Leadership requires taking risks. But technology must work reliably. How do IT leaders square these two realities? CIOs are driving organizational strategies now more than...
Conquering the UAT Process: Before, During & After
User Acceptance Testing can be a daunting and frustrating experience. Too often, the exercise becomes an ordeal of tight deadlines, stress, and system issues. While...
Sure, we all want our IT initiatives to succeed. We regularly evaluate our projects, in-flight or upon completion, looking for tangible lessons to learn. We...
PM Pointers: 3 Ways to Maximize Success with Inter-Team Dependencies
Managing an IT project often requires working with resources across other teams—not just those fully allocated to your initiative. Supporting resources and teams can be...
The Fallacy of Multi-Project Resource Allocation
Organizations tend to divide the same resources over multiple, simultaneous projects and still expect the same level of productivity as if each person were dedicated...
Executive Field Guide: IT Governance
There are dozens of definitions for “IT governance” out there. They use words like efficiency, effectiveness, alignment, control, and strategy—which are all valid terms. But...
On the Hunt for Best Practices? Proceed with Caution
Organizations generally strive for optimization of internal processes and for the most efficient use of resources, since some methods are better than others. The most...
Finding the Right Champion for Change
Change is HARD. As a matter of fact, I often say “technology is easy, but people are hard.” You can guess the reaction I get...
Executive Field Guide: The IT Strategy Map
As with most things in life, it is much easier to start with a template than with a blank piece of paper. A template serves...
Agreeing on a mission statement is a healthy, worthwhile exercise for any organization or department. IT is no exception. The IT mission is a clear...
The Value of a Communication Plan for IT Initiatives
Communication plans for an IT project might come off as overkill, or even remind you of a nagging parent’s chore chart. In fact, the two...
The 3 Lists that Control the Success of Every IT Project
Preface: In a perfect world, key elements like project requirements and execution steps would be issued by a product owner or PM. But the real...