A Seat at the Table: IT Leadership in the Age of Agility

A Seat at the Table is Mark Schwartz's effort to help CIOs understand their role in an ever-changing, Agile business place. By the end, he presents some positive ideas about how CIOs can help empower teams and reorient the C-Suite to a new, Agile way of viewing the business-IT relationship. However, he spends a lot of this book satirically belittling anyone who doesn't view things his way.Schwartz spends the first two chapters satirically critiquing anything he calls "waterfall" and the mentality dubbed "contractor control". He spends mos moves on to critique deadlines, budgets, and modernization efforts - with the belief that a business is ALWAYS better off making small incremental changes.Schwartz's positions may be ideals to strive for, but I find it naive to claim these tenets are always the best choice for a company. Sometimes, there are actual business and government deadlines that a company has no control over. Not all upgrades can be made in small incremental changes. Sometimes a client can't afford to switch its platform or process in the middle of a project. There are great examples of "successful" waterfall projects, as well as successful agile projects.It's not that everything suggested in this book is bad. I particularly liked his take on build-versus-buy decisions, where he argues that buying a pre-built product involves receiving features you don't need and building an unforeseen amount of infrastructure to integrate the pre-build purchase. Again, this presents a great ideal; but, it's no stretch to think of scenarios where a pre-built product (like video conferencing software, or a CRM system) is best for a company.In the end, although this book proposes some good ideas about the evolution of the CIO's role and how a company should think about IT, I find it too intolerant to recommend it.

This was interesting! I did not have a high expectation for this book. I discovered I really enjoyed this book and have recommended it to many people since. I definitively do not agree with all of Mark's points but I enjoyed reading it at all times and all points it makes are well-argued. That is perhaps even the drawback of the book :)"A Seat at the Table" explores the role of IT and IT management in modern 'agile' organizations. Throughout the book, Mark shows that the traditional CIO and IT management is rooted in cost-center control thinking where IT services as a support function towards the business. If we want to fulfill the promise (dream?) of an agile organization then that mindset ought to change and IT should understand the business, drive new business, be the business. That means a complete shift in thinking in IT management.After setting this stage, Mark dives in the different aspects of IT Management. From planning to architecture, from transformation to risk. For each aspect, he explores the dysfunction in the traditional perspectives and then contrasts it with the new 'agile' way. The difference between this book and most others is the depth of the argumentation. It is not just "now you ought to do X" but it clearly clarifies all the reasoning behind it and how it fits within the larger picture.Spoiler alert!Some of my favorite parts of the book were when Mark explains that any transformation means you have failed. If a business keeps everything in shape/on track, then there is no need for a transformation. So the need for a transformation suggests a failed system, which is what needs to be fixed.Another favorite related to Build versus Buy for most software ought to build as it is an asset to the organization. Which was an argument that was build up earlier where Mark showed that Product vs Project is a false dichotomy and there are alternative ways of thinking about the output of IT. Unfortunately, he picks the phrase Enterprise Architecture to then describe the software assets of an organization.The book was not all good. Mark seemed to be very selective in which terms and concepts he dives and exposes and explodes. At times he goes at length explaining why a term is awful and imprecise (requirement) and then continues to use the phrase enterprise architecture, perhaps one of the unclearest terms in our industry. Also, Mark (who shares he is a philosophy major) continuously goes into philosophical sidetracks, which I loved and probably didn't add much value (*grin*) to the average reader.If you want a book that challenges thinking related to IT, this book will do that. If want a practical how-to book, then this is probably too much rambling. For me, it was 5 stars but for the people who don't enjoy lengthy arguments probably 3 stars. So, I'll end up with an average of 4 stars. Loved it!

There are a number of important lessons to take away from this book.Firstly, it's important to understand that IT is part of the business. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's IT _and_ the business as though they are separate entities. Mark spends a good amount of time explaining how to avoid this trap and to change the conversation to how we can succeed together as a business.Next, it's important to understand what our peers in other areas of the business really need when they talk to us about milestones and dates for when things will be done. If we aren't careful, we'll make ensure that our decisions are made at the point where we have the most uncertainty and we won't wait until we have minimized uncertainty. Mark also answers this conundrum with good reasoning and some examples of how it can work better.Beyond these, Mark talks about:* understanding growing instead of scope creeping* standards needing to change over time* funding outcomes that we desire instead of just projects* experimentation in our approach to solving a business case* sometimes mistakes do in fact turn out well even though they are still mistakes.* why we measure activitiesIt all falls into a shifted paradigm for me and has given me a much better framework in which to have discussions across senior leadership to drive real transformation across our business. This book was definitely work the time I took to read it.

This is a MUST read for anyone in IT leadership. Schwartz explains why the methods of waterfall, project based and IT treated as an internal service provider do not work in a Complex Adaptive System that IT has become. The relationship between IT and the rest of the business has become one of internal service provider; where IT are tied to constraints and deliverables - that drives behaviours that IT must be held at arm's length and serve the rest of the enterprise in a similar vein to a third party and not be an integral part to deliver.Schwartz goes on to explain the folly in trying to maintain control and governance against costs, time and performance with a plan that tries to determine the future in a very uncertain world. A point estimate of future resources is unlikely to be accurate and it accomplishes adherence to a plan rather than concentrate on delivering value. Large cumbersome requirement sets are adhered to because this is what was determined at the outset, despite the users not fully understanding what it is they wanted, what is possible and conflicting priorities. Projects deliver against milestones that are not tied to business outcomes, with the project disbanded at the end when it finally delivers and goes into maintenance. Whereas IT capabilities, on the contrary are long-lived, evolutionary and in a state of flux.To deliver, Schwartz states that IT must focus on being part of the business and delivering value and outcomes to the business - this is where Agile and lean comes to the fore. Empowering multi discipline teams with the business focus of the product owner. Leaning out wherever possible to eliminate waste and shorten delivery times. Delivering in increments, being able to continuously adapt to changing requirements, priorities and circumstances in the operating environment."The essence of Agile approaches is simply this: we should inspect and adapt frequently rather than slavishly following a plan. We should learn constantly and incorporate what we learn into what we do through constant feedback - to deliver to value to the business throughout and not at the end of a project".Schwartz also provides valuable insights into the role of Enterprise Architecture (stewards of IT assets and the incremental change to them), build versus buy, governance, risk, quality and shadow IT.It is not a surprise to see why AWS employ Schwartz as their Enterprise Strategist.

One of the most thought provoking books on IT leadership and agile implementation for the enterprise I have ever read. Turns ling held beliefs, structure and approach on its head, it's hard to disagree with many of functions that Scheartz challenges

And, really not just IT Leadership, leadership in general;Take action in the face of uncertainty;"when something is difficult, do it more often,when something is frightening, do it more often,when something is broken, keep doing it until we fix it"Brilliant read!

I was convinced by the argument, but more time spent on how to evolve old businesses into now ones would have been better.

great book