Niel Nickolaisen, CIO, Headwaters, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT

Let’s face it, we have all suffered from the tyranny of meaningless metrics. Metrics that are imposed on us as a means to ensure that we are being productive and busy. In this “whiteboard” presentation, Niel Nickolaisen describes a pragmatic approach for finding and using meaningful metrics – metrics that promote accomplishment over activity – as an alternative to meaningless metrics. Niel gives examples as he describes the characteristics of meaningful metrics and then asks the audience to apply these characteristics to their roles so that they can walk away with at least one meaningful metric they can use in their jobs and for their projects.

About Niel

Niel Nickolaisen is the CIO and Director of Strategic Planning at Headwaters, Inc. He has held technology executive and operations executive positions; typically in turnaround roles. He has developed a strategic and tactical alignment model that significantly improves returns on technology and business initiatives (by both improving the benefits and reducing the costs and risks). He writes the “Practical CIO” column for the CIO Leadership Network and a “how to” column for Search CIO. He is the author of an Addison Wesley book on Leadership scheduled for release in 2009. CRN Magazine named Niel one of the top 25 IT Executives of 2008. Niel is also one of the founders of Accelinnova, a think tank focused on improving organizational and IT agility.