Business Value Of IT

Defining Business Benefits: Hard and Soft

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ July 6, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

All projects should have a clear objective, a practical plan,
and an understanding of the costs and benefits to get the thing done.
Easy to say, but a lot of project teams struggle to crisply and clearly define specific business benefits. One way to move the process forward would be to have a clear [...]

If I Told You a Fractal Solution, Could You Change the CEO’s Mind?

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ December 6, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

As the new year approaches, debates over the “value” of IT and business projects intensify; it’s not holiday stress, but the excitement of the approaching New [fiscal] Year. Lately, I’m hearing more about the struggle to quantify business value, especially when selecting those few projects that will “make the cut”. We will definitely iterate on [...]

Business Benefits of Social Networks Exist, but …

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ April 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

When I see / read articles like this, or hear the breathless claims of vendors, pundits, and True Believers, I’ll privately chuckle to myself. All of this stuff – social networking, collaboration, and innovation – are 21st century takes on good old Knowledge Management (KM), circa 1998. Do these sound like presentations from your recent [...]

PMO Nirvana is a Conversation, not a Schedule

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ February 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

We continue to iterate on our PMO processes – managing too few resources and too many project requests, an environment I have consistently seen in every IT group I have ever worked with. Our latest discussion concerned the concept of FIFO work on projects …
… when presented with five things to do, I will only [...]

Another Take on Enterprise Open Source

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ February 18, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Today’s best conversation was with Christopher Young, of B2BSX, a startup software exchange where corporate IT departments can buy and sell their development efforts, and make a little cash to offset stressed budgets. It’s an interesting idea, and spawned some ideas in a couple of different directions.Andy Hardy, IT DirectorEvery company I’ve worked for has [...]

Hacking the Google Chart API from Excel

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ January 18, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

a bit of code on a Saturday night …I’ve written before about a simple way to measure and report IT value to the business – quantifying alignment with strategic initiatives project spend in context. It all culminated with a single, simple slide – numbers, with some Tufte-esque Sparklines thrown in. Click on the picture for [...]

Field Notes: Lean Times for IT Services

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ November 29, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

I know it’s lean times in IT, and product / services vendors are all beating the bushes. Some interesting patterns have emerged over the last few months …
My Boss Is In Town: This is far and away the #1 meme / structure of incoming cold calls; I get a (very) brief synopsis of services/value add, [...]

Best Practices for Process Documentation: Iterations (2 of 3)

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ September 17, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Last time, I wrote about checklists, and showed the example of the B-17 preflight. Simple, fits on a single page, and hits all the critical steps, in just the right amount of detail. Plenty of processes in the IT department are made That Much Better if they are accompanied by detailed, effective Process Documentation. Of [...]

Where to Start? (2 of 2) Metrics & Measurements

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ August 12, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Bullet point #1 in your executive-friendly PowerPoint about “Achieving Operational Excellence in IT” covers Process and Procedure; so how do we measure our effectiveness? I’m a big proponent of Metrics and Measurements as well – but often times the biggest challenge is where to start?
Measure the Unmeasured
In most organizations (especially manufacturers!), the business has plenty [...]

IT and the Business are Closer Than You Think

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ June 28, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

A few passing observations from the last few months; contrary to what many (IT/business) folks believe, they are just as good or just as bad in managing processes and projects as their counterparts in (business/IT).
Problem Resolution is Everybody’s Problem
A few weeks ago I was discussing issues that came up with one of our systems, and [...]