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Risk management

Active risk management: doing IT projects wrong

September 2, 2013 3 Comments
Active risk management: doing IT projects wrong

IT projects are typically full of risks. There can be many human factors, many external factors, and many unknown factors, all of which can interact in unexpected ways. Because of that, it is critical that you actively identify, track and manage those risks. But to do that means that you have to be willing to […]

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Do not defer the difficult in IT projects

August 26, 2013 2 Comments
Do not defer the difficult in IT projects

When an IT project starts, those involved — both managers and developers — want to feel that they’re making progress. They also want to demonstrate that progress to those above them in the organization. So there is a very natural, very human tendency to concentrate on the easiest tasks, the “low-hanging fruit” that can be […]

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Getting technology lifecycles in sync

August 23, 2013 3 Comments
Getting technology lifecycles in sync

Different technologies age at different rates. Understanding the variations is the first step to managing them. One of the great challenges you face as an IT manager is selecting the right technology for a given project, for a specific department, or for your organization as a whole. That technology may be anything from an end-user […]

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Buying vs. building software applications: the eternal dilemma

August 12, 2013 3 Comments
Buying vs. building software applications: the eternal dilemma

Some years back, an IT colleague of mine mentioned a conflict at a corporation where he was working at the time. The corporation had a mission-critical application deployed across a large number of workstations. The corporate employees who used this application largely used it and nothing else all day long at dedicated workstations. The application […]

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Pushing for the right IT project solution

July 29, 2013 1 Comment
Pushing for the right IT project solution

In my last post, I talked about some of the reasons why large organizations often reject the best solutions for a troubled IT project: fear, pride, budget, and the ever-present internal politics. This week, as promised, I will talk about what it takes to champion the right solution. I can’t guarantee that you’ll succeed, but […]

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