Introduction

IT explained to C-level executives

Welcome to "25 definitions and 25 rules to demystify information technologies".

 

People including executives always complain about the complexity of information technologies (IT) but a large part of said complexity lies in the vocabulary. Vocabulary creates a gap between the people who master it and juggle with acronyms and the ones who have not taken the time to learn it. On one hand some technophiles abuse and take pleasure in drowning others in technical trivia to make themselves knowledgeable and indispensable. On the other hand every profession has its own vocabulary and you need a set of common terms to communicate effectively. Accounting terms like COGS, DSO, EBIT and PE ratio will probably sound Chinese to any IT engineer, but not to a CEO or a CFO. So you need to learn some IT vocabulary, if you want to play an active role in IT. We have provided here 25 definition topics which present in a concise way the minimum knowledge a senior executive should have.

 

Understanding the vocabulary is not enough to take informed decisions. You need best practices. A best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. Keeping records up-to-date at any time is a best practice lauded by most accountants. You need such best practices to serve as guidance as you participate in IT projects. We have included here 25 golden rules of IT which should help you make the difference between good and bad IT engineers and also between good and bad projects.

The goal of this collection of definitions and rules is to bring non-IT senior executives to a sufficient level of knowledge in IT to bridge the gab with IT specialists and help them communicate more effectively. These definitions and rules are concise because senior executives do not have time.

 

This is provided as a blog to be interactive, so please post your comments, suggestions and own experiences.