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Action Points
I.
How Does a CTO/CIO Spend a Typical Day?
All of these authors agree: the CTO/CIO needs to balance the day between addressing day-to-day tactical concerns and planning long-term strategy — and between interacting with their own staff and other business units. Of course, this mix will fluctuate and is constantly subject to disruption by emergencies that will require immediate attention.
II.
The Bottom Line
In order to accurately assess the ROI of IT projects, you need to look further than the direct and operational costs of infrastructure; you should also analyze its impact on the whole organization. In addition, you should examine where IT has saved money through negotiating volume acquisitions and leveraging existing networks for new uses.
III.
Must-Have Priorities for Today’s CTO/CIO
With technology changing so fast, IT leaders cannot let themselves become so swamped in day-today operations that they stop planning tomorrow’s
IT infrastructure. But that’s not all: they must also be savvy regarding competing demands on capital, conflicting departmental needs, and changing trends within the organization.
IV.
The Golden Rules for Communicating With the IT Team and Beyond
CTOs/CIOs need to work daily with their staff, and closely with the business units and customers in order to understand the business, keep track of the team’s obstacles and progress, and ensure that short-term goals as well as long-term needs are addressed.
V.
Essential Take-Aways
CTOs/CIOs who plan what they’re doing every day are prepared for what may arise and, consequently, are less apt to be disrupted if an emergency does come along. Take control of your day by keeping and updating meticulous lists, holding productive meetings, communicating often, and being sure to block time for strategizing about tomorrow.
Contents
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2
David Bessen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3
David Cagigal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.6
Robert Kunimura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.9
Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.11
David Bessen
Vice President and CIO, MediaNews Group
David Cagigal
Chief Information Technology Officer, Alliant Energy
Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO, Calamos Investments
W hy do plans tend to dissolve when “reality” takes over?
How can one ever create time to attend to the “vision thing”? How should a CTO/CIO be spending his/her day, anyway? This ExecBlueprint addresses — head-on — the issue of time management among technology leaders. In this issue, three
IT executives share how they typically spend their days, what they would do on an “ideal” day, and useful strategies for bringing their actual days into closer alignment with this goal, such as keeping lists, managing calendars, and dealing with issues promptly.
Emphasizing that the CTO/CIO must address immediate concerns while also planning to meet the company’s future IT needs, they suggest the CTO/CIO should communicate regularly with all stakeholders, research technology trends, and assess IT’s ROI. In addition, however, they caution the busy executive to not overlook the value of taking a break — for clearing the head and gaining a fresh perspective. ■
Copyright 2007 Books24x7®. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher. This ExecBlueprints™ document was published as part of a subscription based service. ExecBlueprints, a Referenceware® collection from Books24x7, provides concise, easy to absorb, practical information to help organizations address pressing strategic issues. For more information about ExecBlueprints, please visit www.execblueprints.com.

About the Authors
D
David Bessen
Vice President and CIO , Media News Group avid Bessen joined MediaNews
Group as vice president and chief information officer in 2006.
Dr. Bessen began his career in publishing technology as the founder of a small typesetting company specializing in academic journal publishing. Later, he worked as a support analyst and software trainer with Bestinfo, the software company that developed one of the first commercial-grade publishing systems that operated on a PC. He then worked for Management Processor Integrators as vice president of operations, consulting on electronic page-building projects at TV
Guide and Copley Newspaper’s Fox
Valley Press near Chicago.
He then joined Copley Newspapers as director of Copley information services, where he worked for nine years, first at their Chicago-area facility and then at the corporate office in La Jolla, CA.
In his former career, Dr. Bessen taught medieval and Renaissance history at several Midwestern colleges.
☛
Read David’s insights on Page 3
David Cagigal
Chief Information Technology Officer , Alliant Energy
D avid Cagigal has served as chief information technology officer at
Alliant Energy since 2004.
Among the positions he has held in the course of his 28-year career in information services, Mr. Cagigal has most recently been director, information services, for online education at Devry
University; and director, information application services, at DePaul University.
Previously, he worked in several managerial IT positions over the course of three years at Maytag Corporation, culminating with general manager, business development-intelligent appliances.
Mr. Cagigal began his career in 1979 at Amoco Corporation as manager, information services, for Amoco
Chemical–Amoco Foam Products
Company. He eventually served in numerous other leadership roles, including as division manager, technology and operations, for Amoco Oil Company; manager, SAP project, for Amoco
Chemical–Amoco Foam Products
Company; and as program manager, supply and logistics systems for Amoco
Corporation.
Mr. Cagigal also currently serves as co-chair of board development for DePaul
University’s Alumni Board.
☛ Read David’s insights on Page 6
Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO , Calamos Investments
R obert M. Kunimura is senior vice president and chief technology officer of Calamos Investments. Mr.
Kunimura joined the company in 2005 and is responsible for all information technology applications, development, and support for the company.
Previously, Mr. Kunimura was regional head of information technology and global database services manager for
UBS Investment Bank. He began his career with UBS and its predecessor companies in 1981 as an operations analyst with O’Connor and Associates.
Mr. Kunimura received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the Association for
Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
☛
Read Robert’s insights on Page 9
© Books24x7, 2007 About the Authors ExecBlueprints 2

David Bessen
Vice President and CIO , MediaNews Group
Areas of Focus
In a typical day, I focus on several areas. I need to work closely with my staff, the rest of the management team, and the business units in order to understand the business, keep track of my team’s obstacles and progress, and ensure that all efforts are in line with our longterm strategy and still meet short-term needs. Every time we make a new acquisition, we have to work it into our routine as well as deal with the normal ebb and flow of our business.
I endeavor to keep an eye on long-term commitments and responsibilities at all times, spending two-thirds of my time on shortterm immediate issues and the remainder of my time on long-term strategies and the technical infrastructure. I would like to spend more time strategizing, but decreasing my daily interactions with the business units and IT staff would jeopardize my long-term strategies.
I have to respect the delicate balance that fluctuates over time.
Communicating with Direct
Reports
All of my actions vis-à-vis direct reports are intended to develop trust and enable a working relationship.
I like to arrive early while the office is still quiet so I can get my planning and more strategic work done before my staff arrives, the meetings begin, and the telephone rings.
This also allows me to make myself available to them and colleagues for the remainder of the day.
Planning My Day
I usually work 9 to 9.5 hours per day and try not to take work home.
I spend 25 to 30 percent of my time in meetings, less than 5 percent giving presentations, and the rest of my time managing short- and long-term issues including project planning. I also attempt to respond to questions and issues promptly, responding to all e-mails and phone calls on the day they are received. I like to work closely with my staff to solve technical problems, escalating problems with vendors, and verify their plans and progress.
I often eat lunch at my desk so that I may read about what is going on in the newspaper and technology industries and formulate strategy for the long term. Often, I’ll discover new technologies that may be applicable to our computing environment or business needs, whether it be a tool for better managing storage arrays or an effective means
David Bessen
Vice President and CIO
MediaNews Group
“Increased communication makes life easier so my door is always open and
I walk the floor eight to10 times a day.”
• With company since 2006
• Previously director of information services at Copley Newspapers
• Undergraduate degree, Haverford
College
• Doctoral degree, University of
Toronto
Mr. Bessen can be e-mailed at david.bessen@execblueprints.com
of analyzing changes in newspaper subscription levels.
Every evening, before leaving the office, I update my list of issues, meetings, and deadlines that are coming up the next day and the next week.
David Bessen
Vice President and CIO
MediaNews Group
© Books24x7, 2007
Determining ROI
It is difficult to quantify daily activities in terms of dollars, but I always emphasize to my staff the need to maintain a high level of responsiveness — and I hold myself to the same expectation. I want our customers — whether internal or external — to know that we are aware of their issues and are working on a solution.
David Bessen ExecBlueprints 3

David Bessen
Vice President and CIO , MediaNews Group
By focusing on delivering quick resolutions, we can maximize our ROI by keeping systems running as much as possible and by meeting the business’ needs. This also enables us to maintain efficient and effective operations in the field and develop a positive rapport with all of our customers.
For the CIO, it is important to capture metrics about how well systems are running and how responsive staff may be to problems.
Useful systems metrics might be total annual uptime or working hours lost to system outages.
Responsiveness might be measured by recording the time to the first callback from the help desk or the time it takes to resolve a problem.
These statistics might also be used to address end-user concerns about system and overall IT performance.
The CIO can also take advantage of other fertile grounds for improving ROI and gaining savings: whether it is through the consolidation of licensing and volume support agreements with vendors or through vigorous contract negotiations that account for the phasing in of systems and licenses and their associated costs.
Common Impediments
The most common impediment in a typical day is an unproductive meeting. Sometimes a meeting is called to discuss something that has already been decided or that could be accomplished via e-mail.
However, sometimes face time is needed in order to understand the body language and read between the lines of key players.
Broader impediments are the temporary suspension of projects due to competing capital demands
© Books24x7, 2007
a
s
s
Meetings
25-30%
Long-term str a tegies a nd the technic a l infr a structure
Present a tions
Less th a n 5%
Short-term immedi a te issues
g
g
What ?
• Statuses of individual projects, listed
by staff member(s) working on them
• Detailed task lists associated with
project plans
— Resources and staff needed
for the completion of each task
• Reports and capital requests to complete
• Issues to discuss and resolve
(continued)
M a n a ging short- a nd long-term issues, i.e., project pl a nning
60-65%
Why ?
• Mark progress
• Assign tasks to staff when appropriate
• Keep on top of the day-to-day business as well as the conflicting needs of different business units, both of which have some degree of unpredictability.
Best Practices
In the office, I find my personal best practices involve the development of lists. These include statuses of individual projects, listed by staff member(s) working on them; detailed task lists associated with project plans and the resources and staff needed for the completion of each task; reports and capital requests to complete; and issues to discuss and resolve with peers at the corporate
David Bessen ExecBlueprints 4

David Bessen
Vice President and CIO , MediaNews Group office and with a variety of individuals in the field. Working with the lists allows me to mark my progress, assign tasks to staff when appropriate, and keep on top of the day-to-day business.
Having done much project planning in the past, any undertaking for my staff that encompasses more than a few days of effort is routinely committed to a detailed project
(continued) plan. In this way, I can share a completion date and the size of the effort needed to complete an undertaking with staff and colleagues. These plans are updated regularly to show both progress and the addition of new details.
For me, taking a break at the office is valuable. While I am focused solely on work throughout the bulk of the day, I find it important to step out of the office — even on a cold Denver day — and take a 15 to 20 minute walk to clear my head, focus my thoughts for the remainder of the day, and be invigorated by the change. This allows me also to maintain my perspective or brainstorm new ones. ■
David Bessen
Vice President and CIO
MediaNews Group
© Books24x7, 2007 David Bessen ExecBlueprints 5

David Ca g i g al
Chief Information Technology Officer , Alliant Energy
David Cagigal
Chief Information Technology Officer
Alliant Energy
Common Daily Areas of
Focus
I focus on major project activities.
We have cycles of reviews and milestones that we address. We have many major projects in progress that I have to check in on, and I am usually checking in on some of them on a weekly basis or, at the least, every other week. Occasionally, there are emergencies associated with major projects. Another area of focus for me is making sure that my staff is engaged. I have six managers, roughly 16 team leaders, and a staff of nearly 200 people who ultimately report to me. Roughly 60 percent of my time is spent in meetings, and 35 percent in managing IT issues. I do very few presentations, maybe 5 percent, and that is on an average throughout the course of a month.
I think it is possible to achieve this ideal schedule through managing the calendar and making better decisions about my needs versus the requesters’ needs. I think it would be beneficial if I blocked some time for strategic thinking and the overall strategic process.
Determining ROI for my daily activities is, consequently, difficult.
Basically, I try to realize the ROI that has already been stated in the business case. Obviously, as the business case is prepared on day one, it is a probability and a potential, and you do not realize to what extent you have met the expectations until the project is complete.
Successful completion of the project and delivering on the ROI is something that needs constant attention, and I do not want to put the ROI at risk through neglect.
An Ideal Day
I would like it to reach a point where strategic involvement and discussions would consume around
35 percent of my time, operational would be around 25 percent, and talent management or people development engagement would be about 25 percent. Ultimately, it would be ideal to have at least 10 percent of my day to address exceptions such as project overruns, delays, and production problems.
Common Impediments and
Best Practices
I am a process-driven individual. If everything goes right, at the end of the process we will have a desired result. I do not enjoy dealing with emergencies. They make everyone inefficient, while taking away from a well-orchestrated day or plan, so
I try to do all that I can to get to the root cause of the emergencies and to ensure those impediments do not occur again. If anything looks like there is a pattern developing or if there is a reoccurring issue, we
© Books24x7, 2007
David Cagigal
Chief Information Technology Officer
Alliant Energy
“I try to meet with my customers faceto-face — not only in phone calls and e-mails. Of course, I have customers in other cities, so I do the best I can to circle the circuit.”
• With company since 2004
• Over 28 years’ experience in information services
• Previously director, information application services, DePaul
University
• B.S., Management; M.B.A.,
Information Systems, DePaul
University
Mr. Cagigal can be e-mailed at david.cagigal@execblueprints.com
quickly try to get to the root of the cause in order to avoid its reoccurrence. We then are able to unearth the process-driven complexities that deliver on time and within budget per the requirements of our customers.
In order to achieve a high-level of effectiveness, proper calendar management has turned out to be one of the most significant best practices in the industry. This covers many things, from prioritizing meetings to understanding how many customers you need to speak with. Ultimately, managing my cal-
David Cagigal ExecBlueprints 6

David Ca g i g al
Chief Information Technology Officer , Alliant Energy endar and maintaining effectiveness through daily activities is critical to my success.
When I was with a major oil and gas company, we implemented a network for the customers to be able to swipe their credit cards for sales authorization. When you drove up to the service station in the 1990s, you swiped your card either inside the kiosk or at the pump, and then you were able to purchase gas on your credit card. The network was put in solely for that, and a lot of money was associated with that deployment. With the network sitting there, we have since found other needs for it, such as submitting our
(continued) daily sales back to the general office. This way, we had a more accurate picture of sales per station countrywide. Further, people began to think that if they sold 100 gallons of gasoline, that meant they needed to replenish 100 gallons of gasoline, so we got into replenishment and were shipping 4,000 trucks a day to all the service stations to replace the gas that was purchased the day before. That is a direct example of how we leveraged a network investment we had originally intended for credit card authorization for other purposes and other means.
Another example of a positioning investment is local area networks. Back in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, a lot of computers were connected to mainframes. However, as we moved to
PCs, the stand-alone platform became very popular. Then, all of a sudden we wanted to connect the
PCs with the local area network.
The wiring and infrastructure to connect the PC rode on the first application. Then we realized that, now that all PCs are connected to a server, there were a lot of other applications that could ride that infrastructure and that network.
This meant leveraging a technology investment for applications that could not yet be described.
a
a
a
Meetings
60%
M a n a ging IT issues
35%
Str a tegic involvement a nd discussions
35%
T a lent m a n a gement or people development eng a gement
25%
Oper a tion a l
25%
Addressing exceptions
(e.g., project overruns, del a ys, a nd production problems)
10%
David Cagigal ExecBlueprints 7 © Books24x7, 2007
Present a tions
5%

David Ca g i g al
Chief Information Technology Officer , Alliant Energy
When you go to the board or the officers or the CFO and ask for this money, they ask why you need all that money when the application that you are selling does not justify it. As the CIO, it is my job to convey that the applications will come, even if
I cannot say exactly when that will be. At the time we deployed the local area network, Microsoft
Office was not yet in the mainstream. Now we are able to use those products from the server as opposed to several licenses on different PCs. Those are the kinds of things that I refer to as leveraged or positioning technology investments for infrastructure that will give birth to other applications not yet defined. The ROI and benefit,
(continued)
Benchmarks to Ensure My Day is on Track
There is a benchmarking group of 15 utilities, of which I am a member. This is a group of CIOs that meets to compare infrastructure domains, or towers. We discuss the costs of everything from managing Unix and Intel servers to maintaining a help desk or our application delivery function and process. One of the comparisons we make is how we can manage our days while distributing the work over the day. We look at those benchmarks as well as how other CIOs in the 15 utilities accomplish this. We produce this information in an annual report. We gather the information in the first two quarters of the year, and the report is due at the end of the second quarter.
therefore, really comes from undefined applications at the time you are requesting the funds. ■
© Books24x7, 2007 David Cagigal ExecBlueprints 8

Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO , Calamos Investments
Clear Communication
Communication is at the top of the list. Specifically, communicating across the various departments in the company as well as dealing with priority issues represents a significant part of my daily activities. I also spend time looking down into
IT and making certain that I have greased the path as much as possible so that the teams can be efficient and positioned for success.
Communications laterally to other corporate department managers and down into their teams is also important. Periodic communications to ensure that what we are executing corresponds to what is expected from a business perspective is also useful.
If you have transparent and trustworthy governance processes, then the senior corporate department heads will only weigh in when necessary. In fact, I use communication as a litmus test. When people begin to communicate less often, there is more than likely an issue or a problem that has arisen.
Balancing Long-Term and
Short-Term Issues
I try to balance my time between long-term strategic issues and shortterm issues. By spending time focusing on day-to-day tactical issues, I make certain that the operating environment improves and that the
Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO
Calamos Investments feedback loops are in place. ISO
9001 has dramatically helped in this perspective. Once the proper business processes are in place to support production operations, less time has to be spent directly running the shop. I can then focus more time on executing activities and ensuring that they are on track, strategically.
Planning My Day
My morning is usually spent dealing with tactical issues. In the late mornings I tend to focus more on meeting with some of my co-corporate department heads.
Critical issues and meetings can roll right into lunch, which I use to either meet with people or take part in scheduled meetings with the business. Lunch meetings provide an excellent venue to often discuss pretty difficult issues in a reasonably unpressured setting. However, meeting during lunch can also be negative because it does not allow the participants’ time to decompress during the day.
After lunch, I usually dive into particular project issues. By midafternoon, I can be found in executive meetings. Because our investment/trading staff typically cannot meet until after the trading day is over, we are somewhat constrained. Consequently, any large governance meetings need to take place during late afternoon. Our
CEO also likes to meet toward the end of the day to catch up on issues.
My days tend to run very long, but a lot of it is constrained by certain windows when people are available.
A Typical Day
Overall, less than 50 percent of my time is spent in meetings of all different types and constituencies,
© Books24x7, 2007
Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO
Calamos Investments
“I like to get to work very early in order to give myself the time necessary to think ahead, clear my mind, and plan the day.”
• With company since 2005
• Over 26 years’ experience in information services
• Previously regional head of IT, UBS
Investment Bank
• Bachelor’s degree, Northwestern
University
Mr. Kunimura can be e-mailed at robert.kunimura@execblueprints.com
40 percent is spent managing IT issues, and 5 to 10 percent is spent giving presentations. When I started with this company, I had to spend more time giving presentations so that I could better convey to people my thought processes and views.
Now that they are aware of how I think, presentations tend to focus just on basic nuts-and-bolts and status items.
Determining ROI
Projects should always be followed by post-implementation reviews, which include benefits harvesting and expense analysis. Project
Robert Kunimura ExecBlueprints 9

Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO , Calamos Investments accounting across the corporation is key. This allows us to better balance the overall impact to the entire corporation. Accounting always can give technology a sense of its direct and operational costs, but unless that model is extended across the corporation, you will never learn the overall cost of a particular project because much of its expense is in the end-user testing and requirement analysis phases.
Unless you capture that data from the business, you cannot really assess the total costs/benefit of the initiative.
a
a
P a rticip a ting in meetings
Less th a n 50%
M a n a ging
IT issues
40%
(continued)
Daily Practices
I try to plan out my days in advance — as early in the week as possible — so I can try to know what activities I am going to be confronted with and be mentally prepared for them. I want to be well-prepared for all of my meetings. This is not only for my benefit, but also to be respectful of the time of other participants in the meeting. All meetings should have articulated agendas, objectives, minutes, and action items. If those are not present at the beginning of a meeting, then the entire exercise will be a waste of time. Almost every corporate environment would dramatically benefit from those simple meeting tactics.
I also try to touch base with all of my direct reports on a daily basis.
This allows me to discover any issues before they reach a boiling point. Along with talking with my direct reports, I also make it my
Giving present a tions
5-10% personal practice to say hello to all of my staff. Because people appreciate when a manager takes an interest in what they are doing, I try to walk the floor to increase my approachability as well as my knowledge of what is happening in my department. ■
Robert Kunimura
Senior Vice President and CTO
Calamos Investments
© Books24x7, 2007 Robert Kunimura ExecBlueprints 10

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points
I. How Does a CTO/CIO Spend a
Typical Day?
Because they have so many demands on their time, this Blueprint’s authors report they generally arrive before their employees to give them time to think before the interruptions begin. What do they think about? A necessary mix of immediate, tactical concerns as well as long-term strategic and planning issues. How do they spend their time? These authors report:
• Regular briefings with senior leadership, business units, and IT staff
• Meetings with a wide variety of constituencies, involving some travel — 25 to 60 percent
• IT project management — 40 percent
• Emergency management — as much as necessary
• Presentations — 5 percent or less, unless they are in the middle of a new initiative
• Research on new technologies that may be helpful to their operations — conducted often at the desk during lunch
II. The Bottom Line
Sometimes it can be difficult to quantify the
ROI of the CTO/CIO’s time on a daily basis.
However, even in companies that view the
IT function strictly as a cost center, proactive IT leaders can demonstrate how the optimal functioning of their department adds value to the organization by:
• Keeping systems running as reliably as possible, and monitoring total uptime
• Tracking the responsiveness of the help desk to addressing customers’ needs
• Consolidating licenses
• Negotiating volume support agreements
• Benchmarking costs against those of
IT at similar companies
• Leveraging network investments by using them to run additional applications when the technology becomes available
• Comparing the actual ROI for a project against what was projected in the initial proposal
• Capturing the total cost/benefit of an
IT project by analyzing its impact across the company
III. Must-Have Priorities for
Today’s CTO/CIO
At many companies, IT priorities are shifting constantly. Opportunities that were not even on the radar three months earlier can suddenly become a priority. Consequently, the IT executive must be constantly aware of where the company is headed and the immediate needs and concerns of the CEO and other business leaders. When structuring his/her day — and overall role — today’s
CTO/CIO should continually be paying attention to:
• Do the various IT needs of the business units conflict with each other? If so, how can this dilemma be addressed?
• What are the current demands for the organization’s capital?
• Are changes presently occurring in the company’s structure that could affect
IT processes or practices?
• Are any patterns developing or issues reoccurring that need to be addressed
(before they become emergencies)?
• Which emerging technologies could aid the company in its present operations — and/or expand its capabilities in the future?
• What will the company’s future IT requirements be, and how can you ensure that you are building the necessary extensibility and flexibility to accommodate them?
IV. The Golden Rules for
Communicating With the IT Team and Beyond
Effective communication with staff, other business units, and customers is essential in order to ensure that trust is sustained and that IT products continue to meet the business’ expectations. In fact, one author considers communication to be a litmus test: if it starts to drop off, he always suspects
© Books24x7, 2007 that an issue or problem has arisen.
Strategies for communicating effectively across populations include:
• Keeping the door open and walking the production floor eight to 10 times per day (to increase approachability as well as operational knowledge)
• Responding to questions and issues promptly (e.g., answering e-mails and phone calls on the day they’re received)
• Formulating detailed project plans
(and updating them regularly) for all undertakings taking more than a few days of effort
• Discovering issues before they reach the “boiling point” by touching base with all direct reports on a daily basis
V. Essential Take-Aways
Of course, every day is different, and the unexpected is often bound to arise.
However, CTO/CIOs who follow some basic time management strategies can effectively manage day-to-day operations as well as plan long-term strategy. Best practices for
CTOs/CIOs include:
• Arriving early in the morning to allow time to plan and work without interruption
• Planning activities days in advance and using a calendar to prioritize meetings and track contacts
• Developing useful lists that include tasks, status of projects, reports and capital requests, and issues to resolve
• Avoiding unproductive meetings through the use of articulated agendas, objectives, minutes, and action items
• Updating lists of issues, meetings, and deadlines at the end of every day
• Keeping track of long-term commitments and responsibilities at all times
• Blocking time for strategic thinking and process
• Taking a break — going outside for at least 15 to 20 minutes per day to clear the head, maintain perspective, and brainstorm ■
Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 11

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points
(continued)
?
10 K
EY
Q
UESTIONS AND
D
ISCUSSION
P
OINTS
1 What are the most common areas of focus for you as a CTO/CIO during a typical day?
Do you expect your day-to-day focus to change in the next 12 months? What is driving any changes?
2 In a typical day, how do you try to balance your time between long-term strategic issues and short-term immediate issues? What percentage of your time is spent on long-term strategic issues? What percentage of your time is spent on short-term immediate issues?
3 How many times do you communicate with your direct reports in a typical day? Would increased communication make life easier?
4 What process do you use to plan your day? How was this process developed? Whom did you consult in this process?
5 In a perfect world, what would be the composition of your day? How can you work toward achieving this composition?
6 How can you determine ROI for your day-to-day activities? What other benchmarks do you use to ensure your day is on track?
7 What are three things you try to do every day? How do these three things increase your effectiveness?
8 Typically, how long are your days? Do you expect any changes in your schedule in the next 12 months?
9 What percentage of your day is spent dealing with international IT issues? Could you describe an international IT issue that you might deal with on a typical day? What percentage of the time do you communicate via phone?
10 During a typical day, do you try to schedule breaks from work, such as a lunch break?
How do these kinds of breaks help you during your day?
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© Books24x7, 2007 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 12