I tend to be extremely goal-oriented, so I can work toward the same goal for years — inching ahead in a persistent and steady way that infuriates instant-gratification type folks. I am happy plugging away at my personal goals, but when working through others we need mechanisms to keep everyone engaged long-term. So, in my new role I asked myself:
How can we set and meet a multi-year goal, while also minimizing the frustration of people who want faster results?
Vision without Execution is Hallucination This is one of my favorite quotes. The internet references various sources: Japanese proverb, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, but the message is clear — ideas alone do nothing. You must also be able to IMPLEMENT those ideas. I’ve studied Strategic Management throughout my decades-long college years and strategy has always been of… Read More »
My son is home from college. He attends school at the other end of the nation, so having him home is a big deal for me. Last night, he was in a talkative mood, which I suspect is unusual for most 19-year-old men (it’s certainly unusual for him). While hearing all about his various classes… Read More »
Have you ever made a decision that haunted you with doubts for weeks afterward? You wake up at night with nagging thoughts that you should have checked this, or should have thought of that? Or worse, you realize that the decision you made is NOT, in fact, the best decision. Well, fear not – we’re here… Read More »
Yesterday I was in New York for a CIO Event at Times Square. When attending things like this, I aim for at least one good take-away to make the time commitment worthwhile. This event provided several…
Maybe it’s my old(er) age, but it seems the typical IT department lives in a state somewhere between panic and chaos. Personally, I enjoy working in a calmer and kinder environment. Since IT often includes helpdesk and support, a sense of urgency is certainly expected, and there are times when it’s “all hands on deck”… Read More »
In our last post, we covered a quick/easy way to establish budgetary costs and identify the “low hanging fruit” IT projects – those projects that have HIGH value but relatively low cost and/or easy implementation. Now we’re going to tackle that one HIGH value project that was more complex – Enhance Customer Ordering.
In our last post, we identified our top priority projects, based on likelihood and business impact. Remember, these projects started from our own assessment, combined with firsthand feedback from department heads, IT staff, vendors – anyone possible.
Now we’ll attach estimated costs to each possible solution, keeping in mind that costs may go through several iterations. Think of this initial step as a BUDGETING step – not necessarily the fixed cost for the absolutely-best solution to each problem.
In our last post, we covered the Overall Assessment, which is largely a data gathering step. By now we should have a spreadsheet of potential projects, along with a WHOLE LOT more knowledge about the overall IT environment. We should understand the general flow of data, primary systems and integration points, overall network layout, and any existing policies. We should also have a good general understanding of vendor and staff skillsets. Next, we’ll build out the risk/impact prioritization – starting with the spreadsheet we created in our first step.