Renewed Commitment to Project Requirements

US CIO and OMB look to focus on the front-end of projects to improve the development of business requirements and position the project portfolio for greater predictability in cost performance. ...

... "He said the OMB was looking for ways to overhaul IT project management in government, starting by creating better project requirements in order to foster cost control before the projects even begin. " ...

Via Information Week: IT Project Management

Project Financials

Expect to collaborate more with your counterparts in finance to review in-flight projects for cancellation and to develop more creative ways to finance new investments. ...

... "There is a different style of IT project evolving. People are looking for the cash implications to be less onerous on the business, but that doesn’t mean that they are shelving projects. " ...

Via Accountancy Age: Funding IT

Forecasting Innovation

While innovation isn't quite deterministic, you can reverse engineer the size of an innovation portfolio across the various stage-gates necessary to sustain future revenue from new products. This should provide you with insight on the number of new ideas that need to be generated or the number of product trials needed. Visibility into the innovation portfolio and your historical performance is valuable information for managing business success. ...

... "Break these annual revenue targets down over a mix of products, new and existing, in each year. Some firms call this a revenue cascade or revenue waterfall. " ...

Via Innovation in Practice: Mapping Innovation

Develop Long-Term View

Can we make sense of trends to predict the future? Here's some tips ...

UK IT Contract Projects Market Forecast for Resource Planning

A downturn in IT investment is forecast in the UK for 2008. Any decline should be gradual as the first quarter is expected to be flat. ...

... "Should the IT contract market decline, organisations will be focusing on manning IT projects using permanent staff. The real focus will be on maintaining a lower cost model. " ...

Via UK Contractor: 2008

EVM in the Project Manager's Toolbox: Use It

Let's use project tools, such as earned value management, to assess our status, make immediate changes to adapt to the current conditions, and forecast our ability to deliver. ...

... "The outcome can then not only help identify at an early stage any issues and allow small changes to be made so that a project can be brought rapidly back on track, but will also give the capability to play the what-ifs that are necessary to make the decision as to whether a project should be stopped" ...

Via IT Director: Earned Value Management