The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology

2.4. The Right Questions

CIOs are expected to understand the markets in which their parent corporations compete. They are expected to understand how the various business units within the corporation function and how each unit contributes to the corporation's success.

CEOs and CFOs, however, are not expected to understand how IT works. But they are expected to ask the right questions.

For example, when the CIO proposes a new IT project, top management should always ask:

1. How much money will it save the company?

2. How much will it increase operational capacity?

3. When will it be done?

After the project has been approved and is in development, top management should be asking:

1. How are we tracking against the milestones we established?

2. Are we going to miss a milestone? Why?

You don't ask these types of direct, nontechnical questions for the purpose of launching a wide-ranging conversation about all the cool stuff that IT can accomplish. You ask these questions to focus the CIO's attention on what is important: business results.

Don't wait for the CIO to drop by your office with a PowerPoint deck. Feel free to visit the IT department and look around. While you are there, ask the CIO:

1. What else are you doing to save the company money?

2. What other processes can we automate?

3. Which legacy systems can we safely kill?

The CIO should not be the only one sitting on the hot seat. There are plenty of questions that you should be asking yourself, such as:

1. What can our company realistically expect from IT? ...