It was with a deep sense of disappointment that TechPro had to report on the resignation of the government CIO (GCIO), Michael McGrath.
As we had led the news section in the last issue with a major interview with McGrath, which was to have been the first in a quarterly series, we were hopeful that the silly ‘interim’ bit of his title would be dispensed with and that he would be free to implement the ICT strategy he and his department had set out.
Alas, that was not to be and on 5 May, TechCentral.ie exclusively reported that McGrath had indeed resigned. Rumours and whispers of various reasons and motivations have circled since, but it is not for this column to delve into such things, impossible to verify as they are.
“The job has been advertised on publicjobs.ie, and an information booklet contains the job specification”
Given the timing, it is highly unlikely we will see a new appointee before the general election next year. That also means that it is unlikely that the ICT strategy will see any significant movement in the meantime. Despite the fact that McGrath told TechPro in the interview that the immediate focus was for the infrastructure to enable shared services, it hardly seems likely now that much more will be undertaken without the leadership of the GCIO.
“Over the next few months the big priority is on the build to share piece. That has three legs to it,” said McGrath. “It has the application piece around common applications, and some of that we already have in place because we have built a number of common government applications like parliamentary questions systems, and we are starting to look at how we can share those with other departments.
A lot done
“We have done a lot of work, which probably isn’t well publicised, around the government networks, which is the second piece.”
Looking forward, the job has been advertised on publicjobs.ie, and an information booklet contains the job specification.
Rather than focus on the negative, we thought it would be worth a look to see specifically, what the government is now looking for.
The document opens by saying: “The Irish Public Service is undergoing the largest change programme ever initiated in this country. The Service has a long history, proud tradition and proven ability to deliver innovative and influential services to its market.
“This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professional to implement a major change programme, provide guidance and leadership at the executive level across the entire IT spectrum and to ultimately take responsibility for the implementation of the ICT strategy for Government and the wider public service.”
The cynics among us could not help but temper this optimism with the fact that two highly qualified professionals have left the post within the last two years.
Responsibility and stewardship
The spec sheet then goes on to give an overview of the role, which “will have responsibility and stewardship to implement the strategy to ensure that all opportunities for ICT consolidation, eGovernment, Cloud Computing, Government Networks, open and data sharing and Shared Services are developed in an integrated manner”.
One point of note was that the spec sheets says that the “successful candidate will lead the CIO Council in the strategy implementation and will be responsible for all IT operations currently undertaken by the Office of the Government Chief Information Office (OGCIO)”.
McGrath said, when talking about data sharing, that classification would be the first thing to tackle. He said that this process would be informed by the CIO Council.
“We will work with the CIO Council to try to establish … what constitutes the different levels of classification of data,” said McGrath. This sounded a little less like leadership and a lot more like partnership.
Another point of note was a paragraph about advising the Government.
“The successful candidate will provide the Government with advice, information and positive strategy in relation to the development of Information Systems and information assets.”
Visionary elements
While one might say, well this is merely stating the obvious, it is worth bearing in mind the visionary elements that this role entails, to anticipate and identify emerging technologies and to offer direction and insights as to how ICT can deliver better services. The GCIO role is not that of an IT manager.
That said, the very next line, “The portfolio of responsibilities may be changed or broadened at the discretion of the Secretary General,” does have some ominous undertones insofar as it leaves the door open to having the role contracted, as well as expanded.
Finally, there is a requirement for the GCIO to “continuously market the ICT strategy”, and to “represent the Government at national, European and international fora as appropriate”. These are key functions of the corporate CIO, as they must continually bring people onboard with ICT programmes and direction to ensure support and buy-in.
For the GCIO, these functions are no less important, and, one might argue, are perhaps more difficult as the office of the GCIO is responsible for ICT implementation over a far broader range of government departments, institutes and public bodies. Therefore, the sheer diversity of people and interests that the GCIO must deal with requires an even more skilled hand than the corporate CIO.
No surprises
It is safe to say that while the GCIO spec sheet contains no real surprises, it also reinforces the core aspects of the role as not only implementer and general driver of strategy, but also the visionary and advisor who can help shape not only future direction, but also general policy for the Government when it comes ICT.
One can only hope in all of this that a suitable candidate can be found, in a timely fashion and under such terms as can ensure a lengthy stay that will at least see the current ICT strategy implemented. There is a vague hope that a candidate would be appointed sooner rather than later, before the next election. The technical nature of the role would hopefully ensure that any new GCIO would be seen as beyond a political appointee and be left alone by whatever new government takes over after the next election, to get on with doing the job.
Here’s hoping.
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