A few months back, I wrote a post on various “Astounding Sayings” that I’ve encountered in my career in information technology. It turns out that it’s been one of the more popular posts I’ve written, judging from page views, so in true Hollywood fashion, it must be time for a sequel. I am retitling it […]
One key ongoing goal of mine is that I constantly strive to pay attention. In this case, specifically, through web logging reports, I can see the Google searches that drive people to this blog every day. One of the most common of these, it turns out, is people searching on the phrase “how to improve […]
Here’s a topic that frankly shouldn’t even merit a post — it’s that much of a no-brainer if you think about it.Yet, in the real world, I’ve found that it’s anything but a no-brainer, at both small and large companies. What I’m referring […]
Let’s mix some metaphors today, and attempt to relate them all to the world of information technology and project management.I have a good friend and colleague, one of the top IT consultants I know. He’s able to execute crisply at the detail level while keeping the big picture in mind; he’s especially good at balancing […]
Do a poll: many IT folks regard doing status reports as their least favorite task. My point here, though, will be that a lot of people, management and workers alike, don’t fully understand the real purpose of status reports, and that status reports should actually be a “must-have” arrow in your management quiver. How a […]
As I promised last time, there’s one more key way, the biggest way of all, not to get what you want from your IT organization. This is, in fact, the trap I have seen virtually every entity I’ve ever worked for fall into to some degree, some to the point of actually destroying the company.
The […]
As much as any part of your company that supports the key prongs of the corporate mission (deliver product, sell the product, support the product), IT is constantly on the hook to deliver more and more. As I’ve written before, expectations are deservedly high, and getting higher all the time. And when expectations are so […]
As I’ve written here before, I strongly advocate thinking of IT in general as a service organization to the rest of the business.
Any service organization needs one or more forms of “feedback loop” to be able to gauge whether it is successfully accomplishing its mission. However, I’ve observed relatively few IT organizations that actively seek […]