What Every IT Professional Should Be Thinking About Right Now

Posted on November 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

With economic uncertainty, competitive pressures, the demand for steady growth (rapid or not), budget pressures (which are a matter of priorities more so than resources), and the (accurate) realization that many IT functions are, in fact, commodities (subject to all manner of outsourcing and manipulation) while others are — most assuredly — not, the IT professional (whether executive, manager, or staff employee) is needed more than ever to offer value added counsel and services to the stakeholders they serve.

At the top of your agenda — which every one of your business stakeholders should be hearing from you about — is Continue reading →

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Posted in Leadership, Strategy, Technology

How To Avoid The Cost of Taking I.T. for Granted

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

The primary purpose of the IT function in an organization is often taken for granted. This has created persistent problems and wasted significant opportunities in nearly all organizations in existence today. This lack of clarity continues to persist, without an end in sight, and yet it is addressable. Continue reading →

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Posted in Leadership, Strategy, Technology

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Don’t Be A Slave To Your High-Tech Interruptions

Posted on July 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

I am a heavy user of technology to improve my productivity. For example, I’m always trying out new (potentially) productivity increasing apps on my phone.

While sometimes it is about finding the right tool, often it is about finding better way to use what you’ve got for your particular needs. Unfortunately, many people pick up bad habits from others …and the default behavior of many useful pieces of technology is sub-optimal to begin with.

Here are several quick configuration and work flow changes you can make (over time or all at once), involving things we all have and use everyday: your inbox, your email, your apps, and mobile phone.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Personal Improvement, Productivity, Technology

Leapfrog Ahead — Seek Out Peers Outside Your Organization

Posted on July 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

In my consulting work I talk to a lot of CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, and IT managers.

I am routinely amazed at how few of them know their peers at other organizations — let alone regularly interact and discuss issues of substance with them.

I’ve even joked that some of the advice they (my client) pay me for could be eliminated. After all, one of the benefits of a good consultant is that they can share what has worked elsewhere.

(Of course, in the next breadth, I also go out of my way to to remind them that they would not have gotten this idea if they hadn’t made the wise decision to hire me on to begin with. Alas, they get any ideas…)

After pointing this out to several clients, I’ve suggested they do something about it. That is, they start benefiting from the sharing of best practices and commons struggles with their peers at other organizations.

If you want to start brainstorming with a trusted peer — and I suggest you should — here is how to do it:  Continue reading →

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Posted in Leadership, Personal Improvement

Advice From Grandma’s Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on July 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

My Grandma used to always have a dedicated table out with a jigsaw puzzle in progress on it. I remember many days, when I was over visiting, seeing her work the puzzle.

I had forgotten about all this. At least until this evening. That was when Continue reading →

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Posted in Josh's Quest, Leadership, Personal Improvement, Strategy

Seven Rules to Never Break in IT: #1–Think Simple(r)

Posted on July 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

There are seven rules to never break in IT. These are fundamental principles which drive success within IT departments.

I’m going to share these in and talk about them a bit. Today I’ll start with rule #1… Continue reading →

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Posted in Leadership, Strategy, Technology

Value Maintenance versus Value Creation

Posted on July 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

Today I was summarizing some of my findings for a client that I’m assisting determine direction to take for the next generation of their IP network. At one point I realized I had to document, for someone besides myself, a thought I’ve had for some time, but rarely conveyed all that well to others.

In any given IT initiative there are two categories of drivers:

  • Near-term needs
  • Longer-term goals and ambitions

Some projects orient more towards one category than the other, but with some minor exception (e.g. super speculative R&D projects) every IT project has a mixture of drivers spread across these categories.

I’ve found it quite informative to look at things a bit differently though. I break the drivers down into two other categories (in addition to the above): Continue reading →

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Posted in Strategy, Technology

Big Questions for Your IT Department

Posted on June 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

1. What are the top three IT priorities right now?

2. How do those three things relate to the current priorities of the business (not the department)?

Spend some energy, focus, and time on #2. Get some feedback from inside and outside of the department.

Just because this isn’t rocket science, doesn’t mean we don’t overlook common sense (or get lazy or busy or distracted or — you get the gist.)

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Posted in Leadership, Technology

Reflections

Posted on June 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

For nearly the past 20 years I’ve been on a quest.

In all my years of being involved with business, whether my own or those of others, I’ve realized that it is not as simple as just finding something you are really good at. Or that one thing that folks want to beat your door down to get (pay money for). Nor, alas, as simple as uncovering something you are particularly captivated by.

Want to know something funny though? At least I find it funny — well, I usually do. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Josh's Quest, Personal Improvement

Only Four Ways IT Can Contribute to the Business

Posted on June 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

There are only four ways that IT can contribute to the business. Yes, only four (and the fourth is, technically, just a variation on the first three). Continue reading →

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Posted in Leadership, Technology