System Reliability
Labels: ceo, design, ibm, reliability, systems-thinking
Healthcare CEO supports a mission-aligned IT investment with active engagement that ensures implementation and drives adoption. ...
... "Raymer has taken a much more active role than most CEOs might when it comes to an IT project. She developed a detailed chart with scores of lines of responsibilities for employees throughout the organization, including herself. " ...
Labels: adoption, alignment, ceo, engagement, implementation, it-project, organization
Twitter-ific unfinished autobiography ...
... "In 1999, I started Pyra Labs with a friend, Meg Hourihan, to develop project management programs. Then we started a side project called Blogger ... " ...
Labels: ceo, innovation, leadership, project-discipline, social-networking, twitter
Researchers exploring ways to make the information technology asset life-cycle conversation more meaningful for business leaders. ...
... "Executive management and CEOs don't have the language, models and tools to have a business-oriented value conversation around their IT infrastructure, says Peppard. We're also trying to think about how an organisation might put a value on legacy [past IT] investments. " ...
Labels: asset-management, ceo, infrastructure, models, project-value, roi, tools, value, value-management
Philips CEO sees innovation as disciplined and process-oriented. He also expects a project ROI for innovation investments and a strong connection to profitability. Creativity is allowed within the boudaries. ...

... "Every innovation project should have a return on investment, an internal rate of return, a net present value. And, you need to hardwire it and keep yourself honest, because at the end of the day, it's about generating returns. " ...
Labels: ceo, creativity, innovation, philips-lighting, return-on-investment-roi, roi
Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, compares and contrasts Web 2.0 and 3.0 ...
Labels: ceo, google, technology, web-applications
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. " ...
Labels: action, ceo, cio-perspective, education, expectations, information-technology, marketing, relevance, visibility
For an IT project to have impact, it must affect change. For change to stick, leaders must provide support. Recent study looks at IT projects and the distance of senior leaders, such as CEOs. ...
... "We have to get good at how our organisation handles change - that's nothing to do with IT, but no IT project worth its salt doesn't affect change, said Green. " ...
Labels: ceo, change-management, it-project, leadership
JetBlue CEO uses virtual medium to connect with customers to affirm committment to service after abyssmal performance. ...
Labels: ceo, communication, customer-bill-of-rights, customer-service, performance, service-orientation
I recently read an enlightening book by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, titled, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management.
Labels: book-review, business-impact, ceo, execution, leadership, leadership-style, leadership-traits, management, performance, plan, success-measures, talent-management
Bloomberg article contrasts CEO leadership styles - pitting the macho military style of Nardelli versus the more personable, relationship-building style of Immelt. ...
... Jack Welch on Immelt: "he said Immelt has stuff, he has real stuff. " ...
Labels: ceo, leadership
Yesterday I entered a post about Best Buy's new Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), and how allowing employees total freedom as to where and how they work, focusing instead on results, has shown a 35% productivity improvement. Granted, this may not apply in every environment, but the premise of focusing on results over rules is sound.
Labels: business-results, ceo, improvement, influence, innovation, learning, people, results, talent-management
Good article shows the stats for CIO's that report to CFO's. I wonder, though, how much of this is related to the CFO's own (in)ability to align with business strategy and position the company for success --- ultimately relegating the IT organization to a utilitarian role. Good leadership whether in finance or IT needs to enable business success, not impede it. ...
... "Running projects--More CIOs who report to the CFO spend time running projects (49%) than those who report to CEOs (39%) " ...
Labels: business-strategy, ceo, cio-perspective, it-strategy, leadership, performance
Motorola CEO, Ed Zander, discusses his approach to innovation, while leveraging Moto's strengths. ...

... "try to get in a sense of urgency, speed, winning customers first, innovation. We don't care about our titles, we don't care about our offices, we don't care about entitlements, we just care about winning. We laugh, we kid, we have fun, and the people below us have fun and there are no secrets here. " ...
Labels: ceo, innovation, people
When Ken Kizer took on the challenge of revamping the horrific state of affars that was the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (many of you have probably seen the movies that showed the sorry state of Veterans Hospitals), nobody suspected that they would go from "last to first."
Labels: accountability, ceo, it-project, napoleon, passion, project-cost, project-manager, success-story, training
IBM boosts research and development talent in Russia to support geographic growth. This is a trend that is accelerating, especially where high-growth rates are expected. ...

... "IBM will invest $40 million over the next three years in the Russian Systems & Technology Laboratory, which will employ up to 200 people by the end of 2008. The lab will focus on mainframe technology development and continues IBM's emphasis on utilizing skills and expertise around the globe, especially in high-growth countries such as Russia, Brazil, China and India. The lab is the fourth major development operation announced by IBM in recent months. Other new facilities include a Linux Technology Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a Solutions & Technology Center in Bangalore, India; and a mainframe development lab in Shanghai, China. " ...
There's a superb article on AllPM about the importance of understanding the separate, but related, roles of the project manager and the business analyst.
Labels: business-process, ceo, project-manager, project-roles
The HP Change Artists Web series, produced by HP and broadcast by CIO Magazine and CNN, is a great way to learn from the best how to manage change.
Labels: ceo, change-management, cio-perspective, hp-hewlett-packard, leadership
Nice article, by Pete McGarahan, challenges the reader to assess how they contribute value to an organization and be accountable for their future by taking risks, learning, and owning their personal development. Quick and worthwhile read ...
... " ... a business mentor once asking me, What's your value proposition to the organization? I was taken aback by the question and began rattling off what I did for a living. He quickly stopped me and said, No, Pete, what value do you provide to the organization on a daily basis? " ...

Labels: business-impact, ceo, customer, learning, risk-management, value
Intellilink shares method for calculating the overall risk on a project portfolio. It is critical to assess the risk of the project portfolio to understand trends and also to determine if additional risk is appropriate, as higher value opportunities are usually associated with greater risk. ...
... "Intellilink, a boutique consulting firm specializing in automating knowledge worker organizations, hosted a workshop outlining its innovative project portfolio risk calculation methodology at the 4th annual IT Financial Management Week 2006 conference at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort, Miami Beach, Florida which ran from April 3 to April 6. The workshop, which was oversubscribed by nearly 40% of pre-conference registration, presented a simple and practical methodology for calculating the risk of an IT project portfolio. Titled IT Portfolio Risk Management: A Methodology for Calculating the Risk of Your IT Portfolio, the Intellilink workshop was jointly lead by Intellilink's CEO, Patrick Boylan, and Managing Director, Fumiko Kondo. The risk calculation methodology was developed in response to organizations expressing the need to improve their understanding of risk across the IT portfolio. " ...
Labels: ceo, it-project, knowledge-management, methodology, portfolio-managment, value, value-management
There's an excellent article in Computerworld about how project management has evolved in the last few years to be much more than the traditional planning, scheduling and monitoring role it used to be (in some circles anyway).
Labels: awareness, business-acumen, business-case, ceo, it-project, project-manager, project-planning, project-teams
Paul Dinsmore and Pedro C. Ribeiro's article in Chief Project Officer talks about why CEOs should care about project management. He lists several areas where project management can directly impact the bottom line, including working capital, sales growth, and profit margins.
“For decades, project management has been a discipline in engineering, construction and other industries, where a key management skill has always been the ability to complete a job on time and on budget. Yet it's only been in recent years that the discipline has moved to its current status as one of the leading reasons for success in some of the world's best companies. When you need an outcome done right, on time, and within a budget, you definitely need project management to assure results”
“The importance of excellence in project management could not be over rated. I would guess that all of us as senior operations people have been involved in projects that have created shareholder value and those - that have reducedFor the full article, read on...
shareholder value... We need to be in a continuous learning process. A well structured lessons learning process in project management is key to seamless execution and ensuring that the direction of the project is correct from the beginning of the effort”.
Labels: business-results, ceo, course, growth, job, learning, people, project-status, results, value, value-management
There's another project management community on the internet, and this one's from eProject, the leading web-based "on demand" project management tool.
"We've created the premier destination site for portfolio, program and project managers who want to interact with industry peers, share knowledge, learn best practices, find out what's new, or just get up to speed quickly on the topics and issues most important to them," said Christian Smith, eProject vice president of sales and marketing. "eLounge is unmatched in the industry in terms of original content, downloads and the stature, knowledge and experience of our guest bloggers," continued Smith.
Labels: ceo, it-project, knowledge-management, pmo, portfolio-managment, program-management
IT Governance Limited has announced a new IT governance framework (titled the Calder-Moir IT Governance Framework) that brings together multiple disciplines, including information technology, risk management, project management, strategy, intellectual property, business design and compliance.
Labels: business-strategy, ceo, compliance, governance, information-technology, it-governance, it-project, it-strategy, tools
Sun CEO Scott McNealy challenges industry leaders to rethink traditional business models built on the global network economy, where transparency, community, and collaboration drive innovation into The Participation Age. ...
... "Sun believes the world is entering a new era - the Participation Age - where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are driving a new round of network participation. From blogs to Java, SMS messages to Web services, participants are forming communities to drive change, create new businesses, new social services and new discoveries. This growth in the network economy is fueled by sharing and collaboration among communities interconnected by technology and driven by purpose. Sun also believes that sharing and collaboration in the Participation Age will stimulate innovation to help all participants from across the world grow and prosper. " ...

Labels: business-process, ceo, collaboration, customer, customer-service, events, global, growth, innovation, it-project, project-teams, sap-project, service-orientation, tools
Tom Peters blogged recently about Ford, Pixar and the new wave of innovation sweeping companies. Although he had a softer spot for what Pixar is doing, the main point was that innovation is the new world order. Operational excellence is out, as is short-term thinking and reactionary cost-cutting. Even GE is now all about innovation.
Ford Motor Company stands for a far-sighted commitment to growth. We stand for a renewed focus on the customer. We stand for boundless innovation in every aspect of our business...
Here is what we will not stand for: incremental change, avoiding risk, thinking short-term, blocking innovation, tying our people's hands, defending procedures that don't make sense, and selling what we have instead of what the customer wants. In short, we will not stand for business as usual.
Going forward, our employee evaluations will include a section on innovation. We’re also going to design compensation plans that reward new thinking. And we’re going to create a way for employees to appeal a decision, even if they have an idea and the boss says no.
Labels: agile, ceo, change-management, compensation, customer, customer-service, growth, innovation, project-cost, project-teams, service-orientation
The trend of globalization is driving complex construction projects and software implementations where new project management skills are required to be successful: respect for diversity of cultures, sourcing of local talents for delivery, designing solutions in a virtual environment, and application of distributed expertise to solve local problems. ...
... "Said Charles Foundyller, president and CEO of Daratech, Inc., Globalization requires new project management skills and processes that can meet the requirements of today's distributed enterprises. Bentley has shown an impressive understanding of the management challenges of globalization and the tools needed to meet these challenges. " ...
IT Governance Institute survey shows that formalized governance of IT is lacking in 50% of organizations. Paul Williams explores the drivers and leadership committment necessary to fully align IT with the business strategy through governance. ...
... "Aligning IT with overall business strategy calls for a continuous effort requiring full support from all levels of the organization, beginning with the CEO and board of directors. " ...

Labels: alignment, business-strategy, ceo, governance, it-governance, it-strategy, survey
WebSeminar explores how IT can maximize its innovation potential and become an innovation engine for the entire enterprise. Learn how to promote innovation through project portfolio management. Optimize run-the-business work and shift investment to strategic initiatives that transform-the-business. ...
... "PlanView, the leading provider of comprehensive IT portfolio management solutions, is sponsoring a live Web Seminar Wednesday January 11, 2006 at 12:30 P.M. Eastern entitled Transforming IT Into An Innovation Engine. Featuring Forrester Research's Laurie Orlov and PlanView's CEO and founder Patrick Durbin, the Webcast will discuss how IT executives can promote innovation by optimizing operational spend and shifting money and resources to more strategic initiatives. This informative Webcast leverages key findings from Forrester's IT's Role In Innovation series that explores how IT can recover its innovation potential and become an innovation engine for the entire enterprise. It will also discuss how portfolio management can provide a disciplined approach to successfully establish, manage, and execute innovative strategies in any organization.
Webinar entitled Transforming IT Into An Innovation Engine -- How To Leverage Portfolio Management To Drive Strategic Initiatives.
Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 12:30-1:30 p.m. Eastern
IT executives will learn how to establish, manage, and execute innovative strategies in their organizations by applying the discipline of portfolio management. PlanView Enterprise is a combination of enterprise software and proven best practices that enables organizations to make the most out of their limited capacities. " ...
Labels: ceo, information-technology, innovation, it-project, portfolio-managment, webcast
Patrick Durbin, Planview CEO, explores the integration of IT strategic planning and project portfolio management to drive the value from information technology investments. Alignment of IT with business strategy creates visibility to value opportunities. Portfolio-based investment analysis enables objective selection of the best mix of investments. And, active management of benefits increases the likelihood of realizing the targeted value. ...
... "Discretionary, strategic investments to grow the business or transform the business can take years, involve thousands of person hours and cost millions of dollars. Organizations must carefully choose which of these investments to pursue and then regularly monitor them on a periodic basis to ensure that the business value is still relevant. " ...
Labels: alignment, business-strategy, ceo, course, information-technology, it-project, it-strategy, portfolio-managment, project-cost, project-planning, selection, value, value-management
As I've mentioned before, the perfect storm is headed our way. As more companies move toward hosted solutions and the threat of a pandemic computer virus looms, organizations worldwide could be crippled.
Enter the new ISO 27001 Security Standard.
Alan Calder, the leading IT Governance and Security expert and CEO of IT Governance, Ltd., issued a podcast last week talking about ISO 27001 and its impacts. Best of all, Calder offers several eBooks for all levels of audiences, as well as an ISO 27001 toolkit, which allows organizations to become ISO 27001-compliant without expensive consultants.
Here's what Calder's company, IT Governance Ltd. has to say about the new standard:
Labels: ceo, certification, compliance, data-security, global, governance, it-governance, podcast, security
We think IT projects are challenging to bring on-time and on-budget. Put yourself in the postion of Shell project managers delivering the Sakhalin 2 project. What lessons can we learn? See commentary by Mr Alfred Donovan. ...
... "There is one issue however which dwarfs all others in terms of importance to Shell and its stakeholders: the Sakhalin2 project in Russia. Shell hit the headlines two weeks ago when President Putin in a face-to-face meeting with Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer, savaged Shell management in relation to the staggering cost overrun of the project. " ...

Labels: ceo, it-project, project-cost
Quentin Hardy explores insights from Google CEO Eric Schmidt to better understand the project management methods powering the Google innovation machine, such as small teams, data-based decision making, rapid project life cycles, and collaboration networks. ...
... "Brin and Page have created a corporate organism that tackles most big projects in small, tightly focused teams, setting them up in an instant and breaking them down weeks later without remorse. " ...

Labels: ceo, collaboration, global, innovation, project-teams, small-project
Intellilink offers services in IT governance excellence. At recent project management conference, Intellilink leaders present workshop on solutions for accelerating the implementation of IT governance. ...
... "The Intellilink workshop, Solving People and Process Issues When Implementing IT Governance, was run jointly by Intellilink's CEO, Patrick Boylan, and Managing Director, Fumiko Kondo, who are both leading experts in deploying solutions for IT governance for clients across a range of industries. In addition to offering real-world solutions to common IT governance issues, the interactive event outlined typical IT governance business models and detailed common roles, responsibilities and business processes. " ...

Labels: business-process, ceo, events, governance, information-technology, it-governance, it-project, people, project-roles, project-teams
Government project culture needs an infusion. ...
... "Even in the information technology sector, only a third of all projects are completed on time and within budgets, and give the originally anticipated value, says Gregory Balestrero, global CEO of Project Management Institute (PMI). " ...
Labels: ceo, culture, global, information-technology, pmi-project-management-institute, pmp-project-management-professional, value, value-management
Check out the latest article in IT Toolbox on how things are going with Merury Interactive, since their CEO resigned. As reported in the article, Mercury will try to avoid a NASDAQ delisting when it meets with the organization on November 15th. But still, it's stock has plummeted, and the company is now ripe for acquisition.
Labels: acquisition, ceo, it-project, mercury
Business innovation does not come naturally in large organizations and is a key ingredient companies are searching for to create and sustain growth in their markets. Fred Smith, CEO Fedex, offers insights on business innovation and the responsibility of the workforce. This responsibility must be nurtured until it become a norm or core value of the enterprise. ...
... "Frederick W. Smith: Everyone in the company is responsible for innovation, though executive management must encourage innovation, reward it and measure it to determine success. We strive to have a culture where each member of the team feels free to advance good ideas for improvement. " ...

Labels: ceo, culture, growth, improvement, project-teams, sustain, value, value-management
Amid a corporate scandal, Mercury's CEO, Amnon Landan, and its CFO, Douglas Smith, resigned after a special committee found that they benefited from an options pricing practice installed at Mercury.
Labels: acquisition, ceo, governance, it-governance, mercury
ITIL is the recipe for IT services management success. Philip Quinn catches up with David Ratcliffe, CEO of Pink Elephant. Pink Elephant is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with operations worldwide. Pink Elephant works with organizations, including many of the Fortune 500, to improve the quality of IT services through the application of established best practices, such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ...
... "We were the ones who launched this best-practice framework we support called the IT infrastructure library. If you think [in terms] of a restaurant ... it's the recipes you follow and the routines around how you keep the place clean... " ...

Labels: alignment, business-process, ceo, certification, crm-project, itil, itil-cmdb, microsoft-project-management, pink-elephant, podcast, prince2, service-catalog, success-story
IT Risk Management: Disaster Recovery Planning: Forward Placement: Via Data Foundry: Garden Ridge Selects Data Foundry For Disaster Recovery Services ...
... "Bob Janusaitis (CBCP, CISA, CISM), a 25-year veteran in IT disaster recovery planning and CEO of Business911 International, Inc. specializing in IT Governance and Risk Management, stated, It's been my experience that too many companies overlook all the risks associated with implementing a disaster recovery plan that calls for the secondary site to be located in the same city as their primary site. The risks of implementing this strategy range from shared city power grids, inability to traverse local streets, over subscription to the local facility, and the affect on human capital that supports the secondary site in a true disaster scenario. I encourage a forward placement philosophy which calls for getting people and data out of harms way if at all possible. This means putting distance between the disaster event and your secondary site. " ...
Labels: art, business-strategy, ceo, events, governance, it-governance, people, risk-management
Project Management: Organization Model Barriers: Via Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Today: Future States Section 2 (Job Description Syndrome)
... "Projects typically engineer change. They are transformative by their very nature. Whether the goal is a new product (or service), an enhancement to an existing product or a new customer, projects drive change. The goals of projects can be difficult to define in a way that clearly aligns with the goals of the departments. " ...
Labels: ceo, job, portfolio-managment
Business IT Strategy: Successful Alignment: Via CIO insync: The two common traits of successful IT/business alignment
... "First, the CEO takes a genuine interest in and makes an effort to understand IT. Second, the two leaders spend time discussing high-level business-IT strategy. This approach facilitates better understanding of underlying issues and problems and ensures the top executives are on the same page. " ...
Labels: alignment, business-strategy, ceo, cio-perspective
Process Governance Tool Upcoming: Via Business Engine: Business Engine Forms New Company, Appoints New CEO: New Company Purchases Assets of Old Company, Announces New Customer Wins and New Product ...
... "Business Engine - has also announced that it will be releasing a new product in October codenamed Cascade. Cascade simplifies process governance, compliance and management decision-making and will be formally unveiled at Business Engine's upcoming Global User Summit in Orlando, FL September 25-27, 2005 " ...
Labels: alignment, business-process, business-results, business-strategy, ceo, compliance, decisions, governance, it-governance, results
Program Management Software: Operational Excellence Portfolio: Via PowerSteering Software, Inc.: POWERSTEERING SOFTWARE EXPANDS OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE MARKET SHARE, ADDS SEVERAL LEADING SIX SIGMA CUSTOMERS: Strong Demand Spurs Funding to Support Continued Expansion ...
... "As Operational Excellence strategies like Six Sigma continue to exhibit a strong resurgence in the market, we have seen an increased need for PowerSteering to provide executives with global visibility and real-time decision making, said Stephen Sharp, President and CEO of PowerSteering. With words and actions, analysts, customers, investors and partners are all telling us the same thing, PowerSteering is the leading company for Six Sigma and other Operational Excellence programs. " ...
Labels: accelerate, alignment, business-results, ceo, improvement, performance, portfolio-managment, project-teams, results, six-sigma, value, value-management
Project Selection: Financial Return: Via Best Practices, LLC: Best Practice Summary: Benchmarking Project Management: Performance Measurement, Processes and Tools
... "Based on a survey of 20 organizations, this 22-slide presentation identifies how to understand project management operations at companies with renowned project management operations. ... Companies can use this information to understand the best methods for project management and high performance rate. Specifically, the study found that financial impact, including revenue generation and cost savings, are primary factors companies consider when prioritizing projects. " ...

Labels: business-impact, ceo, performance, portfolio-managment, project-cost, return-on-investment-roi, selection, survey, tools