Can you, should you, bother Executives with The Details?

In a recent post on Thinking Faster, Phillips expresses concern about the apparent propensity for project sponsors to skim over the details and jump to quick answers. He's talking about [what I believe is] a peer relationship, when external expertise is brought in to develop the solution that they (the sponsors) are responsible for "owning" (vision, design, execution, and ongoing support). I've seen the same sort of thing in multiple organizations, especially when talking with executives about projects and initiatives…

When is a project a Project? How to prevent the buildup of backlogged requests

I just wrote something up (internal wiki) that I thought was common knowledge, but I think it's one of those soft-skills things that makes total sense once you hear about it - but somebody needs to tell you. I think of one of the reasons that IT (at times) intimidates the business - or why IT gets the cold shoulder when it comes to process improvement efforts - is that we can get a bit too wrapped up in the…

There ain’t much IT in IT Management

This morning, I caught myself looking back at the last week of meetings, e-mails, and conference calls, and I experienced a minor epiphany. If I published a detailed diary of the ebb & flow of proposals, debates, and commitments from the past few days, I could successfully deflate the management aspirations of 80-90% of the technical folks I know. Contrary to what many might think, there's not much IT in IT Management. Ok, that's a bit of an overstatement; I…

Project Management Soft Skills Defined: Emotional Intelligence

17 October, 2007
People Management
0 Comments

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…

I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry

(attrib) I was in a meeting yesterday - first time with this particular group of folks, all at same time, on this topic, although I had already established a working relationship with all. Anyway, subject matter was one that most of them had talked about at length over the past few weeks, but I was a new addition to the mix. Suffice it to say, I didn't have too much to add to the conversation, not until the very end…

Does IT make you productive (or, are you an existentialist or a fatalist)?

26 February, 2005
Requirements, Design
0 Comments

Interesting article in Thinking Faster, just getting around to capturing my comments ... On Requirements "The first reason that business folks don't get what they need from IT is because they aren't sure what they want" The fundamental challenge of capturing and managing knowledge - it's much easier to understand something than it is to describe, document, teach it. Why do so many organizations do knowledge transfer and training by saying "follow that person around for 3 months"? Of course,…

Sell your Boss – Some Tech Observations

30 January, 2005
Business Value of IT
0 Comments

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…