About Vaughan Merlyn

JESH9370 modifiedHi, I’m Vaughan Merlyn, management consultant, researcher, and occasional author.  My primary focus for the last 35 years or so has been and continues to be the use of information and information technology (IT) for business value.

This blog explores the realm of the IT organization in large (Fortune 500 class) companies, and how that realm is changing.  I’ve chosen a time horizon of 10 years (2017) based upon the fact that it’s far enough away to allow the imagination a little freedom, close enough to be real and relevant, and, selfishly, spans the final stage of my career (at least, according to actuarial statistics!)

I’m affiliated with nGenera.   In that role, I participate in multi-company research projects, consult with global companies, across many industries, and provide Executive Education.  I also consult independently – mostly to CIO’s, CTO’s and to business executives trying to get more value from their investments in IT.

I operate at the intersection of business, IT and people – a challenging but fascinating place to be.  When these three aspects are in harmony, wonderful things happen for all stakeholders.  More commonly, progress is a constant struggle to bring them into harmony.  That struggle is often characterized by dysfunction, tension, and stress for the people (I don’t think technology or process can feel stress, but they sure can cause it for the people that use them or their outputs!)

I’m 62, male, living in the United States, (Roswell, GA) although I was born and grew up in London, England, and moved to the US in 1978.  I came initially for 12 months, and fairly quickly decided to make this a permanent home.  I’m married (39 years!) with a grown up daughter.  I’m also an amateur (very) musician and keen scuba diver.  From time to time I will digress to my hobby passions because I sometimes find interesting connections or insights from them.

email me

14 Responses

  1. Mark from IT Management & Sourcing, on October 15th, 2007 at 8:48 pm Said:

    Liked your posts. Would be helpful if you had a feed to your blog.

    -Mark.

    Reply
  2. itorganization2017, on October 16th, 2007 at 11:56 am Said:

    Thank you Mark – I will add a feed – I’m new to this blog thing, and wanted to run a few weeks to get the feel, and prove to myself I can sustain this. I’m now tuned into your excellent blog – thanks for that also!

    Reply
  3. McGee’s Musings : New blog on IT organization issues, on February 15th, 2008 at 6:45 pm Said:

    [...] old friend and former colleague, Vaughan Merlyn, started blogging a few months back, which I discovered  by way of other old friend and former [...]

    Reply
  5. Recession and Business-IT Maturity «, on May 14th, 2008 at 4:16 pm Said:

    [...] Vaughan Merlyn, Executive Vice President of [...]

    Reply
  6. Melinda, on July 28th, 2008 at 10:58 am Said:

    Vaughan, enjoyed reading your post about your experience with Mindjet. We’d love to feature you in our customer pages on our site with a link back to your blog. I invite you to get in touch with me if you are interested. Thanks for a great story!

    Reply
  7. Mike, on October 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm Said:

    Hi from an old colleague — knew you when I was at E&Y in Toronto and you were attached to CITAS in Boston. Great to see your thoughts again, Vaughan. Glad you are doing well.

    Reply
  8. Janis Jesse, on February 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 am Said:

    Vaughn, I worked with you at International Paper a few years ago. Good to see you in this environment.
    Hope nGenera is doing well.

    Reply
  9. itorganization2017, on February 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 am Said:

    Hi, Janis – good to hear from you, and thanks for checking in. I remember you well, and the good work we all did together. I am fine – still very busy! I hope you are well.

    Reply
  11. ilearn, on October 21st, 2009 at 11:16 pm Said:

    Hi Vaugh,
    Your blog has information and practical wisdom presented in a very lucid manner.

    “IT as a Service” and “IT for Business Value” are the new mantras in the industry with all the ITIL and ITSM hype going on. You have been professing it for more than a decade, I guess!

    With best wishes,

    i.Learn

    Reply
  12. ilearn, on October 21st, 2009 at 11:18 pm Said:

    hi,
    I am interested to read your articles, writings on “Agile” SCRUM methodology in Project Management.

    Thanks
    i.learn

    Reply
  13. itorganization2017, on October 22nd, 2009 at 6:29 am Said:

    Thanks for the comments, i..learn! I will post on Agile/SCRUM methodology soon – great suggestion – thanks!

    Reply

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