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Project Management

Using Weak Signals to Detect Troubled Projects

October 2, 2009

Every little bit helps in sniffing out projects that are destined for trouble.  You would think that with 10+ years of project success data from Standish and others, we would have collectively improved things significantly.  This is not the case. So, I read with interest Paul Shoemaker and George Day’s article in the Spring 2009 MIT Sloan Management Review called How to Make Sense of Weak Signals with an eye toward applying these ideas to ...

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Is Agile an “All or Nothing” Proposition?

September 16, 2009

By Michael Mariani, Scott Likens, Imran Ilyas and Chris Curran When it comes to Agile methodology, many organizations have resisted it because of a belief that they have to implement it across the entire organization or not at all.  Furthermore, there is a fear that Agile isn’t proven for large, complex, enterprise-class projects.  However, we have found that using an approach driven by architecture best practices, the benefits of Agile can be applied individually to ...

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The CIO Role: One of Influence or Control?

July 29, 2009

I’d like to thank Michael Krigsman for inviting me to join him in the IT Failures town hall yesterday.  It was great to interact with a few CIOs and other experts in IT management and leadership and discuss challenges facing the CIO in successfully delivering value.  For those who missed it, the entire session was recorded. The focus of our discussion was on the CIO’s role in project success or failure.  (William Monroe regularly reminds ...

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First Aid for IT Project Failures

July 20, 2009

I spent last week at Boy Scout Camp in Oklahoma.  One of the benefits of attending a Scout camp as an adult is the great training opportunities available.  This year, I was able to get Red Cross certifications in First Aid, Wilderness First Aid and CPR during the week – all very important when dealing with boys (and adults) in camps away from good cell phone signals. As I sit here and take a break ...

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IT’s Keystone Skills

April 16, 2009

Process issues are not alone in contributing to IT’s success or failure. People (and their skills) are also part of the “holy trinity” of People – Process – Technology, the three interrelated building blocks of any business capability, IT included. With the dramatic uptake in outsourcing over the last several years, CIOs have been faced with a new set of organization design challenges and skill needs. In fact, many IT shops have remade themselves to ...

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