the author's sarcastic thoughts on software development by external vendors (an author is someone who has been ordering it from outsourced companies): for example different sales tricks that software developments contractors consistently use ("This is just a plug-and-play system!").
On the other hand, the author's sarcastic jokes, anecdotes from the past and off-topic chapters tend sometimes to override the serious messages of the book. The English translation of it (the original is in German) is perhaps not the best one either, as it does not always read that fluently.
Overall, an interesting read if one is trying to understand the scope of work of corporate CIOs.
June 20, 2020
This was required reading for my MBA class, so it’s not a book that I normally would pick up. That being said, the author did a great job explaining IT in a simple and effective way. It also was interesting since my daily job is purchasing IT hardware and software with a focus in IT Security - I especially enjoyed that chapter.
Did I read every single word? No. Would I recommend this to someone outside of my class’s curriculum? Probably not. Is this better reading than most of my graduate texts? Absolutely.
Did I read every single word? No. Would I recommend this to someone outside of my class’s curriculum? Probably not. Is this better reading than most of my graduate texts? Absolutely.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews