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Measuring and Reporting IT Value (2 of 2)

My last post generated some interest, so here's the rest of the examples. Last time, I wrote about the simplistic approach to measure and report on IT value: Is your IT group working on the right things? Are they working on the right things well? Is your IT spend comparable to industry norms? Is your IT spend comparable to other measures of company performance? A bit more detail ... balancing quantitative and qualitative ... (Quantitative) To make sure you have…

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Measuring and Reporting IT Value (1 of 2)

This started off as a quick response to a question on LinkedIn Answers ... but I got on a roll ... Here's a simplistic way to measure and report on IT value: Is your IT group working on the right things? Are they working on the right things well? Is your IT spend comparable to industry norms? Is your IT spend comparable to other measures of company performance? A bit more detail ... balancing quantitative and qualitative ... (Quantitative) To…

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Integrated Supply Chain Benefits Go Beyond the Internal Stuff

I met Lora Cecere this evening, well-known AMR analyst for Supply Chain - a good conversation about the deeper potential for supply chain integration technology. The topic: are there bigger benefits here? Is it really only limited to optimization of your own supply chain? Don't get trapped into thinking that the business benefit of supply chain integration is limited to increased visibility - look at the different scenarios. A simplistic view of an integrated supply chain shows all the elements,…

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Defining the Business Value of a Project

I'm following a project management meme lately; while freely admitting that I'm oversimplifying some complex topics, I will forge ahead with ... project "value". At work, we've been talking about the classic challenge of putting a business value on a project. I call it a "classic" challenge because it's a basic requirement for every prioritization exercise that I've been exposed to. You know the drill - we have 10 projects, but only time and resources to do 5. How does…

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Project Management Soft Skills Defined: Emotional Intelligence

Illud iterum dicere potes! I've had a number of discussions, with some of the best project managers I know, as we discuss ways to simplify methodologies and streamline our delivery process. Many organizations are trying to train their next generation of project managers, and all seem to run into the same basic problem. You can hand someone the PMBOK, teach them how to use MS Project, and send them off to PMI certification classes - but that doesn't guarantee an…

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The Five Fundamental Rules of Project Management

Okay, the title is a bit of a false advertising. I'm not revealing the top five rules - I'm actually looking for help in defining rules #3-5. Any input is appreciated - care to weigh in with an opinion? I've had a number of discussions, with some of the best project managers I know, as we discuss ways to simplify methodologies and streamline our delivery process. Many organizations are trying to train their next generation of project managers, and all…

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Chargebacks Redux – Some Good May Come Of It

Okay - to be fair, that really wasn't the end of the chargebacks conversation. One of my cohorts suggested that we each come up with an argument counter to our position; I needed to come up with something "good" about chargebacks. Actually, it's quite easy to come up with the one good thing; the only problem is that it's something that most IT departments can't take advantage of ... Transparency Many business units, dissatisfied with the speed, efficiency, general business…

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Yet Another Discussion on IT Chargebacks

It felt anachronistic, getting into a surprisingly good conversation on the pros and cons of IT chargebacks this past week ... We're not seriously thinking about it (thank goodness), but a group of us did go through the intellectual exercise of discussing the good/bad/ugly of such an approach. Unfortunately, most of the "debate" focused on positive and negative experiences in the past. I think this is not an effective way to petition for such a change; it would be better…

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Interesting How the Mind Works

My mother has always been an accomplished letter writer - her travelogues are definitely worth keeping. Lately, she's adapted her flair for the written word to email, having amassed a healthy mailing list of relatives, grandchildren, etc. Here's one she sent last month - I thought it was an interesting insight into the nature of learning. She's taking care of my aging grandmother, and writes ... ... when I was cleaning out mother's [room] ... I found a pile of…

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Five Best Conversations with my Meebo (web IM) Client

Back in January, I added the Meebo client to my blog page, and over the past few months I've learned a lot about web chat in general ... There are other clients out there, and I've tried a few - most recently the AIM Wimzi, which came close to unseating Meebo as my web chat client of choice. Wimzi and Google Talk will allow me to use Trillian as a client, solving two problems I have with Meebo - logging…

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