The Decline and Fall of the IT Organization?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Vaughan Merlyn

With apologies to Ed Yourdon for my plagiarism of his original the book title, published back in 1993, “The Decline and Fall of the American Programmer“.  (Though I don’t recall if Ed gave apologies to Gibbon for first using this line!) For a blog entitled “IT Organization 2017″ and for a management consultant who has [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IS Management, IT Infrastructure, IT Management, IT Maturity, Next Generation IT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

When Words Just Don’t Cause Change

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Vaughan Merlyn

I was in a heated ‘discussion’ with a client recently.  We had completed an IT strategy refresh and one of the outstanding items was to review their IT Principles.  The IT leadership team had come up with some candidate new Principles, and I was being asked if I thought they were appropriate. “What Will You [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IT Management, Useful Tools | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

From Business-IT Alignment to Business-IT Convergence

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Vaughan Merlyn

I’ve posted before on the emergent confluence between business and IT.  I’ve also discussed the shift from Business-IT Alignment to Business-IT Convergence as an aspect of increasing business and IT maturity.  I’ve noted (Goodbye, Shadow IT – Hello, Shadow IT) that ‘Shadow IT’, often viewed as a problem to be solved might be more appropriately [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, Demand Maturity, IT Management, Next Generation Enterprise, Next Generation IT, Web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

IT Organizational Implications of Cloud Computing

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Vaughan Merlyn

First off, let me make myself clear.  I firmly believe that Cloud Computing, in its various forms, is real, absolutely inevitable and will completely revolutionize the form and role of the IT Organization.  Some readers will look at that sentence and laugh – it’s like saying “day will pass into night.”  Obvious, beyond dispute, devoid [...]

Filed under: IT Maturity | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Exploring an IT Operating Model for Enterprise 2.0 – Part 4: IT Governance

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Vaughan Merlyn

In Part 1 of this series, I suggested that the implications of Enterprise 2.0 for the IT organization are dramatic.  I also suggested that the ways of designing and executing an IT Operating Model in a Web 2.0 context are quite different from traditional approaches.  In Part 2, I outlined the major elements of an [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IT Management, Next Generation Enterprise, Next Generation IT, social networking, Web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Challenge of Sustainable Software

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Vaughan Merlyn

Just about everyone has become attuned over the last few years to the concept of sustainability.  Except, it seems, when it comes to software practices.  In most IT environments, by far the largest chunk of costs associated with a given piece of software, surface after it is initially delivered.  That is true of purchased packages, [...]

Filed under: IT Maturity | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

IT’s Toxic Assets and Self-Funded Stimulus Plan

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Vaughan Merlyn

OK – so I’m climbing on the latest news headlines – forgive me, but I do see an analogy that is important for IT leaders to be aware of.  Current business conditions mean this is a great time for CIO’s to clean up their back yards, and aggressively “kick the IT legacy problem in the [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IT Management, social networking, Web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Portfolio Management: So Much More Than a Collection of Projects!

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Vaughan Merlyn

I’ve posted recently about Program Management – mainly in response to a reader’s question about how to group projects into programs.  Her question, in turn, was in response to one of my most popular posts on the distinctions between Project, Program and Portfolio Management. IT Portfolio Management Matters! I’m delighted that my old post on [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IT Infrastructure, IT Management, IT Maturity, Portfolio Management | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Art and Science of Grouping Projects into Programs

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Vaughan Merlyn

I just received a comment on an old post, Project vs. Program vs. Portfolio Management.  This has been a popular post since it was written back in October 2007.  The comment read: I’m doing a research on how do organizations group their projects into programs, please tell me how do they go about doing that. [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, Change Management, IT Management, Portfolio Management | Tagged: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

IT and Recession: Time to Partner With the CFO?

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Vaughan Merlyn

I’ve posted before that realizing value from IT-enabled business investments requires both a partnership between IT and the business (duh!), but also a partnership between the CIO and CFO.  This can provide the credibility and linkages necessary to ensure that meaningful metrics are defined and tracked, and that accountabilities, both for costs and value, are [...]

Filed under: Business-IT Governance, IT Management, Portfolio Management | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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