Category Archives: Management
Management Practices Area
The joy of being ignorant!
On March 12, Mr. Caleb Garling posted on WIRED an article titled “Study Says Most IT Guys Are Ignorant” followed by the opening line: “Why can’t the IT guy fix your latest problem? Odds are he’s ignorant.” All this, according to Mr. Garling, based on CompTIA’s report of over 500 U.S. business and IT Managers. […]
Think Globally, Act Locally
In an age where no one thinks twice about jumping on a plane and a few hours later doing business two continents over, you would think that we would have figured out a way to make cell phones to a) work any place on the planet, and b) how not to take out a second […]
Can You Hear Me Now?
Nope! Not a word! As my colleague Marla used to say: “Crickets!” That’s what we got from Verizon when on December 6th their 4G service went out. As of this writing, December 7th, it is still out. Possibly nation-wide. Possibly across all 4G devices. With no “fall-back” to 3G or Any-G! Thousands, perhaps millions, of […]
Analyze This!
The conference room was modest but very functional – a rarity these days! The two teams had amassed on either side, cordial, eager to complete the deal. We were there representing the buyer. The teams were divided into “operations,” “finance,” and “IT.” Everyone had six weeks to complete all the analysis, and land gracefully into […]
IT’s worst enemies?
Sometimes, it’s the Technologists! Here we are sitting around an impressive conference table at the plush headquarters of a multinational manufacturing company (names have been changed, of course, to protect the guilty) when their chief technology guy proclaims: “I want to make clear one thing from the start. Our mandate: Zero Impact to the Business!” […]
Innovate or else…
Under the dubious title of “Companies Are Erecting In-House Social Networks” Verne Kopytoff of The New York Times writes: “It’s one more instance of how consumer technology trends, like the use of tablet computers, are crossing into office life. Because of Facebook, most people are already comfortable with the idea of “following” their colleagues. But […]
Dreaming of True North
I was having a conversation with a client who, like many of us, is fighting a war on two fronts. First, he is fighting a war of business survival. Day in, day out, he needs to figure out how to position his business for tomorrow; he must try to predict what the markets will do, […]
“Why can’t I get e-mail when e-mail is down?”
IT called the users that the email server was down. What came next was the question above from the CEO of the company to his CIO. Nope. I am not making it up. No emphasis added. Real question. Real CEO. What’s sad about this is that this executive is not alone. Testimonials of this sort […]
It’s the Technology, Stupid!
Just as the words of President Clinton still echo their fundamental truth in our country’s politics, I submit a new rallying cry to corporate America: “It’s the Technology, Stupid!” Consider this: In January of this year, Hugo Sarrazin and Andy West wrote in McKinsey Quarterly an insightful paper on “Understanding the strategic value of IT […]
Managing Complexity
Since 2004 IBM has been tracking through surveys the top (external) factors that contribute to a company’s management challenges. (You can download the survey here: http://www.ibm.com/services/us/ceo/ceostudy2010/) Consistently on top was “Market Factors” but significantly, its importance in the ranking has been waning. In 2004, for example, it was ranked number #1 with 84% of respondents. […]
