Whether you’re training your deputies or educating your lower ranks, these five recent books give IT pros of all ranks the intelligence they need to succeed in the future.

By Brian P. Watson


Training is one of the first things slashed from IT budgets when times get tough, so CIOs and their deputies have been forced to get creative with educating their employees. One tried-and-true method is the good old book report. (Yes, even in the digital age, they’re still printing books…)

You can find a guidebook for every technology or vendor product under the sun. But focusing on technical training will only get you so far. Late last year, prominent CIOs like Mykolas Rambus of Forbes Media (now CEO of Wealth-X) and Ahmed Mahmoud of AMD stressed the importance of going beyond bits and bytes—and actually educating lower-level employees about the business of IT.

In today’s economic climate—and with the increasing pressure on IT departments and workers to be more strategic and business-savvy—that advice couldn’t be more on the mark.

In the last few years I’ve read (or perused) seemingly every business-IT book known to man. Despite being written for high-level executives, these five works provide all IT pros with a solid, comprehensive look at what IT departments face today, what expectations the business has for them, and what individuals and teams need to do to get ahead.

1. World-Class IT: Why Business Succeeds When IT Triumphs
By Peter High
Wiley, November 2009

Peter High, the founder and president of Metis Strategy, offers five principles that all top-notch IT organizations must master.

2. 8 Things We Hate About IT
By Susan Cramm
Harvard Business Press, December 2009

The former CFO and CIO turned executive coach examines the frequent misunderstandings and misconceptions that business and IT have toward each other.

3. Analytics At Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results
By Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris and Robert Morison
Harvard Business Press, February 2010

A follow-up to their acclaimed Competing on Analytics, the authors provide a guide for making business analytics work—giving IT pros a window into how their decision-making can impact all areas of the business.

4. Adventures of an IT Leader
By Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O’Donnell
Harvard Business Press, April 2009

Harvard Business School’s CIO gurus use a fictional CIO at a fictional company to explain and analyze the challenges all IT leaders—and IT organizations—face in times of transition.

5. IT Savvy: What Top Executives Must Know to Go From Pain to Gain
By Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross
Harvard Business Press, July 2009

The leaders of MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) offer a playbook for non-IT managers to sharpen their IT acumen, which provides a good window for IT pros into what challenges the business faces in understanding IT operations and capabilities.

What other books would you recommend?

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