The above article was published in the November 2008 edition of FEDTECH Magazine. It provides some of my thoughts on how Federal CIOs should position themselves and their organizations to complete an effective transtion from the Bush to Obama administrations. The article is one in the series I write entitled "The Business of IT."

1. The Business of IT
By Paul Wohlleben
In Stride
With preparation, CIOs can ready their federal IT shops
to take a leading role in the transition.
A
presidential election
produces significant
changes — in leadership,
in policies, in style and
in culture.
The election of someone other
than an incumbent president turbo
charges this change. We are entering
such a period: great change com-
bined with great uncertainty for
CIOs and their organizations. The
purpose of this article is to help the
CIO (or deputy CIO, where a politi-
cal appointee will be replaced in the
coming months) think through an
approach to surviving this period
of change.
The Big Issues
During the campaign, big issues
confronting the nation — war,
domestic security, the economy,
taxes and health care, to name a
few — attract the most attention.
The management of government falls
below these top-flight issues. At most, Although the candidates are not apt are attempting to influence its course.
the next administration will position it to focus on government management You don’t have to look far to find white
as a secondary issue requiring reform. during the campaign, there are ways papers, manifestos and other briefs
It is important to pay attention to you can broaden your understanding created as transition resources by trade
the top national issues and campaign of the management issues they con- associations, think tanks and even by
promises, however; this will help you sider key. The best approach is to take the campaigns themselves. While almost
understand the incoming president’s the time to study the big management every organization has its biases, they
policy framework and his perspective issues presented by those who have deep tend to gravitate to a common set of
on the role of government. experience with government and who central management issues that, taken
fact: 50-50 Split: About half of the 26 major agencies have politically appointed CIOs. The others are career feds.
SOURce: DARPA
20 FedTechmagazine.com | November 2008

2. WAlk
TheIr
collectively, will cover the breadth of Your organizational objective with
TAlk
emBrAce The neW TeAm.
policies that might be adopted and why. the transition team has several facets:
You need to ensure the new leadership
Seek out these documents and become First, you want to ensure continuity knows that you are not linked to the past
conversant on policy and reform options of operations and key projects begun but are totally focused on helping them
and rationales. before the transition. To succeed, you succeed. This can be difficult when the
At the same time, continue to look must demonstrate deep understanding new team wants to move in an entirely
for signals from the incoming Congress of the CIO and IT budgets, the alterna- different direction.
regarding program and budget priorities tives available and the likely outcomes,
DemonsTrATe Deep
personAl unDersTAnDIng
of Issues, BuDgeTs AnD
orgAnIzATIons. To be considered
“You must quickly decide how to valuable to the new administration, you
position IT as a positive and need to demonstrate that you have learned
a lot from the past and can assist with
critical change agent.” the future by building on that knowledge.
— Paul Wohlleben
You also need to demonstrate deep insight
into how federal CIOs operate.
within authorizing and appropriating as they pertain to both management use feAr juDIcIously —
committees, especially with respect to and mission. BuT use IT. The leaders of all federal
your specific agency. You also need to Second, you must quickly decide organizations share a fear of becoming
understand how the committees that how to position IT as a positive and front-page news on The Washington Post
have jurisdiction over your organiza- critical change agent in support of the for the wrong reasons. The CIO portfolio
tion’s mission and management will new administration’s objectives. That contains several components that can
lead to bad press, most notably: breaches
conduct their oversight, and what spe- means you must be adept at align-
of IT security, failed IT projects and
cific areas they will focus on following ing ongoing IT modernization and acquisition scandals. You need to convince
the power shift in January. improvement efforts with the priorities the new team that you will prevent
of the new team. problems in these areas from becoming
Lead, Don’t Follow Third, you should use the transition breaking news.
Once you have a grasp of the manage- to improve the capacity of the CIO orga-
Do The rIghT ThIng. New
ment issues important to the incoming nization to manage and deliver IT ser-
administrations come to Washington
administration and next Congress, you vices and support mission objectives.
with great conviction and energy. They
are ready to represent your CIO organi- want to fix things — and fast. There will
zation to the new team. Chart Your Road Map likely be pressure to cut corners on basic
The first opportunity to position Your personal objective with the transi- management processes. You need to
your organization and its key issues hap- tion team should be very clear as well. cleverly resist this. At some point, if you
pened last spring and summer when You need to focus on positioning your- execute decisions that don’t comply with
agencies prepared organizational and self as a primary leader who can assist federal regulations, the inspector general
issue briefings for the campaign teams the new administration in achieving its or other oversight body will likely make
and the transition team representing the goals. This can be tricky: On the one you the focus of an investigation.
incoming administration. In some cases, hand, you must convince the new team You should seek to execute decisions
expeditiously, but properly, and engage
LEFT: JoRg gREuEL/gETTy ImAgEs; ABoVE: ELIzABETh hInshAw
CIOs took part in these briefings and that you are committed to their success.
other “C”-level officials in assisting with
gained some insight into the composi- On the other hand, you must not take
priority requests and, where necessary,
tion of the transition team. If you were any actions that short-circuit existing damage control with the new leadership.
lucky, you might have found members federal regulations and policies.
with whom you had a prior relationship, It can be a cruel, unforgiving Be enTrepreneurIAl
whose views you already know. That world out there in the federal bureau- AnD ADApTIve. Stay close to
what is happening in the Office of
provides a great beginning. cracy. Look out for your organization,
Management and Budget and within
But in most cases, CIOs had never and yourself, during the transition the CIO community across government.
met the team members and had to pre- and beyond. Seek opportunities to position your CIO
pare their briefing input without that organization and agency as aggressively
insider advantage. That places the CIO Paul Wohlleben, a former federal CIO, supporting administration priorities.
and the IT organization in a much more is a partner at Grant Thornton. E-mail him Give the new leadership credit for
defensive position. at paul.wohlleben@gt.com. successes that result in positive press.
November 2008 | FedTechmagazine.com 21