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This is all I see in IT over the last 20+ years. People that are IT directors (CIO, VP of "Engineering", etc.) that really have no idea what they're doing eithe

This is all I see in IT over the last 20+ years. People that are IT directors (CIO, VP of "Engineering", etc.) that really have no idea what they're doing either on the financial side (budgeting, accounting, etc.) or the IT side. It's how you end up with a guy from marketing as the CTO of the Sony branch that got hacked. This is every single company I've been in that's not a software provider. The thing is, they are ALL software providers now, they just don't know it yet.

mixmax 12y ago
to be fair it's incredibly difficult to find people that are both technically and financially competent.
- ProAm 12y ago
  Yep, that is usually why they get paid the big bucks, for their competency.
- wpietri 12y ago
  To my mind, this is a sign we're organizing things poorly. If we design our organizations such that one person can make or break each project and we know there are way too few people to fill those roles, then frequent failures like this are the expected outcome. In particular, I think the role of "project manager" is mostly wrongheaded. The theory is that you can take a person who knows nothing about the details, give them total power and perverse incentives, and then expect things to turn out well. I think it's only popular because it's an artifact of our current managerialist business culture. I much prefer cross-functional teams where the team as a whole is accountable for results. I also think we technical people need to stop thinking of ourselves as minions and instead act as professionals. If a "project manager" told a professional (like a doctor or a structural engineer) to do something unsafe or wrongheaded, they'd say no. But software developers routinely go on building something terrible after token protest. I'd love to see that change.
- detaro 12y ago
  Then don't rely on a single person to be both. Don't give full control without oversight to a single person for such an important project.
functionalfish 12y ago
Oh god, that's me! I was offered a position as CTO two years ago, couldn't turn it down. Coming from a very strong technical background, the financial side of things has been challenging. I have never had to plan budgets before. I'm learning. CFO has been hands-on with me, helping as much as he can. First year I overestimated by 10%, second year by 20%. We are doing well, so that was a non-issue and my overshooting went into bonuses + new software licenses for the devs. How in the world do you get more financial experience, short of bashing your head against it like I'm doing? Are there books you can buy that don't suck? We're going to double our development staff in Q1 (10->20) which is sort of terrifying....wish I had more knowledge!
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
mathattack 12y ago
The key challenge is that if you're very good at technology and finance, you probably aren't in an internal IT job. You're much more likely to be in financial services or a technology company. This is why so many internal projects become a mess.

mixmax 12y ago

to be fair it's incredibly difficult to find people that are both technically and financially competent.

ProAm 12y ago
Yep, that is usually why they get paid the big bucks, for their competency.
wpietri 12y ago
To my mind, this is a sign we're organizing things poorly. If we design our organizations such that one person can make or break each project and we know there are way too few people to fill those roles, then frequent failures like this are the expected outcome. In particular, I think the role of "project manager" is mostly wrongheaded. The theory is that you can take a person who knows nothing about the details, give them total power and perverse incentives, and then expect things to turn out well. I think it's only popular because it's an artifact of our current managerialist business culture. I much prefer cross-functional teams where the team as a whole is accountable for results. I also think we technical people need to stop thinking of ourselves as minions and instead act as professionals. If a "project manager" told a professional (like a doctor or a structural engineer) to do something unsafe or wrongheaded, they'd say no. But software developers routinely go on building something terrible after token protest. I'd love to see that change.
detaro 12y ago
Then don't rely on a single person to be both. Don't give full control without oversight to a single person for such an important project.

functionalfish 12y ago

Oh god, that's me! I was offered a position as CTO two years ago, couldn't turn it down. Coming from a very strong technical background, the financial side of things has been challenging. I have never had to plan budgets before. I'm learning. CFO has been hands-on with me, helping as much as he can. First year I overestimated by 10%, second year by 20%. We are doing well, so that was a non-issue and my overshooting went into bonuses + new software licenses for the devs. How in the world do you get more financial experience, short of bashing your head against it like I'm doing? Are there books you can buy that don't suck? We're going to double our development staff in Q1 (10->20) which is sort of terrifying....wish I had more knowledge!

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

mathattack 12y ago

The key challenge is that if you're very good at technology and finance, you probably aren't in an internal IT job. You're much more likely to be in financial services or a technology company. This is why so many internal projects become a mess.