What problem are we really solving?
Before choosing tools, platforms or operating models, it is worth testing whether the stated problem is the real one.
Writing
The Pragmatic CIO
A writing project on enterprise technology leadership, transformation, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, data and AI.
Intent
Thinking in public, without pretending complex technology decisions are simple.
The Pragmatic CIO is not written as a manifesto. It is written as a way of thinking in public.
Many technology debates are framed too quickly as positions to defend: centralise or decentralise, build or buy, cloud or on-premise, AI-first or AI-cautious. In practice, senior technology leadership is rarely that clean. The useful questions are usually slower and more uncomfortable.
Questions
What trade-off are we accepting?
Every technology decision moves risk, cost, complexity or control somewhere. The important part is being honest about where it lands.
Who carries the operational consequence?
Strategy is easy to admire at a distance. Operations reveal whether the decision can survive contact with systems, vendors, teams and time.
What would make the opposite view right?
The best technology arguments improve when they are forced to examine the strongest version of the opposing case.
Approach
The point is not to push an agenda. The point is to make the decision clearer.
The Pragmatic CIO explores enterprise technology through questions, tensions and practical consequences. Some articles are analytical. Some are deliberately questioning. Some may end without pretending that a complex subject has a neat answer.
That is intentional. The aim is to test assumptions, expose trade-offs and make enterprise technology decisions more discussable.
Read