In the early days of online courses, a widespread production model was to provide faculty members with release time and/or stipends in return for developing and delivering their own courses. These early online courses were developed by a cadre of faculty "zealots" who believed that information technology could transform learning. Such faculty were willing--and able--to master the required skills, whether that meant learning Java, HTML, or a graphics package. Often re-creating the lecture, the resulting courses frequently had an idiosyncratic structure and might--or might not--use good instructional design. This often meant figuring things out alone, so solutions were stitched together with whatever resources were available to the faculty member. Today, developing and delivering an online course requires numerous and varied skills--skills that are more likely to be found in an "executive team" rather than a single individual. For any institution that wants to develop and deliver online courses, the author suggests that members of the executive team should ask themselves the following strategic questions: (1) What is the best use of the faculty member?; (2) Is there a process for strategically investing in course development?; (3) Is providing content being confused with creating a learning environment or delivering a course?; and (4) What is expected return from the investment in course development?