Comment Give the decisions to the decision makers (Score 1) 154
This isn't an either or scenario.
The tech team should be consulted to make sure any new solution is sufficiently compatible with existing ones. HOWEVER, they are just one of the stakeholders in the process: users will flat out reject anything thrown at them without consultation, business leaders may know about competing projects or business goals, and any major initiative is likely to trip over a handful of shadow IT projects.
The CIO needs to be the ultimate decision maker because they have the perspective to see all these things at once. They also have the authority to get rogue stakeholders in line, if need be. Without consulting the tech team first, any project is doomed to fail (or at least a very slow and painful success). Of course, that is in an IDEAL scenario. In reality, CIOs tend to be cowboys, other C-level execs tend to compete for authority and funds more efficiently, and cost-center mentalities can write off any IT project as a costly failure before it even starts. That's just getting started.
If you're having problems with the decisions your CIO makes, here's a trick I use - instead of proposing 1 or 2 solutions, propose as many livable solutions as layers of management will touch the proposal + 1. Everyone in the process likes to be a "decision maker" and will trim one option and send it upwards. By the time it reaches the CIO, it will have 2 options on the plate - which is exactly the type of binary decision that most C-levels like. This will get your proposal through upper management quicker, and still leave you with a decision you can live with. It works in many cases, but you will need the support of the other stakeholders, and of course YMMV.
In regards to the cloud - everything is a cloud. It's a matter of where the services need to live, and what amount of liability are you willing to coexist with. (Pro Tip: Liability can't be outsourced.)
The tech team should be consulted to make sure any new solution is sufficiently compatible with existing ones. HOWEVER, they are just one of the stakeholders in the process: users will flat out reject anything thrown at them without consultation, business leaders may know about competing projects or business goals, and any major initiative is likely to trip over a handful of shadow IT projects.
The CIO needs to be the ultimate decision maker because they have the perspective to see all these things at once. They also have the authority to get rogue stakeholders in line, if need be. Without consulting the tech team first, any project is doomed to fail (or at least a very slow and painful success). Of course, that is in an IDEAL scenario. In reality, CIOs tend to be cowboys, other C-level execs tend to compete for authority and funds more efficiently, and cost-center mentalities can write off any IT project as a costly failure before it even starts. That's just getting started.
If you're having problems with the decisions your CIO makes, here's a trick I use - instead of proposing 1 or 2 solutions, propose as many livable solutions as layers of management will touch the proposal + 1. Everyone in the process likes to be a "decision maker" and will trim one option and send it upwards. By the time it reaches the CIO, it will have 2 options on the plate - which is exactly the type of binary decision that most C-levels like. This will get your proposal through upper management quicker, and still leave you with a decision you can live with. It works in many cases, but you will need the support of the other stakeholders, and of course YMMV.
In regards to the cloud - everything is a cloud. It's a matter of where the services need to live, and what amount of liability are you willing to coexist with. (Pro Tip: Liability can't be outsourced.)
