Global CIO: The $200-Million-A-Day Man: Our New Federal CIOGlobal CIO: The $200-Million-A-Day Man: Our New Federal CIO

Follow-up to Question #4: "If not, can your cost-control pledges be taken seriously?" Your new position puts you in charge of overseeing a $71 billion budget, and in your first day on the job you've said all sort of cozy things about line-by-line scrutiny, ensuring every penny is spent wisely, etc., etc. You've also said you will get tough on contractors that are overcharging the government or failing to live up to their commitments. So unless it's a waste of time to do that line-by-line exercise, and unless you expect to find that all of those contractors are, in fact, undercharging the government, and unless all of the various federal agencies already are collaborating perfectly to squeeze the most value out of every penny, then you've already committed to cutting IT expenses, right? So man up and tell the country that you will somehow find a way to scrimp by on a measly $50 billion for the year: $137 million per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you take that bold step, I hope you'll forgive private-sector CIOs if they don't shed any tears for your newly impoverished condition ($50 billion!); however, such a move would no doubt inspire them to be much more open to sharing ideas, opportunities, best practices, and contacts with you. Conversely, if you determine that the government just can't function without burning through $200 million every single day on IT expenditures, then don't be surprised if the majority of people outside the Beltway take you less than seriously. As with CIOs everywhere, you'll be judged by what you achieve, not by what you say.

Follow-up to Question #5: "Who are your customers?" Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporations in the world and is a model of IT efficiency along with the entire company's commitment to transparent, highly visible accountability to shareholders, customers, and employees. For you and your team, Wal-Mart could serve as a tremendous example of a customer-centric philosophy and execution -- please see this superb article for some specific examples. Who, then, will your customers be? Whose wants and needs will keep you up at night: those of the taxpayers? Or those of the big shots at Health and Human Services and the Commerce Department and Social Security Administration and the pharma czarma? Whose interests do you serve -- those of the citizens of this country, or those of the geniuses who collectively burn through $200 million every single day running IT projects that are not exactly, how shall we say, best in class? Here's where your talk about transparency and visibility can carry some weight, Mr. Kundra: Whose interests are your primary concern? Who are your customers? For $200 million a day, the American people have every right to a clear and unambiguous answer.

Follow-up to Question #6: "By what metrics will those customers be able to measure your performance?" Web sites like Data.gov are swell ideas, and your advocacy for improving "citizen participation" sounds nice, but how will Americans be able to measure whether your citizen wiki or related projects are doing any good? Whether they're creating any value? Whether they're worth $200 million a day or $2 million a day? Americans already can participate online by contacting their Congressional representatives, filing federal taxes, looking up things like Social Security regulations, and checking the FDA site to see how many green, orange, red, and yellow things the government says they're supposed to eat every day. So what is this greater "citizen participation" you speak of -- how about some tangible examples? Or how about some of the giant sinkhole projects that are littering the federal landscape -- which one or two will you focus on first, and how will your performance relative to those projects be measured? You and your colleagues have talked a great deal about visibility and transparency, so in the interests of that clarity, please share five to 10 criteria by which the public can measure your performance. And also explain the "citizen participation" means through which Americans can share their evaluations of your performance directly with you. CIOs aren't tiny cogs in some giant wheel -- they and you are highly strategic leaders who need to be accountable for strategy, execution, priorities, and, most of all, performance. Unless you give the country tangible ways to gauge your performance, nobody outside of the Washington bubble will give two cents who you are or what you're trying to do -- you'll just be one more mostly oblivious chair-warmer who grinds through staggering amounts of money ($200 million a day, in case I haven't mentioned that) while shouldering zero accountability for the results. But when that happens, you'll find that your controlling auspices within the White House or OMB won't give you and your agenda the time of day -- after all, if the electorate doesn't know and doesn't care who you are and what you do, why would the poll-driven political animals you work among give a hoot? You'll be as about as relevant as the Pittsburgh Pirates at playoff time (they haven't participated since 1992).

One final thought:

As my colleague Rob Preston said earlier, please don't call yourself, or let anyone else call you, a "czar." Those tyrants went out of favor in a rather violent way about 100 years ago and they haven't exactly made a big comeback anywhere since then. You also might want to avoid Kommissar, Dear Leader, CIO-for-Life, and Supreme Ruler. CIO's a great title -- stick with that. And best of luck.