What are the Key Success Factors for a new CIO?

I've been following the above discussion on LinkedIn here. Some interesting stuff, so I thought I'd summarise what I have read so far.

The whole thing seemed to me to break into three parts: the first 90 days, creating the day job, and justifying the 'C' in CIO. Here goes...

The first 90 days

• Find how you can save the company money immediately.
• Ask everyone who reports to you for 10 ideas to save the company money.
• Find out how you can make the company money.
• Understand the business – goals, strategy.
• Identify your key customers and stakeholders, and set up KPIs and CSFs forthem.
• Tap existing desire for change.
• Poll IT and business for quick wins.
• Establish your credibility.
• Sell IT actively to executive & stakeholders.
• Evangelize how information makes business competitive.
• Lead how organization thinks about performance.
• Build shared view & alliances with peers.
• Know your department.
• Operations, development, governance, architecture, support.
• Define KPIs & results-based reporting.
• Learn the business
• Always have a backup plan for whatever the IT department does.

Creating the day job

• Build a strong team.
• Talent, performance, delivery, R&R.
• Stakeholder-facing responsibilities.
• Self-managing, self-starting.
• Integrate IT and business.
  
  • Business ownership of projects.
  • Shared/interlocking governance.
  • Budget/investment interlocks.
  • Portfolio management, etc.
• Make sure IT do the basics right first time.
• Emphasise speed of decision-making & delivery.
• Get to grips with your basic technologies.
• Bring development and operations closer.
• Do change management simply but well.
• Routinise governance, architecture, infrastructure and operations.
• Build active innovation and self-improvement into IT.
  • Lesson learnt, empowerment, etc.
  • Track stakeholder satisfaction.
• Develop backup plans for whatever IT does.

Justifying the 'C' in CIO

• Create a credible organisational plan that embeds the dynamism of your first 90 days in IT.
• Be a business executive – not a techie.
• Define a credible but radical vision that creates a quantum jump in IT’s competence and performance.
• • Goal: To move IT from technical enabler to business leader.
  • Create an IT strategy that solves real business problems.
  • Subordinate all tactics to this strategy.
• Manage the politics.
• Foster innovation and change.