Operating Cost Impacts in Project Business Case

Cost transparency involves educating the governance team about the impact of today's investments on tommorrow's operating costs. ...

... "Factoring in costs of collateral impact should also happen at the project management phase as applications are being developed. While an organisation's impact metric might state that a new application for 1000 users will require five help desk people ... " ...

Via Computerworld, NZ: IT cost calculations

Platinum Projects Stay Funded

Credit Suisse CIO Karl Landert was recently appointed to the company's executive board and reports to the CEO. He shares insights into steering the IT ship using flexibility and agility in staffing, while ensuring that the highest priority / value projects in the portfolio remain properly funded. ...

... "By and large projects that are on our radar screen as prioritized -- or platinum projects, as we name them -- have not been affected. We have gone through the same process we go through every year, which is that the demand and appetite for new things is much higher than we are prepared to fund ... " ...

Via Wall Street & Technology: Credit Suisse CIO

Real-Time Project Events: Your Buns are Cooked

Here's creative use of twitter for business. Think about the event-driven project, real-time status, and transparency. ...

... "All of the baker's followers get a Twitter alert to tell them that it's bun-time. Or bread time. Or whatever. " ...

Via Baker Tweet: Tweet What's Fresh

BakerTweet from POKE on Vimeo.

Dashboard Transparency

Expect increased transparency in IT from the current administration, with fresh-look CIO dashboard ready for updated content. ...

... "A few days later at the Management of Change conference in Norfolk, Va., Kundra publicly unveiled the IT dashboard, surprising and exciting both CIOs and vendors alike. " ...

Via Federal News Radio: CIO dashboard

Alignment and Transparency Key to Info Tech Success

Marketing success stories, open dialogue about IT opportunities, and investment portfolio management techniques are some of the ways to raise the profile of the information technology organization to business leaders in the organization. ...

... "As a result of all these factors, senior executives at most companies have little desire to deal with IT and its role in their business and relegate this function to the CIO. In addition, many CEOs find the financial and business returns on their IT investments obscure and difficult to quantify ... " ...

Via Wall Street Journal: Hidden Potential of IT

Business Plan Sets Agenda With Stakeholders

Insights on using the business plan (or case) to get stakeholders aligned on measureable objectives and keeping dynamic story updated. ...

... "A business plan is a way to coordinate, communicate, and collaborate with accountability and tracking. It should get all the key people on the same page. Nobody can execute a plan they don’t know about. " ...

Via How to Change the World: How to Write a Business Plan

Don't Do This

Don't shred your project documentation, unless it has expired based on your enterprise's retention policy. Be as transparent as possible with your project status, especially with the steering team. Be the source of the truth. ...

... "It is hardly surprising that the Treasury wants to hide from the public the details of their badly mishandled computer projects and it seems that Gordon Brown's tendency towards obsessive secrecy ... " ...

Via ITPro: Shredding of IT project reports

Project Visibility and Transparency

Don't let doomed projects proceed in secrecy. Make the truth transparent and visible. Identify an action list to deal with the issues or prepare recommendation for cancellation. ...

... "The sad part is that often the people working on these projects know that they will fail, and yet, they are afraid to voice their opinion to the people in charge. " ...

Via Tom Peters: Doomed Projects