Enabling change with IT

Well, the book that I have been referring to is almost in publication. I have to say that it has been quite a journey. Despite having written many pieces for practitioner and academic audiences, not to mention MBA and doctoral dissertations, writing a book has presented lots of different challenges. There is the initial decision and negotiations to go through and lots of add-ons such as permissions, foreword, glossary, quotes, copyright to consider in the publication. Alongside that is the marketing activity including press releases, supporting articles and other communications.

It's a great learning experience and my advice is to get expert input all along the way. Matthew Flynn and Lance Chinnian at BCS have been very helpful.

Of course this is one opportunity to communicate news about the book which is about the successful management of IT-enabled business change. I will be having a launch event on 22 September. Last time I checked there were about 60 places booked to date and I am looking forward to engaging the audience in the debate.

The big driver for me in writing the book has been to extend the knowledge of IT-enabled business change. My career has been based on being a “hybrid” business and IT professional, manager, consultant and academic. It seems to me this is a core skill required by all if we are really to make a big impression on creating successful major change programmes. That is surely in all our interests.

Prior to the launch, there is the annual judging of the Computing Awards for Excellence. It is always great to see the commitment of IT professionals and leaders to make a difference as represented in their submissions. The one disappointment last year, not to take anything away from the winner, was the limited range of submissions in the IT strategy category. However it was the first year for this award, so I am hoping this year's entries will match the high standards of other categories.