Most Recent Articles

Managing IT: Three Archetypes

I'll tell you about this visualization from a recent internal conversation, but I may end up aggravating some career IT people out there. Yes, I have massively oversimplified things - but I'm trying to develop a broader understanding, and I think it's a good first step. The original question was "How do I manage IT?", but it quickly morphed into "how can I drive / derive value from IT?" (note the powerful difference that a single letter makes - derive sounds sustainable).…

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Change is Easy. Habits are Hard.

At technology conferences, vendor seminars, and user group, I enjoy the networking conversations - professionals looking to leverage each others' background, experience, and relationships, ostensibly to forward their own careers, but openly trying to solve a problem with a win-win for both sides of the connection. Inevitably, however, the conversations refine and regress down to a common theme - the classic oversimplification "change is hard". Much of the time, I'd wager that change in your organization is comparatively easy -…

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My Ghost in the Machine, a Particular Shade (of Grey)

This story dates back to my college days, and I use it to illustrate the idea that IT people are not entirely comfortable with other functional areas of the business - and the "shades of grey" that mysteriously guide the thinking and actions of Sales & Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Upper Management (especially when those IT folks are fresh out of school). Ok, quick aside - it's been a few years since my undergraduate days, so if I get any…

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Why Bother Documenting My Solutions?

Interesting line of conversation around an internal Help Desk project ... "What exactly is the point of my help desk ticketing system?", posits the hardy IT Tech. "I, like so many other IT technicians, am expected to solve end-user problems quickly with my infinite knowledge of every potential PC / software combination, not to mention a dizzying array of specialty printers, alternative input devices, smartphones, and tablets. And I, like so many other IT technicians, realize that the most capable,…

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ERP Reference Calls, and my Top 3 Points to Ponder

I still get pulled into conversations about ERP; there are plenty of businesses out there, of varying sizes, that can benefit from the structured process and transactional discipline. Reference calls on behalf of the vendor are great - I'm happy to take them, primarily because most vendors are OK with letting my team be frank. We'll talk about the software package you are buying, in whatever detail that can fit into the allotted time, warts and all. But more often…

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The One-Sided Journal Entry

"That could be fixed in the system", I said to the weary auditor, "with a one-sided journal entry". Her brow furrowed slightly. "A what?" "A one-sided journal entry. You know, add a debit amount to one account without crediting another." Her frown deepened. "I don't understand". "Well", I said, "this system normally doesn't allow a one-sided journal entry - or at least I don't know how to do it. But it should be possible, I've seen it in other systems."…

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