Success, Failure, and Insights after 12 Months of Internal Web 2.0

10 March, 2008
Web 2.0, Social Media
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Different areas of our IT department are using internal blogs, wikis, and collaboration spaces, with varying degrees of participation, readership, and success. Some observations: Blogging is Easy ... The blogs and wiki(s) have effectively removed the hassles of capturing and distributing information quickly. One important early decision was to not implement an editorial approval process for the wiki, and most blogs are wide open for public comments. No more excuses or complaints about a lack of documentation; if the explanation…

The Best Way to get Web 2.0 Into the Enterprise

There are a few ideas circulating in the blogosphere as to what will bring Web 2.0 into the enterprise, including ... The Influx of the Millennials; recent college graduates who have come to expect social networking, instant messaging and collaboration via the cloud. This groundswell of pressure will force IT to implement these new technologies. Consumer High-Tech; populist technologies like Apple hardware and Google's suite of software has taken hold in our homes; folks who expect interoperability with their employer's…

Butting In to the Conversation: PM Communication Tools

Dennis McDonald and Lee White are conducting an interesting experiment on their blogs, crossposting a conversation about project management and social media. I'll add my voice, with both input on the topic and observations on the method. (Topic) The Right Tool for The Job - depends on the Job The first part of the conversation talks about whether social media could replace classic project management tools, in terms of communicating project status. I agree with Dennis - you can never…

Do you want it good or fast? Prioritizing Time-to-Value over Requirements

10 February, 2008
Requirements
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I have a background in software product development, iterative "methodologies", and the sort of fast-twitch life cycle that characterizes entrepreneurial startups, high-growing businesses, and "lean" process improvement projects. Unfortunately, this style is also favored by departmental developer wannabes, sloppy coders, and impatient Gen-Y newbies that want to apply a consumer products mentality to corporate IT. <aside>Yes, I'm throwing a bit of a challenge out with that last statement. I understand that as the demographics of my IT team changes, management…

Five More Realities for Driving Business Value from Technology

31 January, 2008
Business Value of IT
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Dennis McDonald's recent post listed Ten Realities of Managing and Using Technology to Generate Business Value. I think a few of these items need some elaboration ... Implementing a technology based solution without understanding the costs is a big mistake ... and most projects only consider TCI - Total Cost of Implementation. This typically includes acquisition, first-year maintenance, and professional services (or internal IT time) to integrate with existing systems. Smart managers will add in Recurring Costs, such as annual…

My Networking CV (or, What’s In It For Me?)

26 January, 2008
Social Networks
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As social networking sites proliferate and mature, we're all learning how to use these interesting new resources. True, it is just a modern take on "professional networking" - purposeful connections with different special interest groups, to share ideas and lay the foundation for current or future "opportunities". I'm involved with a couple of organizations like this - I like to connect with peers, and I like to know what's going on in my city and in the industry. Recently I…

Update on Blogs as PM Tools – Tales from the Front Lines

We seem to be going through a second wave of focus (hype?) in the popular technology press, on the idea of using blogs as an important project management tool. The topic made the cover of CIO Magazine this week - Lynch made a number of interesting observations - interesting because I don't necessarily see the same things in practice: The Reputation Hurdle: While I agree that blogs aren't fully understood by everyone, the folks that need to use them pick…

Three Business-Case Arguments for Agile, & The Moose On The Table

15 January, 2008
PMO
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Another conversation at the start of the new year - this time in our PMO, concerning project prioritization and resource assignments. Many organizations follow a "parallel" model, launching multiple projects at any one time and working concurrently to move things forward. To be fair, this often occurs because we start work on one or two things, only to have additional worthy business requirements pop-up as time goes by. Unfortunately, we don't stop the first project or delay the second; most…

Innovation That Matters – Substance Over Style

When talking about "innovation" in a non-digital firm, don't force-fit the trendy stuff - focus on the innovative stuff you've done with your traditional environment, like ERP and Data Analytics. Tie this to what creates value for the enterprise, and you have something meaningful.

Five Simple Rules for Project Names, plus Four Sample Lists

8 January, 2008
Project Management, PMO
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A recent post by Jeff Atwood about project names brought back memories of a previous employer, and the project naming convention we set up in our PMO. At this company, the IT group spawned maybe 30 to 50 chunks of work we would call "projects" - at least two calendar weeks in duration (anything smaller than that was just a programming request, and given a control number). Like any good PMO, we generated charters, mission statements, requirements, process maps, status…