Managing Information Systems in IS

The person who runs the company sees IS as being the provider of solutions. "Don?t tell me about function point productivity. What we want is faster turnaround time for systems and we?re not getting it!" The person who runs the IS division recognizes that it has a strategic role. "The management is locked into a 1980s timewarp ? how do I persuade them that IS has more to offer than in the past?" The aim of the book is to step into the middle ground. It emphasizes the important role an IS manager plays in the development of the company strategy. It will show how the everyday problems need to be seen in a fresh perspective ? that of balancing the competing pressures of business and technology. Get too far from the technology and too close to the business, and technology will pull you back. Get focused on technology and lose sight of the business, and the business will make sure you know about it. The goal of this book is to provide IS managers with balanced information to guide them. Why does it matter? Because, in many ways, the future of our organizations is in the hands of today?s IS managers. Management Challenges in IS will help them make wise and thoughtful choices. Partial table of contents:

The Importance of Effective Information Systems Management.

MANAGING IS IN THE ORGANIZATION.

Re-engineering the Corporation: Where Does IS Fit In?

Marketing Information Systems...

And Getting it Right.

MANAGING THE IS ORGANIZATION.

Re-tooling Information Systems: A New Vision for IS.

Managing the IS Infrastructure.

Human Resources Management for IS.

MANAGING IS PERFORMANCE.

Improving System Development Productivity.

Improving Testing.

MANAGING THE INFORMATION RESOURCE.

Managing IS Complexity.

Mining for Coprorate Information.

Managing Legacy Systems.

Preparing for the Millennium Change.

Information Systems Management and Your Organization.

References.

Index. James D. McKeen and Heather A. Smith say that they never planned to write a book. When they started the Queen's IT Management Forum, their interests were purely academic. They wanted to find out what was happening in the front line of the "IT wars" in organizations. They quickly discovered that if there was a need in academia to learn more about IT in organizations, then there was an equal need in organizations to learn more about the big picture trends in using IT. Their work, and this book, is the outcome of a new form of scholarship. It bridges the gap between the practical, everyday knowledge of the IS manager and the measured thoughtful knowledge of the academic researcher. The former is anecdotal and incomplete -- the latter is methodologically sound and thorough but often of little practical help to the IS manager. The world of IS presents many challenges to managers. They operate in environments that are continually changing; they face situations that no one has ever faced before; they have to combine effective organizational and technical management techniques; and they have significant responsibilities to the organization. But IS is not as special as many managers think it is. There is much to learn from other disciplines and more experienced business managers. It is only by looking at the management aspects of IS — as opposed to the technical aspects — that these become clear. Management Challenges in IS presents new ways of approaching, and dealing with, the common problems and opportunities facing today’s IS manager. The book is designed to benefit anyone who wants to understand IS management issues from a practitioner perspective. There are four major themes — each based on a topic selected as being critical in IS management. In each, the ideas, issues and strategies are scrutinized by other practising managers. At the end of each themed section, a CIO responds to the ideas presented and discusses his own strategies for managing IS. The four themed sections are: Managing IS

• Reengineering the corporation — where does IS fit in?
• Managing IS user conflict
• Marketing the IS function

Managing the IS organization

• Re-tooling IS — a new vision
• Reengineering IS
• Managing the IS infrastructure
• Human resource management

Managing IS performance

• Benchmarking IS
• Improving system development productivity
• System development tools
• Oriented-object technology
• Improving testing

Managing the information resource

• Managing complexity
• Mining for corporate information
• Mining legacy systems
• Preparing for the millennium change

The person who runs the company sees IS as being the provider of solutions. "Don?t tell me about function point productivity. What we want is faster turnaround time for systems and we?re not getting it!" The person who runs the IS division recognizes that it has a strategic role. "The management is locked into a 1980s timewarp ? how do I persuade them that IS has more to offer than in the past?" The aim of the book is to step into the middle ground. It emphasizes the important role an IS manager plays in the development of the company strategy. It will show how the everyday problems need to be seen in a fresh perspective ? that of balancing the competing pressures of business and technology. Get too far from the technology and too close to the business, and technology will pull you back. Get focused on technology and lose sight of the business, and the business will make sure you know about it. The goal of this book is to provide IS managers with balanced information to guide them. Why does it matter? Because, in many ways, the future of our organizations is in the hands of today?s IS managers. Management Challenges in IS will help them make wise and thoughtful choices.