Intended to assist Fed. agencies in maximizing the success of CIO. Principles and practices gleaned from the case studies presented in the guide offer concrete suggestions on what agency executives can do to ensure the effectiveness of their CIO org's. The guide does not address all of the responsibilities which fall to Fed. agency CIO -- only those which have parallels in the private sector. Rather than dwell on differences, the study shows that there is much common ground between public and private CIO org's. on which to build efforts for improvement. The specific key conditions and strategies described can be used as suggestions for Fed. CIO to apply or adapt to their environments.