IT Management Life

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

Source of Confusion in Changing Organisations
2008-04-19 08:09:00
By Zbynek Rozboril - Krauthammer Consultant Krauthammer provides consultancy-based training and coaching for clients all over the world. Synonymous with lasting performance improvement, Krauthammer is most active at the fusion of the individual, team, and corporate dimensions. Source of Confusion in Changing Organisations It´s amazing in business life, we sometimes ignore basic facts. For example the need to ...
More About: Consulting , Change

Now you can post on this blog
2008-02-11 09:40:00
I launched this blog in 2006 and it now offers over 100 articles. I wrote most of them and others were written by various industry experts. These days I am too busy to post here regularly but the blog has continued to be a popular place for people to visit on a daily basis and I ...
More About: Post , Blog

The Colour-Blind Executive
2007-10-13 14:25:00
I wrote this article for the British Computer Society’s Programme Management special interest group newsletter ProgM, which was published earlier this month. Tony Blair Once Said; “I am pleased that one of its (the Improving Programme and Project Delivery Report) key recommendations - establishing Programme and Project Management ‘centres of excellence’ within departments - has already been ...
More About: Executive , Blind , Colour

Lucrative Contract and Job Opportunities
2007-07-07 05:18:00
I’ve decided to veer the the focus of this blog towards helping IT Managers find better consultanting and job opportunities. After all, I now have more that 100 articles on project and programme management and I feel like a change. Having been an independent consultant for many years, finding lucrative opportunities comes relatively easy to me. ...
More About: Job Hunting , Contract , Opportunities , Trac , Unit

Geoff Reiss on Project Management Demystified
2007-06-02 15:44:00
Having had just 5 days home in Prague after the New Zealand trip, I arrived in Al Ain, UAE yesterday to manage a government programme for Injazat (EDS & Mubadala). I had a mail from Programme and Project Mana gement guru Geoff Reiss whilst in New Zealand. His book “Project Management Demystified” has now become a best seller ...
More About: Publications

The 5th Habit and Programme Communications
2007-05-27 13:38:00
I’ve just returned from a great 3 week trip to New Zealand. To get the Blog back into action I thought I’d post this article that i wrote for the British Computer Society’s Program me Management special interest group newsletter ProgM, which was published earlier this month. The 5th Habit and Programme Communication s Many aspects of life rely on ...
More About: Emotional Intelligence , Gramme , Communications

Recipe for Business and Sport
2007-05-04 09:10:00
Since posting the 100th article on the Blog, the pace of publishing has slowed a little. It’s not from lack of enthusisam but simply because I’ve had to focus my time elsewhwere. I’ve been doing some consulting work in Europe, we’ve placed three PMs in the last week and we’ve been working on the promotion ...
More About: Business , Sport , Recipe , Ness , Spor

Black Slides
2007-04-29 12:21:00
Most of us have witnessed a few dreadful PowerPoint presentations in our time. I’m sure most of us are also guilty of giving presentations that we could have been done so much better. The Communication s expert Bert Decker has published a really interesting article on his Blog about using black slides. Bert points out that a black slide ...
More About: Tools , Black , Slide , Slides

Why use a Methodology for Managing?
2007-04-25 13:54:00
Many Project Mana gers believe that to enjoy total project management success, you need to manage projects using a formal project management methodology. They say it helps give you direction, it saves you time and it improves the quality of your deliverables. But does it? Most good managers use a methodology of sorts, whether it be written on ...
More About: Standards , Tools , Aging , Ology

It?s All About People
2007-04-18 01:00:00
I’ve done a heck of a lot of interviewing in recent months; of people who have applied for Project Manager, Senior Project Manager or Programme Manager roles. In this time, I’ve come across some superb CVs and spoken with some very articulate and switched on managers who display strong communication skills. I’ve also been lucky enough ...
More About: People , Communication , Leadership , About

The Elephant in The Room - By Geoff Reiss
2007-04-12 09:45:00
This is the 100th article to be posted on the Blog and I thought it would be very fitting to have something extra special published to mark this milestone. I’m pleased that one of the world’s leading project and programme management mentors has this morning offered me this great article that he has just written. You can learn ...
More About: Reis , Room , Elephant , The Elephant in the Room

The Lovable PID
2007-04-06 08:33:00
The purpose of the Project Initiation Document (PID) is to define all of the major aspects of the project. Our lovable PID forms the basis for the project’s management and the assessment of overall success. It’s essential that the PID is constructed carefully and not simply thrown together just so that you can say “we ...

Leading with Empathy
2007-04-04 11:24:00
The likes of Harvard, Stephen Covey and other respected names in business support the fact that leaders need to empathise strongly with their followers and care about what they are feeling. Good leaders give people what they need, and not necessarily what they want and leaders must balance respect for the individual with the task ...
More About: With , Leading , Lead , Path

Project Process and Documentation
2007-04-03 09:56:00
There are many organisations that don’t have the luxury of a Project Office (PMO); or the extent to which a PMO can help project managers is limited due to capacity. Whilst this is, to a degree, the reason why many projects are run without proper documentation, it’s not the only reason. Many organisations don’t offer ...
More About: Men , Documentation , Document , Menta

Slow down or take a breath
2007-04-02 16:19:00
I was in Rome for the first time this weekend and of course I visited the Vatican, its museum, the Colleseum and Fontana di Trevi. Incredible constructions that the Romans created long long ago. I really was impressed.   The journey there by plane was quick and easy from Prague. But what stood out was the stewardess ...
More About: Take , Down , Breath , Slow , Brea

European Banking Forum - Prague
2007-03-27 11:24:00
I was invited to the opening reception for the Euro pe an Banking & Financial Forum last night. It was held in the Rytí?ská branch of ?eská spo?itelna in Prague. A stunning building which matches the splendour of any Royal palace. Sasa Vondra, Jack Stack and others were present along with banking leaders from throughout Europe. The ...
More About: European

The 21km Project
2007-03-26 12:43:00
I did the Prague half marathon on Saturday. I’m not much of a runner and I only decided to do this about 6 weeks ago so it was a bit of challenge for me. Especialy as my last half marathon was over 20 years ago! Project -wise, I planned quite well and I had my milestones fixed ...

Show me the money
2007-03-23 16:06:00
As any PM should know, Cost Management is the process of monitoring and controlling costs within a project and it enables you to: - Determine the total cost of staff on the project - Monitor the total actual cost Vs forecast cost - Calculate total cost of undertaking each project task - Identify current and potential overruns - Monitor the ...
More About: Money , Show , Show Me the Money

Managing Your Physical Fitness
2007-03-18 16:03:00
From my early teens to my 30’s, I was a competitive international waterskier. Water ski racing is an exceptionally physically demanding sport so it was always critical that I was in good shape. If I wasn?t, I simply wouldn?t have won anything. Working out regularly and taking part in other sport, has therefore been an ...
More About: Fitness , Physical , Your , Ness , Aging

Accidental Project Managers
2007-03-15 12:38:00
The term “accidental project management” is becoming more popular as more projects need managing and less PMs are available. In fact, Project Mana gement is one of the most highly required skills in the IT world with opportunities increasing along with salaries and daily rates and there has never been a better time to be a ‘decent‘ ...
More About: Dental , Accident , Project Manager

Project Templates
2007-03-14 15:52:00
It’s been a few days since I’ve written a post here as I’ve spent some time on the water ski racing site I manage at www.skirace.net. I’ve also been really busy and on top of that, I’m training for a half marathon. So with my excuses out of the way, I want to write about ...
More About: Templates , Project , Plat , Template , Late

Programme Management newsletter
2007-03-10 04:22:05
ProgM is the Programme Management Specific Interest Group of the Association for Project Management and the British Computer Society. I have to say that the March issue of the the ProgM News letter is the best yet. The table of contents includes: - The ProgM Olympics 2012 Event - Partnership Governance: Getting it Right (Paul Rayner) - The Universal Disagreement to Programme Management around the world (Geoff Reiss) - 2007 Local government conference - Improving Project Success through cross project KPI reporting I encourage anyone interested in programme management to visit http://www.e-programme.com/ to learn more. Membership of the ProgM is free and you can apply for membership by mailing info@e-programme.com  
More About: Men , Letter , Newsletter

Programme Quality Management
2007-03-10 04:22:05
There can be long debates about the term ‘Quality’. Many experts have involved themselves in such debates, papers have been written and tempers have flared. I’m not going into that here but as any PRINCE2 PM knows, from a project management perspective, the UK’s OGC defines quality slightly different to ISO 8402. ISO 8402 defines Quality as totality of characteristics of an entity which bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. It’s a bit of an unpleasant mouthful isn?t it! Meanwhile, OGC PRINCE2 states that Quality is a question of identifying what it is about the project’s products or services that make them “fit for their purpose” of satisfying stated needs. It goes on to say that projects should not rely on implied needs (as per ISO 8402) because implied needs lead to uncertainly. I know I’m a PRINCE2 guy but I have to say that I agree that from a management perspective, the term ‘implied’ could be...
More About: Management , Men , Prog , Program , Gramme

Paul Rayner on programme governance
2007-03-10 04:22:05
Paul Rayner is Chairman of Prog M, a Managing Consultant within LogicaCMG, and co-author of the Gower Handbook of Program me Management. He has written an excellent five page article on the subject of programme governance which I became aware of this morning when I received the March issue of the ProgM newsletter. The OGC describes programme governance as being the functions, processes and procedures that define how a programme is set up, managed and controlled. In his article, Paul Rayner says; “for programmes or projects to be delivered satisfactorily, those in charge need to take seriously their responsibility to provide effective, long-term governance.  Governance provides the high-level guidance needed to ensure that the right projects are undertaken and that the programme and its component projects will result in worthwhile benefits. Governance is particularly important for programmes of organisational change. Here, not only must the component projects to be managed well, ...
More About: Paul , Over

2007 PMO of the Year Award
2007-03-10 04:22:05
I wrote about PMOs just a few days ago (PMO - who needs it). Today I came across a PMO award so I thought I’d write a quick post about this, especially as I’m such a big fan of good PMOs. The Center for Business Practices (CBP) is a knowledge centre based in the USA which captures, organises, and transfers business practice knowledge to project stakeholders. The CBP Project Management Office of the Year Award is presented in recognition of excellence and innovation in developing and maturing an organisational structure to support the effective management of projects. It’s a showcase for PMOs that have demonstrated vision and business acumen in implementing new ideas, methods, or processes that led to measurable improvements in project management realising tangible business benefits for their organisations. The closing date to nominate your PMO for this year’s award is 23 March In 2006, an EDS PMO won the award. Having spent time running a programme for EDS i...
More About: War , Ward

Stakeholder management
2007-03-10 04:22:05
Stakeholder Mana gement helps us ensure successful change. It helps managers assess and manage the environment around the planned programme and brings out the interests of the stakeholders and identifies potential conflicts to assign a level of risk or challenges to the programme?s success. It also helps identify existing relationships between stakeholders that can be leveraged to build coalitions and potential partnerships that go on to build valuable trust and collaboration among the stakeholders. But what is a stakeholder? A stakeholder is anyone who is: - managing the programme of work; - working within the programme of work; - directly or indirectly contributing to the programme of work; - affected by the programme of work or its outcomes. So even the smallest programme will find itself with a long list of stakeholders who need to be managed carefully. Understanding stakeholders as well as their needs, desires, characters, feelings, levels of influence, perceptions, etc is some...
More About: Men , Take , Hold

Clown In Office or Chief Information Officer
2007-03-10 04:22:05
1) Take a look at the world’s most successful organisations and you will find them using best practice frameworks with formal programme and project management in place. 2) Take a look at organisations that flounder around in total chaos with CIOs who seem to have no concept of programme and project manangement and often don’t even know the difference between the two. Enough said - but I’ll add a few words around this. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some exceptionally high calibre CIOs for whom I’ve had great admiration and been inspired by. But I’ve seen the odd circus act too. Isn’t it amazing how so many C-level executives are allowed to run IT in a chaotic fashion? These characters (aka clowns) sometimes fall into a comfortable seat by having a past which looks impressive, but how often is the REAL success of their past assessed before they get hired? And of course occassionally there’s the CEO who happens to be a good frien...
More About: Information , Office , Chief , Info , Inform

A culture of process improvement
2007-03-10 04:22:05
The management of IT is all about the efficient and effective use of people, processes and products - products being a blend of tools and technology. I want to write about process improvement here, which in a nutshell is a series of actions taken to identify, analyse and improve existing processes within an organisation; to meet new goals and objectives. These actions often follow a specific methodology or strategy to create successful results. I was interviewed by a PMI journalist last month for an article that will appear in the May edition of PM Network. One of my comments referred to global organisations establishing a presence in the Middle East. Whilst many of these organisations are mature in process in Europe or the USA, some struggle to implement that process in other environments. It’s amazing how culture affects the ease with which process can be poured into an organisation (without it being spat right out). The culture of current and previous working environments ...
More About: Culture , Cult , Men , Improvement , Improve

PMI Global Congress
2007-03-10 04:22:05
If you’re a PMI member you might well know about what I’m about to write already. Between 14 and 16 May, the PMI holds its Global Congress a few hours from me in Budapest, Hungary. Unfortunately I’ll be in New Zealand throughout most of May so I won’t be able to attend. One of the 12 areas of focus at the congress will be Communication, which I think is key to successful management. Knowing process off by heart is simply no good without the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and effectively. The 12 areas of focus that will be covered are all topics that any Manager could benefit from and in fact, when I see the list, I’m even more disappointed that I can’t be there. 1.  Project Management Foundation Skills 2.  Advanced Project Management Skills 3.  Project Management Tools 4.  Project Management Issues 5.  New Project Management Trends 6.  Communications 7.  Teaming 8.  General Business Skill 9.  Sales/Marketing Skills 10. Consulting Skill...

PM required in Singapore 6-9 mths
2007-02-23 04:19:10
I don’t normally post jobs on the Blog but this one is based in Sing apore and I don’t have much of a network in that part of the world. Role: Project Manager (Infrastructure) Location: Singapore (frequent travel to India) Duration: 6 - 9 month contract Start Date: ASAP Responsibility The project manager needs to represent IT as a whole to run an IT infrastructure integration project across the work streams in India. The main role is to work out a plan to detach the IT system (from front to back) from the existing IT infrastructure and integrate to the Banks? existing infrastructure. The key challenge would be the telecom connectivity throughout 28 locations in India and the user desktop build/move. The project manager needs to run the project by and large by his/her own with very limited supervision. Travelling is required back and forth Singapore and India for project delivery. Stakeholder management, runs regular steering committee and reporting meeting, generate stat...