A Navigation Guide for CIO’s
“The meeting went south almost as soon as it started. A company was moving from a service-driven to product-driven business model and adopting an agile approach at the same time. Al Sporer, executive vice president and general manager for digital consultancy Anexinet, was there to facilitate. Less than five minutes in, a longtime general manager from the business looked across the table at the CIO. “I don’t know why I have to be here,” she said. “I’ve told you for over a year that we need a new digital customer interface. You can’t get anything done!” Furious, the CIO got up and walked out of the room.
Sporer and his team continued the meeting, although they knew that with the CIO absent, little progress would be made. When Sporer talked to the CIO afterward, “He was still so angry he could barely speak.” He’d heard that same accusation from that same manager many times before. For six months, the CIO and his team had been asking for requirements so that they could start work. “The business leader always turned the conversation around and said, ‘You guys are the tech experts, you should know what we need!’ It had turned into a standoff,” Sporer says…”.
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