Charles A. Araujo, Jr.

A Time to Transition & Focus

Well, in case anyone is still checking this blog, it should be apparent that I haven't done a good job of posting to it.  Well, as 2010 dawns, I'm adjusting my strategy a bit.

To begin with, my posts related to IT Transformation, ITSM/ITIL and Organizational Change will predominately be found on our new CastlePointe Blog, Transforming IT.  It can be found at Transforming-IT.castlepointe.com.  This will align these posts more closely to the efforts of my company and also provide opportunities for my partners to write on the same subject without it being affiliated with my personal blog.  So I'm excited about this transition.

I am also a new columnist at ITSM Portal (www.itsmportal.com) one of the oldest ITSM news and information websites out there.  I'm not sure when my first column will be posted, but I'm very excited about this new opportunity.  It will allow me to write periodic columns that will be ready by a larger audience and share some of what I've learned over the years.

As I write posts on our Transforming IT blog or have columns published on ITSM Portal, I will post links here.  But otherwise, I intend to write occasionally on a more personal basis across a much more varied set of topics.  I'm honestly not all that sure what that means, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

Back in the Saddle...Again!

Well, I have no real excuse. Yes, I've been extremely busy, but In truth I just got out of the habit of writing. The funny thing is that I miss it. But with everything going on it was easy to just skip it.

The good news is that I've been busy.  It's been a wild six months and it has been rough on everyone.  I've been fortunate to be working on a number of exciting projects and am looking forward to a productive 2009.  But despite the fact that I've been busy and haven't taken the time to write anything down, it doesn't mean that there hasn't been a ton of stuff swirling around in my head. 

Well, we're coming up on a new year and it's time I got back to it. So here we go.  My goal is to get back to this with some regularity - I find that it really helps keep me focused and centered.  I've also been giving a lot of thought lately to what it really takes to move an IT organization.  A couple of my recent projects have been fascinating studies on the role of culture in an IT organization and has crystallized for me how much of what we do is really about people more than anything else. 

I've also become much more focused on the role of innovation in IT.  I've written in the past about subjects that flirt at the edges of this concept, but I hope to spend much more time exploring this subject in the next few months.  I think that it's easy to fall into the process and efficiency trap and am very interested in how we connect to the other side of the value equation much more rapidly.

So in case anyone is still out there, stay tuned.  Some good stuff (hopefully!) is coming!

Burn the Boats

In 1519,   Hernán Cortés sailed from Cuba to Mexico to capture Mayan gold and the interior of Mexico for Spain.  As he landed, he famously ordered his men to "burn the boats", signifying that there was no turning back.  It's a tactic that was in use at least as far back as the Greeks and it vividly symbolizes the ultimate commitment to your mission.

Not many of us face that kind of mission any more.  Rarely are our goals that specific, our mission that direct.  Or at least we choose not to make them so.  I know that's been the case for me.  Since I left The Access Group, I've been metaphorically wandering in the wilderness - unsure of what path I should follow.   I am blessed and cursed by the fact that I have many talents and a wide ranging base of experience...and I've been somewhat burdened by an intense desire to maintain a certain lifestyle.  This mix of options and pressure to make things happen fast has ironically been spinning me in circles as I flit from one thing to the next in the hope that the next thing will be the one that will get me back on track and make it all work again.

Then a funny thing happened.  Over the course of about two weeks, I had a series of introductions and meetings with some people who look at IT and the ITSM/IT Transformation space the same way I do.  I had several potential (though not necessarily immediate) opportunities surface.  And I attended an itSMF LIG meeting for the first time in a long time.  All of these combined to really hit me square in the forehead.  This is where I belong.  This is what I love.  This is what I am passionate about.  This is what I need to be doing.

So, it's time to burn the boats.

I've decided that I need to let go of my lifestyle burdens and simply focus on what I love to do and where I want to go.  That means that I am going to move away from any work that is not focused on helping IT organizations transform themselves.  It means that I will be retooling CastlePointe with a relentless commitment to working with and through other technology providers to deliver services in this space.  And it means that I'm going to focus intensely on new ways and new partnerships that will help me accomplish this mission.

My experiences over the last few weeks have also shown me that in my own personal wilderness, I wasn't nearly as alone as I thought.  There are a lot of other people who "get it" like I do and share my views, attitudes, approaches and (most importantly) desire to make things better in the world of IT.  So, I will continue to seek them out and build relationships so that we can help each other on this journey.

In the end, I don't really know if I will be able to maintain the lifestyle I desire.  But I know that I will be doing what I love and affecting change in IT - and by any definition that really matters, that will be success.