Resources for executives learning about IT industry?

March 19, 2014 7:50 AM

My boss has asked me to help him find some introduction-level resources to understand modern IT industry fundamentals (cloud computing, modern storage technologies, security, system architecture, etc.) from a management standpoint. I have a good handle on the technical side, but I'm not sure where to look for the basics. What resources would be a good introduction? Web sites are most helpful, free or paywalled okay.
posted by pocams to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

It would be really helpful to know what your company makes - is it online services, mobile services, shrink-wrap software, scientific research, or just IT as a support function? Is scalability a major concern?

If it's an online service, what about this online course from MIT? Not entirely intro-level but you could help him/her through the technical parts.

[...] The goal is to give students some experience in dealing with those challenges that are unique to Internet applications, such as:

• concurrency;
• unpredictable load;
• security risks;
• opportunity for wide-area distributed computing;
• creating a reliable and stateful user experience on top of unreliable connections and stateless protocols;
• extreme requirements and absurd development schedules;
• requirements that change mid-way through a project, sometimes because of experience gained from testing with users;
• user demands for a multi-modal interface.

posted by rada at 9:58 AM on March 19, 2014

Best answer: I'd start off by searching for articles on Economist.com and HBR.org, which will throw you up things like this:

What Every CEO Needs to Know About the Cloud

If he has enough of a need and budget, he could sign up with someone like Gartner to get access to a lot more detailed reports, like these.
posted by philipy at 11:14 AM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Philipby has a good recommendation with Gartner. The Economist isn't bad either but I would get your boss registered at Infoworld.com and informationweek.com and download their papers. You might get some value out of the papers too. You can pre-screen and sequence for him/her.
I guarantee some of the papers will be what you are looking for.
posted by PickeringPete at 3:34 PM on March 19, 2014