Open Source as bargaining chip – driving business value of IT

I had a fun time this week proposing an open source alternative for an aging component of our EAI infrastructure. The reaction was so classic - the instant some IT folks saw the words "open source" in large type on the piece of paper, they smiled, crossed their arms, and tut-tutted the idea away. Oh, I heard all the classic shoot-down arguments ... "... critical piece of our day to day business transactions ..." "... I rarely need to call,…

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Subdivide a huge project list to simplify the prioritization process

A classic problem for many project-oriented organizations (IT, R&D, Engineering, Operations) ... how can resource prioritization be simplified, yet repeatable? It's a fairly involved topic, but a common approach is to group projects into a workable number of "chunks" ... we'll use the term Initiatives. How will this help? Challenge: Clarify the team's priorities, alignment, and resource levels - without going into the details The CEO asks a question – what Projects are on the to-do list for IT? [Do…

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You can run but you can’t hide

I sent out notes to folks talking about my new situation, and some came back with interesting comments. Here's one from W, a brilliant guy with Big-6 background and plenty of business acumen. However, he (like me) is a coder at heart, and really wants to focus on the technology (not like me). More power to him - but his eMail had a telling statement ... ... this is my 5th month at [BigCo] and all is going well so…

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Free as in … the Open Source Refrain – Improved!

I'm not going to recount the history and foundations of open source software, just point out that the word "free" has long been a point of contention when folks talk about "free" software. For clarity, the open-source crowd will refer to ... Free (as in Speech), meaning the user's freedom to run, copy, distribute a piece of software Free (as in Beer), meaning the software is available at no cost BTW, the world is really into their free beer -…

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Sell your Boss – Some Tech Observations

Saw this great post from Hyatt (referred from this blog, definitely worth syndicating) re: how to get decisions / results out of your manager / boss. Great stuff, pay attention to the details here, all of it is right on. A few additions I'd make to the list ... Keep it short - just like you, your boss is juggling multiple priorities, especially when you're reporting to a C-level person. If you can't develop and present an elevator pitch version…

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