I've heard David bring up the CEO complaint when he lectured at the BrainStorm's SOA Conference I co-Chaired. I bought into the complaint as I'm sure many do as it seems reasonable, until I started really selling SOA as a part of my products. It is only then that you see the awkward positions the CIO is placed in by improperly funded projects and irrational expectations.
Albeit, the IT staff does not do itself any favors when it's fears of losing control (perhaps jobs) responds to one of these situations with, "we can do that internally, we don't need help." However, a good majority of the time, IT wants to do the right thing, but their recommendations on what it would take are overlooked and the burden is placed on an unprepared team to deliver what they are not capable of delivering due to staff size, talent, skills, etc.
'nuff preachin'! Here's my response to David.
There are few (if any) opportunities for productivity increases in the 21st century that will not have some aspect of technology associated with it. That is, C-level executives need to make business decisions and realize that some aspect of that decision will incorporate a technology component. The fact that a business opportunity should be derailed or overlooked because of fear that the technology component is too complex, cannot be supported by current staff or is unavailable is irrational fear. Plain and simple, it's a mathematical equation, if cost of final solution to build, implement, deploy, maintain gains measurable costs savings inclusive of the technology costs or generates revenue in similar manner, then find a way to execute and stop blaming IT for not meeting expectations. It's the C-level executives responsibility to ensure that the right funding is in place to execute the plan, put the right team in place and get the mission accomplished.
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