The CTO Project

My advisory group meets tomorrow for the first time. I’ve always hated them. The participants never seem to know enough about technology to be able to advise you on anything and the folks don’t usually have enough power to actually allow you to avoid making other presentations. That is, I have to present to the advisory group, and then to the budget group, and to the Trustees, and to the Cabinet, and to the faculty, etc. The Trustees, the Cabinet, the faculty, and the budget groups all have clear power and I get why my presentations are important to these teams. But my advisory group, as with so many others in my past, seems to be a motley crew of administrators and faculty who may not be able to advise me much on anything other than on how not to waste anyone’s time in the future.

I’d rather just give campus-wide presentations on a quarterly basis then have to deal with this…

I don’t have a good attitude. I know some folks have found their advisory boards to be really helpful. I haven’t, though I have found certain individuals who have served on them extremely helpful in 1-1 conversations.