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The Information Paradox
Book

The Information Paradox

Realizing the Business Benefits of Information Technology

John Thorp
McGraw-Hill, 1996

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

John Thorp’s book recalls Mark Twain’s definition of a classic as "a book you want to have read but don’t want to read." If you’re an executive with control over your company’s information technology purse stings, you probably don’t want to read a book this detailed in the intricacies of IT, which is exactly the reason that you should. Thorp’s initial premise is that many IT investments never pan out in part because the people that are signing off on them have absolutely no idea what to expect. This book will give you a clue, but don’t expect to enjoy it. It’s dense with IT terminology, change and program management strategies and valuation techniques. getabstract recommends this book to all of you professionals who know that you need a better understanding of information technology, even if you won’t admit it. Don’t put off reading this book, no matter how much you’d like to.

Take-Aways

  • The executives who make most information technology (IT) investments have no idea of the expected return and no means of measuring it.
  • A few organizations succeed at implementing IT changes, but most have only sporadic success with vital information initiatives.
  • Any IT investment should be part of a portfolio of change initiatives.

About the Author

John Thorp is vice president of the DMR Consulting Group’s Strategic Consulting Practice. He is a management consultant and frequent speaker with more than 35 years of IT experience. DMR is a leading provider of IT services to businesses and other organizations. Thorp lives in Victoria, B.C., Canada.

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    g. h. 1 decade ago
    The summary was well written and organized, but having read this book before reading the summary, I was suprised, and disappointed, that the summary left out a few key concepts from the book which in my opinion shoud have been included in the summary. The summary reads as though it's focused on project and or portfolio management (PPM), when in fact PPM is only one component mentioned. The book is about maximimizing IT's contribution to the organization and how to re-focus IT investments with business strategy. In addition, to focus on continuous improvement using the Four Ares which was never mentioned in the summary.