Written from inside the chair.
Twenty-five years of local government CIO experience. One book. A growing body of writing for the people doing the work.
A CIO from a much larger county pulled me aside at a conference and asked how an organization our size was doing what we were doing. Smaller team. Smaller budget. Better outcomes on the work that mattered.
I didn't have a clean answer for him that day. I do now.
The answer is in the book. It's in the articles. And it's why this site exists.
The companion reading & field guide.
The reading list I'd hand a new CIO over coffee.
WHY THIS SITE EXISTS
Most leadership writing for IT is written by consultants, vendors, or academics. It's useful in pieces. But it isn't written by someone who has sat in the chair, owned the budget, answered to the Board, and gotten the call at 2 a.m. when something broke.
This site is for the people in the chair. Your community is counting on you, even if they don't know it. Your team is counting on you. Your peers across the country are counting on the fact that someone, somewhere, figured out how to do this well and is willing to share it.
Leading Local Government IT
One useful idea for local government tech leaders, every other week.
Steve Monaghan
Held four concurrent roles across 25 years in California local government: agency director, CIO, emergency services director, and procurement officer. A GovTech Top 25 honoree, he created the HPG-IT Framework and advises the govtech AI company Ladris. CGCIO, CGEIT, CRISC, CISA. Instructor at the CSAC Institute for Excellence in County Government.
The work is hard. The stakes are real. The reward is an agency that runs better because you showed up and did the work well.
Now go build something that matters.
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