Hey CIOs, call me a cynic…

So, “Although there’s some dispute as to the average life span of a CIO, it’s generally held to be in the neighborhood of 21 to 24 months. [pdf]”.  Think about that tenure.  That’s just enough time for the new CIO to get through the first 100 days of viewing the landscape, seeing the mistakes of his predesessor, deciding on a new direction, getting a new bunch of vendors / integration partners in and seeing a major project be delivered.

Delivered?  Well probably not delivered to the full satisfaction of all stakeholders, but it is a “delivery” all the same.  And it’ll be recorded as a success on his resume.

Onwards and upwards the CIO goes (to repeat his experience at a slightly larger and more prestigious firm).  He’d been there almost two years – good time to leave actually.  Just before it starts to become clear that the project has not really delivered the benefits the business was expecting and actually there are a whole bunch of issues outstanding. That stuff is left for the next CIO to embark on his 100 days of viewing the landscape, seeing the mistakes of his predecessor, deciding on a new direction, getting a new bunch of vendors / integration partners in…