Strategy Execution through Well-Defined Projects

A fair amount of the IT strategy is made up of the portfolio of discretionary investment projects that will drive business growth and/or efficiency. Rightsizing those projects with your team and delivering to your schedules will set the tone with executive leadership. There will be times when you have to push back and reframe the project to continue your track record of success. Don't miss those opportunities. ...

... "That impossible mission should have been challenged by your IT folks at the beginning with supporting data to show the business realistic timeframes. " ...

Via CIO Insight: People and Roles

Project Pain is Indicator of Gain

Leading CIO embraces pain as evidence of positive transformational impact. ... ie: improvements in process capability and maturity will cause setbacks and discomfort. This leadership acknowledges and embraces this reality upfront in the project principles. ...

... "Our business processes and practices will change significantly, and we will accept some disruption to achieve the ultimate benefits. " ...

Via Information Week: Acknowledge Transformation Challenges

We're Doomed

Or, are we. Changing core systems requires strong understanding of the current enterprise architecture, a vision for the future, and a realistic transition plan to get there. Somewhere in that tangle of systems is the value-adding business logic that must be preserved. ...

... "Citi’s IT honchos have the same problem that Microsoft’s do: everything they do needs to be backwards-compatible with everything that went before" ...

Via Reuters, Felix Salmon: Citigroup’s IT strategy

In the Moment

GE's Immelt to his leaders ... Sharpen your teeth in 2009. ...

... "You were put on Earth for this moment. A dog could have managed the '90s. Anybody could have, but only the best can do 2009! " ...

Via Washington Times: GE Leadership

IT Revamp Project

In spite of economic climate, we will see some firms make strategic investments to retool their IT architecture to better position their enterprise as business improves. This particular IT revamp is correctly positioned as an enterprise initiative. ...

... "This is not just an IT project, it is an Air Wisconsin effort, says Joy. If we want this system to increase efficiencies for our crews and provide opportunities for growth, we need to listen to their ideas and current challenges. " ...

Via Air Wisconsin Airlines: 3-Year Technology Systems Revamp

Learn Through Conflict

Recent PMI presentation ... nice discussion about the opportunity that conflict presents ...

Innovation at its Finest

Highlight video from All Things Digital Conference with great work by Dean Kamen and Deka Research ...

Illustrate Business Concepts

Dan Roam demonstrates visual thinking, which can be a useful and simple technique when trying to work yourself past challenges on a project. ...



Dan's blog.

It's Magic: Challenge Those Assumptions

Andy Cohen shows us a few tricks that will aid in our ability to challenge assumptions to differentiate and innovate. ...

Business Games Teach Project Best Practices

Nothing creates understanding like a good game. Here's a novel approach to disseminating best practice process in project and service management. ...

... "Both simulations are high impact, interactive business games, developed to address the process and cultural challenges of implementing IT Project Management and Service Management best practice. This unique approach to business learning brings Project Management and Service Management best practice to life in the context of realistic and exhilarating scenarios. Participants quickly experience breakthrough understanding of best practice processes and methodologies resulting in improved individual, team and business performance. " ...

Via G2G3: Turkish delight

Resource Planning for Project Success

IT services organization, Parity, sees resource planning as an opportunity to position projects for success. Their whitepaper offers advice that includes a thorough planning period, setting appropriate resource durations to support sourcing arrangements, and a disciplined approach to recruiting project talent. They see shortages in skilled IT resources as a strategic challenge confronting the IT space. ...

... "Failure to get IT resource requirements mapped out adequately is undermining the chances of IT projects succeeding and raises the risk of projects going over time and budget warns Parity ... " ...

Via Parity: Inadequate resource planning puts projects at risk

Business Intelligence Business Case

A business intelligence project proposal can be challenging. Can't calculate a positive NPV or ROI? Don't despair. However, you can link the investment to reducing the cycle time of your current management reporting process ... or, you can identify the incremental value of making certain decisions that you cannot make today. Often, though, BI investments are seen as strategic. ...

... "The survey found that measuring the ROI for BI investment is more challenging that for other IT projects. The overall objective of BI is to improve company performance by putting the right information into the right hands at the right time. " ...

Via TMCnet: BI ROI

Celebrate IT Successes

Seven reasons to be proud of IT successes, while acknowledging the industry's project challenges. ...

... "Mind you, if I should, then I should also be able to wear the finery of the IT industry's successes. " ...

Via ComputerWeekly: IT Success

Talent Perspective on Innovation in Business

Jeffrey Phillips describes a powerful role for the HR function in creating a culture and talent pool for innovation. Is today's human resource function ready for the challenge? ...

... "People dislike uncertainty and are somewhat unwilling to risk their jobs or futures working on items that are new or risky, without the appropriate assurances that the firm needs and requires people to try new things and make mistakes. " ...

Via Innovate on Purpose: Innovation Talent Perspectives

Challenge IT Talent Poaching With Development Strategy

The battle for IT talent rages and is particularly acute in Asia. Consider exciting training programs, career path tracks, and other soft incentives, such as telecommuting to provide some work-life balance. The enterprise that masters talent development is sure to succeed in the future and have fun doing it. ...

... "To provide a continuous supply of IT staff and retain existing IT talent, the company started to establish various initiatives on staff development. " ...

Via MIS: The Asia IT Talent Challenge

Project-Lessons-Learned From Walter Reed

There are more lessons to be learned from the experience at Walter Reed, but here's a good one ... sustaining quality (of service and infrastructure) in the face of closure. If you haven't already, you may be faced with a project to dismantle, decommission, or divest part of your organization. Be ready for this situation. ...

... "When we plan to shut down an operation, the longer the lead time between decision and action, the more discipline we have to apply to making sure that that operation is not victimized, directly or indirectly, by our natural instincts. " ...

Via Snohomish County Business Journal: Lessons

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