All in Best Practices
Understanding the Challenges of Big Data Project Management: The Business Case
As hard as it sometimes for those of us who are technically inclined to admit, management doesn’t necessarily care what tools we’re using. Nor does management care how we manage our projects.
Still, knowing that data exist – which is what the inventories will tell us — is not the same as accessing and interpreting the data. Even assuming the public eventually gains access to the inventoried data, we’ll still need contextual information about the programs described by the data and measurement of the impacts these programs have.
You do need to avoid adopting standards and processes developed by other organizations without first understanding how and why they were developed. That requires research, communication with the other organization, and thoughtful planning.
Getting Real About "Open Data”
If the “geeks” on your team understand all this that’s great. If not, you need to seek out and involve other areas of expertise, starting with people who understand what enhanced data services can do for your target users and the problems you are trying to solve.
Making Open Data Accessible Inside the Firewall
Balance between control and autonomy will be critical and will vary by program size, complexity, structure, and maturity. Also critical will be how external and internal users of related data resources are supported when important distinctions related to privacy and security need to be maintained.
In “IT governance is killing innovation” Andrew Horne and Brian Foster argue that IT project selection needs to move beyond traditional capital investment based ROI measures. The authors think it is more appropriate to take into account project support for critical business capabilities and that such a focus will be much more supportive of innovation.
How To Make Datathons and Hackathons Sustainable
What’s a “datathon”? Here’s one suggested definition from NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge:
Who Buys Strategy Consulting These Days?
“It seems there are two extreme situations where people buy high-end analytical strategy work. At one end of the spectrum you have a company that’s doing well, has money to spend, and is in the enviable position where management can afford to “sit back” and contemplate what to do next. At the other end of the spectrum you have the company that’s not doing well, has cash flow problems, is having a tough time making payroll, but management realizes it really needs to do something different and wants to have an outsider look rationally at the problem of what to do next.”
Learning from the World Bank’s “Big Data” Exploration Weekend
If you’re serious about data analysis there’s probably no substitute for getting “down and dirty” with real, live, messy data. Sometimes you just have to sift through the numbers with your “bare hands” if you really want to extract meaning from descriptive statistics, predictive models, and fancy visualizations.
Forget “Best Practices.” Think “Best People” Instead.
A major assumption is that “practices” needing improvement will actually stand still long enough to be measured, modeled, compared, then improved. That may not be a good assumption to make.
Developing a Collaborative Approach to Improving Project Management Practices, Part 1: Culture
In Agile grows up and new challenges emerge author Rick Freedman points out what project managers, sooner or later, learn from the School of Hard Knocks: changing and improving project management practices to improve the likelihood of project success involves not just improved management methods but also cultural changes within the sponsoring organization.
Recently I received a comment on an old blog post from 2006 titled “Slide Presentation: ‘Expertise Management Systems’.”
Federal Computer Week recently published my op-ed piece Why best practices won’t fix Federal IT. I’d be very interested in hearing from GovLoop members what they think of it.
In December 2010, federal CIO Vivek Kundra released an ambitious “25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management.” No. 10 on that list is: “Launch a best practices collaboration platform.”
FCW (http://s.tt/1arcp)
In September 2006 I published The Justification of Enterprise Web 2.0 Project Expenditures. It examined differences between the cost justification of current information systems compared with cost justification of older systems. It discussed how some of the rules for calculating and thinking about technology related costs have changed.
The following are public bookmarks I’ve stored on del.icio.us that link to web pages I’ve tagged with both the terms “blogging” and “basics.”
Here are some more tips about starting your own professional blog.
The Knowledge Management Section of the U.S. Army’s Field Manual FM 6-01.1 is a classic example of the formal structure and organization one can apply to just about any organizational process that requires management.
Questions of control and responsibility inevitably arise when strategizing about the role of social media and social networking in the enterprise.