I’ve been at NYU for nine months. In some ways it feels longer, and in others not very long at all. As we look forward to the next academic year, I’d like to share my priorities. Please note that these are not SMART goals by design. At this point, specific and measurable goals would be either too narrow or far too large. My purpose with these priorities is to provide a direction for IT at NYU. Also note that order doesn’t matter in this list.
- Elevate our cybersecurity posture to a risk level that is appropriate for NYU. This requires a single cybersecurity program for NYU. Developing our ability to detect, respond and recover from attacks is one important aspect. Another is improving our management of our IT assets. Patching, configuring, documenting, and monitoring is both foundational and vital to NYU’s success.
- Incorporate the new members and build the CIO Directs into a high-performing team. We have 3 new leaders joining NYU IT at the end of August. The current CIO Directs are also taking on different responsibilities and teams. They all have important responsibilities, but I am also looking for us to be a team that is more than the sum of its members—helping everyone be better at what they do.
- Create a culture in IT at NYU where NYU is seen as a great place to work and staff can contribute to their maximum potential. You have heard me say it before, but people are the key to our success. The better our people, and the stronger our teams, the more we can do for NYU.
- Strengthen the partnership between all IT departments across NYU delivering the maximum value to NYU from our federated IT organization. NYU is a complex institution. Aligning our IT efforts to provide the best information technology at the right cost isn’t easy, but NYU is depending on us.
- Improve the data environment so that the right people get access to the right data in a timely manner. This includes rationalizing the architecture, proactive data integration and respecting privacy. Data is the lifeblood of every organization today. If NYU is going to thrive, data must be available to everyone that should have access and they must use it.
- Continuously improve our ability to deliver projects, support our services, and be cost effective. Delivering cost-effective, high quality services and projects is table stakes for every IT organization. We can always get better at what we do.
As you lead your teams, I hope that understanding my priorities will help you create your goals, and the goals for your teams. When you do we’ll be better aligned, which of course is one of my priorities. As most of you programmers know, recursive algorithms can be very powerful!