Can someone in IT who's been here a long time explain what the problem really is in your opinion and if there's a way out of our current problematic situation or is it a lost cause. I'm genuinely curious. I've heard some takes but looking for a more convincing answer.
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They are going to need mid to high 9 figure spend to mitigate the long-term lack of investment in technology both on the back end and in the stores. That is not going to happen overnight.
Our CEO has reported persistent issues with the in-store Photo solution being down all the time. It would be valuable to conduct a comprehensive review to identify the root causes of these ongoing problems. We should also investigate how senior management's understanding and strategic oversight of this division can be enhanced to ensure more effective support.
@rm 100% agree. Hsiao was completely unqualified to be a leader, let alone a CIO. So man horrific stories have been shared about his staff meetings. Cringe sessions as the were referred to.
Both Hsiao and Neal were terrible CIOs.
@ph Bingo! BA was spot on. Too many testimonies about Hsiao prove he was a pure train wreck even prior to WAG. Who is the new CIO at this point....plenty of good choices out there, but the last two were simply horrible.
@q1 Seriously??!!! I worked at WAG during the Hsiao era, and the stories are endless. Absolutely zero communication skills. Lead by insult, CCP principles, and confusion (most times no one knew what he was even talking about). His overall strategy was to hire 500+ engineers so WAG could compete with Amazon....oh, and personally interview every new IT hire. A squirrel has more critical thinking and leadership skills. He is / was not ever qualified to be a CIO, that's an insult to CIOs everywhere.
@ph Looking back on Wag last CIOs, Hsiao is the only one trying to fix IT issues. But he tried too hard, too soon. And impacted people don’t like him. new CIO may be more concerned now.
Walgreens did a poor job in hiring CIOs. Incompetence of these terrible leaders is the biggest reason for the current state of IT. The last CIO came to Walgreens, spent money partying with the friends he hired and then left. He was better at stand-up comedy than leading IT. No surprise Walgreens IT is getting worse.
much of it comes from Hsiao Wang, these 2 articles cover some of the back story and his track record before he came to walgreens
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/walgreens-world-hurt-its-theyre-own-fault-brittain-ladd/
https://brittainladd.com/sheer-folly-the-inside-story-of-michaels-failed-it-transformation/?no_cache=1697587758
Chesterton's Fence is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood, originating from a 1929 story by G.K. Chesterton about a fence whose purpose a reformer fails to see. Before removing a fence, institution, law, or custom, one must first understand why it was put there to avoid removing something important or causing unintended consequences.
Whats the problamatic situation you are referring to?
TCS quotes 3 times of necessity hours on any project. And we are Okay with it.
@OP Walgreens technology, at least regarding pharmacy, is garbage. Dated and unreliable. It will be interesting to see whether Sycamore actually invests a dime in upgrades or continues with temporary and ineffective bandaid fixes. Maybe they can use that holiday pay money they're taking from the employees and use that for new tech.
They fired everyone who knew how everything worked, so now when we have projects to change anything we have to hire an army of people offshore so they can study 25 years of accumulated technical decisions to figure out how they can do anything without breaking something else.