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:
Planning for Big Data: Lessons Learned from Large Energy Utility Projects
What can we learn from working with large energy utilities and their data that will help others plan and manage “big data” projects?
When Federal Government Project Management Collides with the "New Normal"
Welcome to the New Normal world of the federal project manager. Shutdowns. Furloughs. Sequesters. Red tape. Delays, Retirements, Meetings.It’s not an easy task managing Federal IT projects these days.Not that it ever was. But now the problems are severe.
A Project Manager's Perspective on the GAO’s Federal Data Transparency Report
While improving data transparency for both financial and non-financial data is an important goal, any effort requiring an enterprise level shift in data formats or associated business processes can also require a substantial early peak in required resources. If in fact we need to delay implementing data transparency programs, perhaps we can use our time wisely by doing a more detailed job of research and planning.
Understanding How Open Data Reaches the Public
In the long run, traditional top-down efforts at management control may be insufficient to ensure that both agency goals and the potential benefits of open data access — including unanticipated cponsequences — are realized in an efficient and cost effective manner. While leadership by the Federal government’s IT infrastructure will be necessary, it will also be necessary to ensure that ongoing efforts to advance open data access are managed efficiently both across agencies and in accordance with individual agency and program priorities; IT staff cannot do this on their own and will have to work closely with agency management.
Why I Still Use Cursive
Why do I use cursive? The answer is simple: I like to write.
When Does a Public Data Good Become a Private Data Resource?
It may be that the greatest challenge facing private entrepreneurs in developing new and valuable information products and services based at least partially on public data will be public resistance to paying for information, no matter how new, innovative, or unique these producrts or services are.
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.”
The State of Government Data Transparency, 2013
What I found most interesting and useful about the Data Transparency 2013 conference held September 10 in Washington DC was the diversity. The ability of Hudson Hollister’s Data Transparency Coalition to bring together such a high-quality group of speakers and attendees representing so many different perspectives was quite an accomplishment.
How Project Management Roles Impact Use of Mobile Technologies
A project manager has a certain set of responsibilities and authorities, a project task leader has another, and a temporary member of a specific task team will have yet another. How individuals performing these roles interact with the project plan, with other project team members, and with project stakeholders and clients will influence — and be influenced by — how mobile technologies can support project management, communication, and collaboration.
Meetings and the Limits of Government Transparency
The title of this article is “Meetings and the Limits of Government Transparency.” No, I’m not writing about NSA, Snowden, or national security. I’m writing about some government staff meetings and how open they should be to the public.
One assumption is that a core set of project planning and task assignment information exists that can serve as a baseline model for structuring how data are organized, displayed and updated. Regarding the last point: the app needs to have the ability not just to organize and display information, it also needs to make it easy for participants to update and report status on actions and deliverables.
Using the "Send to Kindle" Browser Extension
I don’t know if this is another sign of the “death of the PC” or if it’s evidence that the PC just needs to morph into something more specialized. But I do know that I really enjoy being able to carry hundreds of books and articles around in my pocket that I can then read just about anytime or anywhere.
Using Ubuntu Linux Instead of a Windows 8 Upgrade
Earlier this year I started thinking about what to do about my aging desktop machine and it’s Windows 7 install. My trusty Sony VAIO laptop running Windows 7 Professional had finally died. I cannibalized its hard drive for external storage. Should I now upgrade my workhorse HP desktop machine to Windows 8?
Paywalls, Online Publishing, and Link Sharing
Being paid to publish an article in a payment-required indie magazine such as The Magazine sounds like a great idea if that’s the business you’re in. But for me, I have have to balance such opportunities against the loss of potential sharable links both for my own articles and those written by others I want to link to.
Extended Project Deadlines are a Double Edged Sword
At minimum, project and program managers need the ability to know and communicate to project and program stakeholders what the implications are of changed deadlines in terms of cost, quality, and performance.
Apple's September 10 Announcement -- So What?
It’s common on the social media aiwaves these days to hear Apple pegged as declining due to a “lack of innovation.” Let’s assume that’s true. The question can then be asked, “If that’s the case, what difference does it make and to whom?”
The bottom line: in a post-smartphone era, the more we know where our data are and how they are used the better off we are. Network companies — or governments — that resist making such data more accessible will be disadvantaged in the marketplace. Users of networks that ignore the interests of their customers will likewise be disadvantaged.
Have We Already Entered a "Post-Smartphone" Era?
In the world I live in there are still a lot of people who are satisfied with having “just a phone.” Still, what passes for “just a phone” these days is more powerful than the combined computing power devoted to the Manhattan Project, the Air Force/NASA X-15 program, and the early Space Shuttle Orbiter’s primitive onboard computers.