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 chose a time horizon of 2017 – 10 years from the time of starting this blog.  That horizon appealed to me as it was 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 several consulting, research and executive education firms, including nGenera, IT Renaissance,  Formicio and Stryve Advisors.  Through those firms I participate in multi-company research projects, consult with global companies across many industries, and provide executive education and IT leadership development.  I also consult independently – mostly to CIO’s, CTO’s and to business executives trying to get more value from their investments in IT.

My favorite space to operate is at the intersection of business, IT and human talent – a challenging but fascinating place to be.  When these three aspects are in harmony, wonderful things happen!  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 63, 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 to the US initially for 12 months and fairly quickly decided to make this a permanent home.  I’m married (40 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 hobbies because I sometimes find interesting connections or insights from them – and they are my passions!

email me

19 Responses

  1. Mark from IT Management & Sourcing, on October 15, 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 16, 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 15, 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 14, 2008 at 4:16 pm Said:

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

    Reply
  6. Melinda, on July 28, 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 18, 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 3, 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 3, 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 21, 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 21, 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 22, 2009 at 6:29 am Said:

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

    Reply
  14. Hal Aney, on March 7, 2010 at 4:44 am Said:

    thanks, Keep up the Good work :)

    Reply
  15. McGee’s Musings : More from Dan Pink on the Science of Motivation and Purpose, on June 23, 2010 at 4:11 pm Said:

    [...] long-time friend (old is such an ugly word) Vaughn Merlyn at IT Organization Circa 2017 points to the following fascinating animation to a speech by Dan Pink [...]

    Reply
  16. Reality 2.0: Instant IT « Designing and Leading Instantly Responsive Organizations, on July 14, 2010 at 11:50 am Said:

    [...] on July 14, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized | My friend and former colleague, Vaughan Merlyn, wrote a blog about IT Leaders and the challenges they face as their organizations transition from [...]

    Reply
  17. Mike Bakewell, on July 18, 2010 at 5:23 am Said:

    Hello Vaughan
    It’s been a few years (maybe 43!!) I discovered your web blog and enjoyed the general comments; especially the continuing musical interest (remember the days when we used to tune into TOTP with Jimmy Saville on our car radios) .
    I felt I had to refute the notion both that I couldn’t write because I went to a coucil school and the other that we do not have any electricity here in Cornwall (where I retired after working for the Ministry of Defence in Plymouth).
    Anyway Warm Regards from an old friend and all the best.
    ‘Mickey’ Bakewell

    Reply
  18. itorganization2017, on July 18, 2010 at 8:22 am Said:

    Unbelievable! No, ‘Mickey’ – it’ been more than a few years. More, even than 43 – I reckon about 45 or 46 years!

    I am absolutely thrilled to hear from you. You would not believe how often your name comes up in my family. Gillian (do you remember her? We celebrate our 40th anniversary this year) will often mimic one of your phrases or gestures (“Length, hat pulled well down…”), or recall one of your escapades (the night the London Airport Bowl became the London Airport Owl). You gave me many chuckles as a kid, and continue to do so well into my later years – thanks for that!

    I will email so we can reconnect and perhaps reminisce about our misspent youth and things better not discussed on the Internet!

    Reply

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