Recession and Business-IT Maturity

Just as a lot of CIO’s were gearing up for a year or two of growth and innovation, many are now being told to “hunker down” for a period of austerity.  The usual first victims - cut travel, cut training, cut anything that smells like overhead!  That Enterprise Architecture initiative that was starting to pay off? [...]

Business Implications of SOA

It’s time (perhaps even long overdue!) to tackle the thorny topic of Service Oriented Architecture.  I’ve been preparing an executive presentation on this subject, drawing on one of our multi-company research projects, so it’s fresh in my mind.
The research was focused on business implications of SOA, as this was a perspective and context that the [...]

Managing IT Infrastructure vs. Platforms

I was in an interesting discussion with one of my consulting clients recently.  I was with a group of IT managers responsible for their firm’s shared IT assets.  This is a large, global enterprise that has been on an aggressive journey over the last 5 years to transform business-IT maturity.  By any measure, they have been [...]

You Know You’ve Reached Level 3 When…

 
Back in mid-December, I posted “You Know You’ve Reached Level 3 When…“   As the BSG Alliance multi-company research project that has been examining Reaching Level 3 Business-IT Maturity shifts gears from its research to its reporting phase, I want to revisit that headline.  Here are some ‘one-liners’ that are being discussed in today’s WebEx session [...]

The “Secrets” of Consulting: Principles as a Problem Solving Tool

 
I want to continue on this ’secrets of consulting’ thread, and deal with one particular tool - principles.  Over the years, in many different situations, I’ve found this to be a remarkably powerful tool for resolving problems, clarifying positions, and, in many cases, driving significant change in behaviors.
As a tool, Principles are both easy to understand, [...]

The “Unwritten Rules” of Project, Program and Portfolio Management - Part 2

 
I’m going to continue on this theme of “Unwritten Rules” as a powerful way to understand what drives behavior, and with that understanding, be able to change the rules, and thereby change behavior.
Yesterday, I posted on the Unwritten Rules that are common to organizations where Program Management is practiced versus those where Project Management is [...]

The “Unwritten Rules” of Project, Program and Portfolio Management

Among the most popular posts on this blog is that of October 15 on Project vs. Program vs. Portfolio Management.   Less popular (but give it time… have been my posts of the last couple of days on Unwritten Rules of Business-IT Maturity.  I want to use the latter to illustrate the former, and some of [...]

How Sustainable is Your IT Portfolio?

 
My post Project vs. Program vs. Portfolio back on October 15, 2007, continues to be the most popular post on my blog, day after day.  Given that, I feel compelled to drill down further into this topic.  Today, I will address IT Portfolio Management, which is at the heart and soulof leveraging IT for business [...]

New Year’s Resolutions for Reaching Level 3

 
Some suggestions for IT leaders who are determined to drive up the business value and impact of Information Technology during 2008:

I resolve to be more effective in raising awareness of the potential for information technology to drive business growth.  I will bring ‘marketing thinking’ to my IT organization, and focus on improving our business communications.  [...]

The Business Case as a Value Realization Tool

I want to pick up on the previous post about shifting from a supply constrained to a value constrained business IT model.  I think this shift in paradigm about the IT resource is one of the most critical for getting out of Level 2 and into Level 3 Business-IT Maturity.
In the lower stages of Business-IT [...]