How to pronounce “fried”(noun) in English

Ed Yourden: Not at play, just at work.Ben Fried: Yeah, that would be a much shorter book.Ben Fried: So, anyway, a little bit about Ed for those of you, who might not know, might not have heard about him.

Ben Fried: Yeah, that would be a much shorter book.Ben Fried: So, anyway, a little bit about Ed for those of you, who might not know, might not have heard about him.Ed has been in the computing industry for over 40 years.

I would have some prime questions for the CIO of the place that does the SATs, but thatís a different matter.Ben Fried: And, you know, perhaps not least the CIO of Google is also one of the interviews.Anyways, a fascinating read, a very quick read, I recommend it.

But there are a lot of ñ.Ben Fried: Oh, I do.Ed Yourden: Well thatís your problem.

completely new opportunities in areas theyíre not doing at all right now.Ben Fried: So one of the things Iím really excited about the opportunity to interview you is, unlike some of your previous works, yoursis a much quieter voice in the sense that youíre attempting, your voice as the interviewer as opposed to add a commentary, and a commentary

competitive job at businesses they were already in.Ben Fried: Now are the differences in these IT organizations and CIO roles and functions of the organization age or culture or industry?Ed Yourden: To me it was more age and size than anything else.

It means the CIO, someone like your age is likely to be someone in their 60s and who vividly remembers what it was like 40 or 50 years ago.Ben Fried: So I guess given such diversity and differences in age companies, is there some kind of conventional path for these people that they follow to have gotten into theseat that theyíre in?

And I got a lot of wishy washy answers, not a lot of--.Ben Fried: One of the surprising things that I saw was that Tony Scott, the CIO of Microsoft, previously of Disney and CTO of General Motors, or maybe divisional CTO ofGeneral Motors, Iím not really sure and so on, his degree is in parks and recreation.

Usually unwittingly or even unknowingly but somebody who really set them on the path that ultimately led them to a CIO position.Ben Fried: So you talked about kind of the surprises that you encountered in the book, in researching the book.What were the other surprises, the unexpected, that came out through the interviews?

that really occurred to me the most.Ben Fried: What were the, I guess the, so it sounds like youíre saying that the biggestthing the CIOs have in common is this operational responsibility, is that true?

But in any case, security was the single area of convergence.Ben Fried: Now, on the subject of this cocktail party, Iíve hypothesized that it might actually not be such a spectacular event because I think a lot of people tend to think ofIT and us CIOs as being cautious, conservative, slow moving, ergo not such a successful cocktail party, perhaps.

So that just tends to make them very cautious and conservative, I think.Ben Fried: Yeah, I mean, the next question that I have is one that I struggle with a lot.I donít know if youíre a fan of old comic books, in the first issue of detective comics, Bruce Wayne has decided to become a super hero

I donít know if youíre a fan of old comic books, in the first issue of detective comics, Bruce Wayne has decided to become a super heroBen Fried: And heís sitting under a window contemplating what his approach to crime fighting will be and a bat flies through the enormous gothic window of his, of Wayne mansion.And he says, ìThatís it.

thought that phrase, not always, but Iíve come to realize that maybe that phrase, ìCriminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot,î could also be applied to CIOs.Ben Fried: Whether thatís a deep comment on my own psyche or not, Iíll leave it to the audience to determine.Ben Fried: I think the kind of existential question that I actually have is, you know, technology is such a fundamental source of disruption, right?

Ben Fried: Whether thatís a deep comment on my own psyche or not, Iíll leave it to the audience to determine.Ben Fried: I think the kind of existential question that I actually have is, you know, technology is such a fundamental source of disruption, right?Computer information technology is such a fundamental source of disruption.

And I think you had generations of technology-based companies that were rebellious and disruptive and so on when they began but then after a couple of decades, well, look at Microsoft.Ben Fried: They became established, right?They're part of the firmament.

But now theyíve got a culture that they will fight tooth and nail to protect and defend.Ben Fried: Thatís fascinating, the kind of, the bureaucratic inertia is incredible, an incredible force isnít it, inside these large organizations.Ed Yourden: And yet, there are some tidal forces that they seem to be very much aware of and very much behind.

indefinitely. Now, that probably doesnít mean anything to you guys cause itís been true your entire lives.Ben Fried: Howís that gonna happen?We canít scale a clock frequency Ed Yourden: But hereís whatís important, again, imagine a CIO who is in his mid 60ís

What if that should stop being true someday, then what?Ben Fried: Wow. Ed Yourden: Thereís a metaphysical question.Ben Fried: Yeah. Then all those algorithms become real important when you canít just rely on faster clock speed and slower dies, smaller dies, etcetera.

Ben Fried: Wow. Ed Yourden: Thereís a metaphysical question.Ben Fried: Yeah. Then all those algorithms become real important when you canít just rely on faster clock speed and slower dies, smaller dies, etcetera.So hereís an unknown unknowns kind of question for you.

One of the questions I asked several of the CIOs is whether they heard of this phenomenon of groups of college graduates applying for a job en masse.Ben Fried: As in we were a team in college, we wanna be a team at our first employer.Ed Yourden: Itís either all of us or none of us.

Ed Yourden: Itís either all of us or none of us.Ben Fried: Yeah. Ed Yourden: Almost every CIO that I asked that question gave me a knee jerk reaction.Ben Fried: Like I would never want that.

Ben Fried: Yeah. Ed Yourden: Almost every CIO that I asked that question gave me a knee jerk reaction.Ben Fried: Like I would never want that.I would never wanna hire them.

And you were guaranteed to get attention when you were 65 if you were still alive.Ben Fried: Guaranteed benefit pension, I would add.Ed Yourden: But that all disappeared ten or twenty years later.

And now itís coming back in some organizations but not in most, I think.Ben Fried: So, I had a great question on the tip of my tongue and of course the eloquence of your answer wiped it from my mind.Ben Fried: Oh, I know what it is, so although the social contract might have been something you did not hear much of, Paul Strassman, Paul Strassman, right?

Ben Fried: So, I had a great question on the tip of my tongue and of course the eloquence of your answer wiped it from my mind.Ben Fried: Oh, I know what it is, so although the social contract might have been something you did not hear much of, Paul Strassman, Paul Strassman, right?From NASA and a story, been the CIO for like 50 years or something like that?

the changes and capital structure versus Ed Yourden: I didnít see that come up.Ben Fried: as opposed to staffing come up?Ed Yourden: It didnít.

But I think that still is a major factor driving a lot of companies today.Ben Fried: Certainly if you believe in free trade then ultimately you believe that the cost of labor is gonna equalize over time, right?I believe, from my scattered reading of the Economist thatís kind of one of the principles.

I believe, from my scattered reading of the Economist thatís kind of one of the principles.Ben Fried: Is that ultimately thereíll be equalization, right?Ed Yourden: Yeah. And by the way, youíve reminded me of a thing that didnít come up for conversation very often and whenever it did I wasnít sure I trusted the kind of glib

ìOh yeah, itís important.î And I didnít feel that there was anything behind that.Ben Fried: Do you think that, um, CIOs, especially at larger more established companies,are they close enough to the domain, to technology anymore?

thatís true for digital photography itís true for any number of other things.Ben Fried: Is that emergence the rise of free, accountable for the rise of free software or is that a function of, is that yet another one of the ways that technologyís servingconsumers first is kind of different from the past?

Ed Yourden: Yeah, yeah.Ben Fried: So, along the subject of change, based on whatís happened since you started the book, for example, based on what you learned by writing it, are there questions you wishyou had asked but didnít?

I knew that some CIOs would be embarrassed.Ben Fried: I think heís no long there.Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Yeah, they changed CIOs recently.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Oh, right, what was that, what was it the floor mats?

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Brake pedal?

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Right cause it turned out the brake pedal or that accelerator doesnít actually control the flow of gas.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Iím not the right person to ask but apparently its multiple servos and AD converters and so on and low level controller

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Thereís been these other interesting examples like, that speaks kind of similarly to that.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: And probably some nation state introduced this software attack Ben Fried: into these things that actually permanently damaged these difficult to obtain

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: I donít think my next CIO job will be in Iran.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Yeah. Oh yeah, thatís right, failure to launch.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Yeah. Ed Yourden: So that we ought to scale down our expectations and do very simple things.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: So was there a CIO you wish you couldíve interviewed but didnít?

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: cars and how it works and how you can get in the control systems from the peripheral systems.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Yeah. Ed Yourden: But thereís always time for another book Ben Fried: Yeah, well Iím glad to hear it.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Alright, a brave man.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: Yeah. Thank you.

Ed Yourden: Oh, is that right?Ben Fried: So I thought, Iím sorry did you have a follow up question?