I’d also like to add that some decisions are bigger than others. Decisions have a value, time has a value, and it’s easy to spend more time that the decision is worth. I’ve said in meetings “that was a 5 minute decision and we’re over budget. The answer is yes”

Likely good enough to block lots of just nonsense that is too common otherwise, e.g., stuff from big egos and/or face saving, turf battles, fighting with others inside instead of the enemies/competitors outside, arrogant guesses, opinions based on next to nothing, etc. Keep the process rational and on paper with a record that lasts instead of just talking over each other with off hand guesses in meetings. Make the process about the facts and information on paper instead of just interpersonal pushing and shoving.

And not so detailed it can’t be applied in practice.

Is good for high level stuff where, really, the decision maker is delegating to some relatively good subordinates with a lot of staff for a lot of information.

Concentrates on the human stuff and not the deep technical stuff, and that is likely appropriate for high level decision making.

Read, saved, abstracted, indexed, in line to be applied at the first real need. A keeper!

But, with the expansion, maybe the company needs a CIO? So, a C-level version of Joe? To lead to a new server farm location, with backup power, reliable, efficient air conditioning, top notch security and firewalls against hackers, good internal security, good system and internal network monitoring and management, backup, recovery, rolling out new versions of the software, good software development management, etc. So, need staff, training, discipline, documentation, protocols, procedures, etc.

So,

Option 1: Just let Joe do it. Have him learn on the job.

Option 2: What Joe knows is likely just darned important both for keeping the current business running and also for planning the growth.
Then, try to keep Joe and his crucial knowledge and proven abilities.

So: Send Joe to a few seminars on management of server farms, networks, and people, provide him with a good budget for consulting from people who have been there, done that, got the T-shirt at, say, a big bank, a big public utility, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. Let Joe also get the best technical sales engineering and support from the best vendors, Cisco, Microsoft, etc. Have the consultants show Joe some clearly at least okay ways to partition the work for his new responsibilities, and then get Joe some good recruiting support for filling out new direct reports for those partitions. Work with Joe and the consultants to formulate and describe some milestones, and watch Joe and check his progress. Maybe also get Joe some staff including an operations guy to keep the old stuff running while Joe works on the new stuff. And get Joe some consultants with gray hair and experience in generic management.

Option 3: Hire a new CIO who knows nothing about the business or Joe’s work but has generic skills in managing growth.

It’s easy enough to expect that what Joe is doing is unique, particular to the niche of the company, etc., and, thus, something we can’t expect can be found in a book, in a seminar, or from a consultant.

But, for Option 3, since the skills are generic and broadly applicable, maybe they can be identified, explained, documented, and taught, and maybe Joe can learn them? Or, are we to believe that those generic skills are inscrutable, unknowable, much like black magic, and can’t be documented, taught, or learned except just by experience? There are stacks of books on general management — maybe some of that stuff is good and can be taught although when I was a B-school prof I didn’t see any of it in the courses being taught.

The Option 3 generic guy? He doesn’t know an Ethernet cable from a USB cable, doesn’t know that, in servers and server racks, 1 U = 1.75″ or about total dissipated power, will face challenges getting the respect and loyalty of his subordinates or the respect of the rest of the C-suite, the CEO, and the BoD, may build an empire and use the new power he has to extract money and power from the rest of the company, may cover his ass with policies and procedures, and may resent anything technical or new from his subordinates. He will have a tough time leading getting enough good advice to lead well on new technical issues. On technical issues, likely he will try some things, because he doesn’t really know what the heck he is doing, fail, get discouraged and afraid, and become rigid and try to block change.

I’d go with Option 2.

Give The Boss a big thank-you for me…

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Boss is headed out to clean out the lake house.

Bad news — as a CEO you will always be at an inflection point.

You are playing the game at the point the puck will be in ten seconds, not where it is right now. But you knew that, right?

The juice, sometimes, is worth the squeeze.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

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All things start as not urgent, not important.

Then they become either urgent or important.

Then they become both urgent and important.

The trick is to know when to make the decision, as you so correctly point out.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

http://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/5068-2/

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com