Usability Project: Staples Web Presence

Staples employs design principles and user segmentation to drive usability makeover to its web presence --- seeing it through their customers' eyes. ...

... "the multichannel office supply merchant undertook its largest IT project ever in mid-2002 with the goal of improving its Web site's usability " ...

Via DM News: Staples IT Project

SAP Hacks Oracle Computers For ERP Software

SAP support subsidiary, an ex-Peoplesoft support team, takes advantage of access to Oracle computers through support clients to download sensitive materials. ...

... "Oracle Corp. on Thursday accused SAP AG of hacking into its computers to heist secret product information in a lawsuit that escalates ... " ...

Via Houston Chronicle: SAP Hacks

IT Project EQ Business Project 4 Heineken

Heineken Ireland implement CRM project successfully with business in the lead. Local IT manager grapples with common IT challenges, such as security, vendor consolidation, outsourcing, etc. ...

... "For Heineken Ireland it was the first real acceptance by the business that something like this wasn't an IT project. It was a business project with a strong piece of IT in it, says Manning, careful to make the distinction. " ...

Via SiliconRepublic: Tech Decisions Pay Off

Business Project: Extract Value

Healthcare IT project seeks to integrate and standardize operations, while the business is on-the-hook for realizing the value. ...

... "The infrastructure goes live in April with users being migrated shortly after. Then comes the job of extracting value, which Mayo-Smith says is not an IT project but a business project. " ...

Via Computerworld: IT Role in Integrated Healthcare Operations

Stay Visible and Relevant

Raise expectations, market your capabilities, and educate the organization to stay visible and relevant to your enterprise. ...

... "The limited expectations CEOs have of IT leadership threaten to stunt IT's contributions, resulting in an IT organization that may be averse to taking risks or even rising to the level of visibility. " ...

Via Computerworld: Expectations of IT

Project Success Measures: What Really Counts?

Finally, people are starting to say what I've been saying for some time. Often , the most telling measures of project success are qualitative, not quantitative. Consider this quote from an excellent article on PMI's latest issue of PMP Passport:

“Measures like on time, on budget and on spec are part of the success criteria, but one could achieve these three and still have a dissatisfied customer,” says Ernie Baker, PMP, president of Start to Finish PM Inc., Verona, N.J., USA."

Halleluyah! Indeed, qualitative measures such as customer satisfaction, customer engagement, and team engagement can often tell us more about the "success" of the project, and can even shed light on why the project wasn't on budget, schedule, or spec.

Here's the article...

PMP Passport - Features

IT Challenge: Do More With Less Schizophrenia

Firm publishes report on insights into the current IT challenge - do more with less while outsourcing parts of the organization and continually looking at new technologies for competitive advantage. ...

... "The information systems (IS) function is under threat. They are increasingly being asked to do more with less and to improve their efficiency. At the same time, they are also being asked to look at increasingly disruptive technology from the consumer markets, to identify which elements of that technology can deliver genuine business value, and to find ways of introducing it into business. Fundamentally, this is a schizophrenic situation. " ...

IT Torn Apart