Book Review: Mintzberg’s Latest
Did you ever notice that when you try to explain something, you tend to use more words, more sentences, or more time when you don’t really master the subject? It’s probably because you need to reassure the other party that you know what you’re talking about, or because you’re in the process of getting your head […]
What’s Your Estimation Handicap?
Discover estimation afflictions that impede the capacity to foresee digital costs Estimation is not clairvoyance; it has to be based on a solid understanding the work that needs to be done. Knowledge about that work falls into two categories of awareness: the business needs and the rest. Business Needs First For better comprehension of the […]
7 Reasons for Breaking the IT Engagement Model
A few weeks ago, someone brought my attention to an article from Robert Naegle, Research VP from Gartner, asking what my thoughts were. The article is entitled 7 Rules for Demonstrating the Value of IT. If my interpretation is right, the article’s intent is to help IT executives develop a compelling story about the value […]
Damn, I Own a Dam! (Or Why Information Systems Fall In an Asset Management Void)
Dams often cost billions. That’s why they are owned and managed as assets. If you are not familiar with asset management, think of it as how you’d manage something quite expensive that you’d own for a long period of time, such as your home. Asset Management If you currently own a house, you probably know […]
The Geometry of the Corporate IT Engagement Model
The Geometry of the Corporate IT Engagement Model Part 1 – Century-Old Wisdom If there’s one business where they’ve got their angles set right, it’s the construction industry. I am not referring to the fact the workers all carry carpenter’s squares in their tool boxes, but to their organized management of roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities*. I came […]
Silo Generator #2
The IT function is usually structured in a way to align itself with lines of business, which extends the LOB silo into equivalent silos within corporate IT. Furthermore, IT teams are also aligned around applications, an ensemble of IT components that serves a LOB or a major business process. Technology and knowledge walls are nurtured […]
Silo Generator #1
In most organizations of a certain size, IT budgets are allocated by business units, roughly following the organizational chart. Business units need to present their investment projects which invariably require to purchase, develop or modify some information system component. In many industries, business projects are often quasi exclusively made of IT activities. The investment projects […]
The Thread of Your Organization
Digital technology is woven into the very fabric of your organization’s processes. Tossing it into a separate department is like trying to separate the weft from the warp of a fabric: it doesn’t work. The All-in-One Corporate IT Where are your digital teams positioned within your corporate organizational chart? If you’re like all customers that I […]
Suspicious About Your Corporate IT’s Speed?
Are you left perplexed when you compare the technological quantum leaps that humanity has witnessed in recent decades to their net effect on the efficiency and speed of your corporate IT function? Does your mood range from remotely curious to downright fed up when you assess your IT department’s inability to keep up with the […]
The Impossible Polygon Behind the Single Desk
In Part 1 of this series of two articles, I presented a high-level description of the engagement model used in the construction industry, and how the 3 main stakeholders share accountabilities and duties. Although these three poles have diverging concerns which often lead to conflicting viewpoints, the system works because (a) the roles are clearly defined, and […]