Bridging between people and technology
I’m not suggesting that project management is poor in the organisations without Prince 2, in fact it can even be better.
Neither am I suggesting that Prince 2 has not had a positive impact on the organisations that borrow bits of it.
The blame for failed change projects
51% put the failures down to “winning hearts and minds” followed by 31% citing “Lack of clearly defined achievable milestones” and then “lack of management buy-in “ and “poor communication”.
These responses don’t describe a failed change management programme, they describe non existence of a change programme, i.e little more than a wish.
If the Project manager rarely sees the battlefield, and spends his time constructing fantasy plans without ever checking with reality and assuming that things will stay the same, then imagine how far removed the average programme manager is.
The thing most of will get out of this little exercise is the realisation that we probably all miss out on a great deal by being adverse to trying new things until we find ourselves directly in their path and suddenly discover a new source of pleasure or value.
Today I had an interesting conversation on linkedin about SystemsThinking. We all agreed that trying to convert a group of people into something they are not is an uphill struggle and it is far better to identify what they are good at and make maximum use of this. It reminded me acutely of a blog I wrote … Read more
1. The organisation and the individuals that comprise it are different issues 2. Changing attitudes is achieved one by one, changed behaviour is a group activity 3. The change agent is not leading or driving but acting as a catalyst and facilitator 4. The change agent and his peers must be united in rationale and in mutual support Silos, … Read more
Few IT professionals have any grasp of the difficulty facing a business person who needs to stay abreast of tough competitors and try to win competitive advantage via IT without understanding how IT works sufficiently to make the right decisions.
Few people in business have any appreciation of exactly how complex and demanding a job it is to ask them what they want, give it to them and get a “thank you, that was great.”
Don’t let this reference to red tape fool you. It is mission critical to understand the difference between vital process and red tape and it’s not always immediately obvious.
The key to cost cutting in any area is knowing what to cut. The word we are after is waste, but even that can be misleading. In the world of Lean everything outside of the critical value adding moment is deemed to be waste, but nobody imagines that you can eliminate most of it let alone all.
The problem with C Image via WikipediaOTS purchases and traditional testing methods is just that.
Well, it’s just that the methods were designed for a world where teams of engineers spent months writing code and then began to stabilise it and introduce it slowly into the business environment until it was a stable release and a good match for the tightly defined requirements. At least that was the theory,
An absolutely key skill that no project manager can go out without is basic negotiation skills. From achieving consensus among stakeholders to getting the right procurement contract and managing exceptions, the one thing you absolutely MUST HAVE is the ability to negotiate effectively. Here are a few golden rules to help you negotiate more effectively … Read more
Image via Wikipedia Outside of the area of direct sales and many would argue to include that too, there has been a momentous movement away from good old fashioned man management techniques. (please read Man to mean both genders, this is an old term well worth revisiting). Some blame Matrix management, others blame the growing … Read more
“Bridger” A person who acts as go between or translator between the management of a business and it’s IT department or IT partners. The background Since the arrival of computers in the enterprise there has been an unfortunate and counterproductive power struggle between IT departments and other areas of the business. IT professionals share a … Read more
Some failures are just good managers failing to hit ridiculous targets. Others are driven by unspoken politics, many are caused by inability to define business goals, let alone requirements.
A five year study in Europe was enlightening.
Whether a manager, a sports person, an investor, or a dustman It is vital to understand our personal bias and manage it . Every decision we make requires some level of objectivity to stand a good chance of serving us well. “You’re faced with around 11 million pieces of information at any given moment, according … Read more
Two groups of people mastered the truth about data, its interpretation and it’s presentation and two groups didn’t. The former of course are Republicans in US and Brexit’s in UK. The theories are not new, nor are they difficult to understand but executing on them might only seem an option to somebody with no other … Read more