Marketing Mix and the IT Organization

Inspired yet again by Chris Brogan, I’m trying an experiment with a video post.  I’ve posted before on IT and marketing disciplines and I though this might be a good topic to create a small series (3 or 4) of short video posts on the 4 P’s of marketing as they apply to the work [...]

To Centralize or Decentralize IT – That Was The Question…

What are the key issues in thinking through the perennial ‘centralize vs. decentralize IT’ question?
This post was triggered by a question I received from a CIO over the holidays (yes, CIOs and management consultants don’t take holidays!)  He was trying to deal with a number of departments which insisted on having their own IT departments, [...]

How Many “Top Priorities” Does Your IT Organization Have?

A recent client experience reminded me how IT leaders in lower maturity shops love to show off their extensive project lists – it’s almost like a badge of courage!  The bigger the list, the better!  It’s as if, “The busier we are, the more we are doing for the business.”  I’ve found over the years [...]

IT Portfolio Management – Avoiding the Tool Trap

Over many years of preaching and teaching IT portfolio management, I’ve been frequently frustrated and disappointed by seeing IT organizations screw up portfolio management, and as a result, miss out on the significant and important benefits this discipline holds.  They do so by buying into the concepts, then jumping to a tool choice, implementation, declaring [...]

Some Principles for Transforming IT Capabilities – Part 2

I recently started a post on this topic which I am continuing here with some additional principles that you might consider adopting if you are leading a transformation of IT capabilities.  (If you wonder what that means, please refer to the first post in this series.)
Principle #3.  You don’t have to call it a transformation!
Calling [...]

Some Principles for Transforming IT Capabilities

I want to tackle the thorny and often controversial topic of transforming IT capabilities – probably through several posts over the next few weeks.  I first started looking at how large companies went about transforming IT about 20 years ago.  I got very focused on it in a formal way about 16 years ago when [...]

Lack of Accountability: Who’s Dirty Little Secret?

Susan Cramm’s interesting post for Harvard Business Publishing, “IT’s Dirty Little Secret: No Accountability” contains some worthwhile observations and valid recommendations, but her post’s title is misleading.  I believe it is not “IT’s dirty little secret” but the “Business’s dirty little secret.”
As has been observed before, businesses get the IT they deserve, and it is [...]

Financial Forensics as a Clue to Dysfunctional IT

“To understand a crime, follow the money” is a familiar principle of detective work.  Over the years, I’ve found that principle to be extremely useful in the world of IT management.  In fact, my spin on it is, “If you want to understand dysfunctional IT behavior, follow the money!”
Of course, this principle helps detectives to [...]

Web 2.0 and the Other Side of Blogging…

I had a client experience the other day that got me thinking about IT professionals, Web 2.0 and the not-so-simple act of “keeping up” with today’s incredible pace of technology change.
I was in an IT meeting with about eighteen IT managers.  It was my first meeting with this group.  I noted that EVERY one of them brought [...]

IT Infrastructure, Options, and Cost-Benefit Analysis

There was a piece on National Public Radio this morning that got me thinking about IT infrastructure funding.  I think this is especially relevant as companies consider Web 2.0 technologies and ask the inevitable question – “What’s the value proposition?”  It’s a great question, unless that question gets morphed (as it so often does) into [...]