As promised, each episode this season will also have a bonus TL;DR version from our favorite bots over at NLM or from whatever we currently feel is most bot-worthy. And this week, those crazy bots are at it again.

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In this episode Mike and I continue on the path of IT Leadership and Autonomy with a focus on establishing clear boundaries and principles for how IT Leaders conduct the delicate balance of decision-making. This episode explores how to balance autonomy, risk, innovation, and productivity while maintaining meaningful principles that survive real-world challenges. Learn about the essential qualities of effective boundaries, including the importance of unambiguous criteria, actionable guidelines, and evolving standards. The hosts share practical experiences and frameworks for creating principles that work in the trenches, not just in PowerPoint decks. Plus, catch the latest IT leadership job updates in the Boston area. This episode is Part 1 and next week we will be on location at Trillium in the Seaport for an episode on Security but then back on April 2nd with Part 2 of this episode. Stay tuned!

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The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
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Every now and again Mike and I like to step aside and discuss some of the external impacts on being an IT Leader (and also just being a human trying to keep one's shit together in this day and age.)

Next week, we will be back to dive into the rest of the season. We will start with some heavy-duty stuff in episodes 7 and 8, so before we get there, we wanted to take a moment to discuss the importance of reflection, particularly for IT Leaders. It's fair to say that Mike and I each have some overlapping methods for reflective time but also manage to squeeze it in in our own ways. We hope that you can take away some inspiration for creating your own reflection time.

Enjoy the moment, don't stress too much about the global dumpster fire, and we will be back next week.

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
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So much research went into preparing for Season 2 and there was no practical way to really call out all of the best articles and papers we read. There are a few that really stand out however, and we wanted to highlight one of those tonight in a special Calculus of IT Jort.

In this Jort, Mike and I took some time to discuss an article by Adrian Mengay (from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany). The article is entitled: "Digitalization of Work and Heteronomy". From the abstract:

Digitalization has two very different effects on work. On the one hand, it leads to a re-Taylorization of work, de-qualification and a loss of workers autonomy. On the other hand, digitalization of work leads to new forms of indirect control and algorithmic control that can be used to manage and instrumentalize the supposed autonomy of workers to actually enable an unequal and exploitative labour process. This article discusses the questions of heteronomy related to the digitalization of work, presents central aspects of new forms of control (direct, indirect, and algorithmic) and explains why formalization, data centred decision making and flexible structures are used to control the labour process and improve
heteronomy of work.

If interested, you can download a copy here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0309816820904032. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the Jort!!

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Youtube - @thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us

So much research went into preparing for Season 2 and there was no practical way to really call out all of the best articles and papers we read. There are a few that really stand out however, and we wanted to highlight one of those tonight in a special Calculus of IT Jort.

In this Jort, Mike and I took some time to discuss an article by Lambèr Royakkers (from the School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Rinie van Est (from the Rathenau Instituut, The Netherlands & Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands). The article is entitled: "The New Digital Wave of Rationalization: A Loss of Autonomy". From the abstract:

The new wave of digitization and the ensuing cybernetic loop lead to the fact that biological, social, and cognitive processes can be understood in terms of information processes and systems, and thus digitally programmed and controlled. Digital control offers society and the individuals in that society a multitude of opportunities, but also brings new social and ethical challenges. Important public values are at stake, closely linked to fundamental and human rights. This paper focuses on the public value of autonomy, and shows that digitization—by analysis and application of data—can have a profound effect on this value in all sorts of aspects in our lives: in our material, biological, and socio-cultural lives. Since the supervision of autonomy is hardly organized, we need to clarify through reflection and joint debate about what kind of control and human qualities we do not want to lose in the digital future.

If interested, you can purchase a copy here: https://www.igi-global.com/article/the-new-digital-wave-of-rationalization/258848. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the Jort!!

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Youtube - @thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us

As promised, each episode this season will also have a bonus TL;DR version from our favorite bots over at NLM or from whatever we currently feel is most bot-worthy. And this week, those crazy bots are at it again.

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Youtube - @thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us

In Episode 6 of The Calculus of IT, we tackle a critical challenge: How do you create technical diversity without unleashing chaos? Joined by special guest Kevin Dushney, Mike and I explore the delicate balance between maintaining technological flexibility and preventing system sprawl. We dive into the "pendulum swing of standardization," discuss how to build sustainable technological diversity, and examine ways to measure success through diversity health indicators.

From establishing clear system boundaries to managing vendor relationships, we share practical strategies for maintaining technological independence while avoiding the pitfalls of both rigid standardization and unchecked chaos. Plus, we explore why sometimes a little chaos might not be such a bad thing - as long as you know how to manage it.

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Youtube - @thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us

As promised, each episode this season will also have a bonus TL;DR version from our favorite bots over at NLM or from whatever we currently feel is most bot-worthy. And this week those crazy bots are at it again.

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Youtube - @thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us