CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices [Hardcover]

Phillip Laplante (Author), Thomas Costello (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131855891 | ISBN-13: 978-0131855892 | Publication Date: November 10, 2005

World-class IT leadership solutions from working CIOs: detailed, realistic, proven Every year, IT leadership becomes more challenging. Don't go it alone. Get practical help from the people who know what you're up against, and know what works: your most successful peers. In CIO Wisdom II, more than a dozen of today's leading CIOs share specific, realistic, up-to-the-minute techniques for maximizing agility, cost-effectiveness, and business value. You'll find solutions for managing both the internal and external forces impacting IT, and for dealing with more than 20 of your toughest issues -- business, technical, and human. You'll find specific, realistic approaches to everything from architecture to outsourcing, new technology selection to governance. CIO Wisdom II: it's more valuable than your last consultant -- and a whole lot more cost-effective.* Anticipating the next transformation in your role as CIO -- and getting ahead of the curve * Delivering real-time, mission-critical business intelligence: lessons from the military * Integrating the enterprise: New best practices and cost-effective technical options * Quantifying and maximizing software return on investment * Mastering five crucial lessons for successful IT outsourcing * Managing outsourced environments for maximum responsiveness, flexibility, and efficiency * Leveraging the value of open source -- and minimizing its risks * Using IT to improve business processes -- and improving your own internal processes, including procurement * Systematically securing your IT facilities * Achieving compliance -- and leveraging those investments for competitive advantage * Previewing tomorrow's key trends in information management A(c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

World-class IT leadership solutions from working CIOs: detailed, realistic, proven

Every year, IT leadership becomes more challenging. Don't go it alone. Get practical help from the people who know what you're up against, and know what works: your most successful peers. In CIO Wisdom II, more than a dozen of today's leading CIOs share specific, realistic, up-to-the-minute techniques for maximizing agility, cost-effectiveness, and business value. You'll find solutions for managing both the internal and external forces impacting IT, and for dealing with more than 20 of your toughest issues -- business, technical, and human. You'll find specific, realistic approaches to everything from architecture to outsourcing, new technology selection to governance. CIO Wisdom II: it's more valuable than your last consultant -- and a whole lot more cost-effective.

• Anticipating the next transformation in your role as CIO -- and getting ahead of the curve

• Delivering real-time, mission-critical business intelligence: lessons from the military

• Integrating the enterprise: New best practices and cost-effective technical options

• Quantifying and maximizing software return on investment

• Mastering five crucial lessons for successful IT outsourcing

• Managing outsourced environments for maximum responsiveness, flexibility, and efficiency

• Leveraging the value of open source -- and minimizing its risks

• Using IT to improve business processes -- and improving your own internal processes, including procurement

• Systematically securing your IT facilities

• Achieving compliance -- and leveraging those investments for competitive advantage

• Previewing tomorrow's key trends in information management

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Dr. Phil Laplante is Associate Professor of Software Engineering at Penn State University and the founder and director of the CIO Institute, a three-year old community of practice for CIOs in the Greater Philadelphia Metro Area.  He is also the Chief Technology Officer of the Eastern Technology Council, a business development organization for the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. Prior to coming to Penn State he was a senior academic administrator at several other Colleges and Universities.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Laplante spent almost eight years as a software engineer, project manager, and director of a software consulting firm.  He has authored or edited 20 books and more than 140 other papers, articles and is a highly sought after mentor and coach for CEOs and CIOs.

Dr. Laplante received his B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science, respectively, from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Colorado.

As the CEO of UpStreme, Mr. Costello currently provides technical and business consulting to corporate CxOÕs, boards of directors, venture capital firms, angels, and investment bankers in the evaluation, planning, and implementation of technologies to meet strategic and tactical business needs.  Mr. Costello has advised both private and public sector organizations ranging from The U.S. Department of State and established top Fortune 500 organizations to early-stage/pre-funded startups.

Mr. CostelloÕs 20 year career has spanned the universe of computing challenges and solutions.  He has formerly held positions with such firms as Cambridge Technology Partners as Director of IT Strategy & Planning, CoreTech Consulting Group as Director of Management Services, U.S. Healthcare as Director of Development, AssetTRADE as both COO and CTO, the QVC Television Network, Shared Medical Systems, and GMIS.

Mr. Costello earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, where he is currently a member of the Eberly College of Business Advisory Council.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131855891
• ISBN-13: 978-0131855892
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,476,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an introductory text covering many IT management topics, December 10, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices (Hardcover)

[Well, I haven't read "CIO Wisdom", so I can't compare it to this book.]

The text spans a fairly wide variety of topics, all of which are germane to you if you are a CIO. Or CTO for that matter. Try not to take the title too literally. The book is worth reading even if you are not at a CIO or CTO rank. If you have any managerial responsibility for IT, then the material covered here has relevance.

Having said this, not every chapter is likely to be of use to a given reader. There is a nice discussion on using RFID tags in a collaborative supply chain. RFID is certainly a hot topic in some circles. But if you are not involved with supply chain management, this chapter is moot.

Overall, the chapters are fairly introductory about their topics. For instance, one chapter pertains to securing (protecting) an IT facility. But it is a short chapter that does not go into much detail. Another chapter talks about how to measure the return on investment on software development. It delineates various metrics like Earned Value Analysis and net present value. It differs from the rest of the book in that it is probably meant for a manager who hails from a technical background and is unfamiliar with financial terms. While the other chapters are likely targeted towards managers from nontechnical backgrounds.

Perhaps it is best if you treat this book as an overview of its topics, and as a lead-in into more specialised and comprehensive texts.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly recommended pick based on practical experience in the IT management world, March 2, 2006

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices (Hardcover)

Real-world CIOs working in IT leadership positions know best what works, and their collective wisdom in CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices offers solutions not only for IT professionals, but for any involved in business systems management. CIO Wisdom II can be used as both a business and computer classroom text and as a IT professional's reference: it covers everything from quantifying software return on investment to understanding how successful IT outsourcing works and how to secure IT facilities. A highly recommended pick based on practical experience in the IT management world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom from a Distance, December 29, 2005

By 

Brook Gillespie - See all my reviews
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This review is from: CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices (Hardcover)

The book is written by a number of CIO's and is broken into a wide breath of topics, one per chapter. Not every chapter will be appropriate for everyone; the best read will come from picking the top five areas of interest and start there.

The points made in the book are good; however, a narrowing of topics and more detailed examples of how to implement the suggestions / strategies would have added punch to the book's overall impact.

For me, the best outcome was refining my list of the top ten metrics by which I judge my effectiveness.