If I’m being honest, I’ve actually never heard of the term Infrastructure & Operations (I&O) Leader before. I’m thinking that I’ve had to have heard of the role but under a different name. Either way, I like it. In Jay E. Pultz and Ed Holub’s article, The Future of the Infrastructure and Operations Leader, they touch on nine key characteristics that are needed in I&O management. First and foremost, I like how the I&O leader is positioned as a “strong No.2” to the CIO. Besides that, I found the below characteristics to be rather interesting.

Roles – I like the idea of versatilists. I would like to think that I am striving to be one myself. Moving from specialists to versatilists will help the business to be even more well rounded. Sometimes having more of a broad knowledge of different disciplines can help with taking on different roles when they arrive within the business.

Relationship to the Business – I’ve definitely been witness to how a business runs when it is positioned to be reactive versus proactive. This might not fully relate, but at my first job out of college, almost every year the certificates for our geo-targeting would expire causing the business to halt for at least two or three days at a time. The business was reactive in that this pause in operations happened around the same time every single year. Instead of being proactive and setting a reminder to address this certificate renewal before it expires each year, there was a halt in the business every single year. Once there is a realization that the business and IT rely on each other then they can be fully integrated.

Source:

Pultz, Jay E., and Ed Holub. “The Future of the Infrastructure and Operations Leader.” Technology Research, Gartner, Inc., 25 May 2010, www.gartner.com/doc/1375035/future-infrastructure-operations-leader.