Communication for the IT Geek

http://kathysrunningnotes.blogspot.com/2009/02/communication-for-it-geek.html

I by no means claim to be a communication expert. However, in the course of my job, my communication skills are often called upon.

1) I am a developer. I am required to communicate with the user to determine their needs/wants/desires. After designing an application, I am required to communicate with the users to determine if those needs/wants/desires were met as well as communicate with users when they run into problems.

2) Being part of a small IT team (there are only three of us), I am required to communicate with users when my cohorts (particularly the guy who handles most of the helpdesk requests) are not around.

So, imagine if you will, a System Administrator (completely hypothetical, see disclaimer): he plans his infrastructure, he administrates said infrastructure, and what he says goes. He feels no need to communicate with the users. They will use the system he provides, end of story. You don’t like it? Tough. See this guy, I’ll wait, it’s worth it. (While hysterically funny, this should be an example of what NOT to do. Due to his own poor communication skills, he actually creates more work for himself!)

While that is an enjoyable attitude to have, let’s face it, if there were no users, we would have no jobs. So, some communication must be doled out to users.

Communication is good. Really, it is. I promise. If YOU can send out the appropriate information, in the appropriate format to the appropriate people, you will have to interact with end users far less than you currently do and those interactions will be far more tolerable, even possibly enjoyable.

So, on to the tips:

Try to think like the user (I know it’s hard, just try). They have NO idea what you do, they just want their stuff to work. They have 25 bosses yelling at them to get their TPS reports done. Are you designing an app that requires them to click through three screens to get to something they use several times and hour? Do you take down the server at noon to install an update?

Don’t be condescending. It doesn’t help anyone. The user will feel angry and frustrated. In all likelihood, the user will walk away. YEAH! You think. However, the next time they have a problem, they won’t report it and it will fester until it goes from a relatively small helpdesk problem into a large crap-this-will-take-me-hours-to-fix problem. Or they will report you to their boss and their bosses boss and who knows who else will come tromping into your office to tell you to be nicer to people. So condescending does not help in the long run (even though it feels good sometimes!).

Be PROactive more than REactive. If you are going to take down the server in the middle of the day, communicate that fact to your users at least 30 minutes beforehand. Too little time and they won’t be able to save their work and exit. Too much time and they’ll forget when it’s happening, or that it is happening at all.

Err on the side of too much communication. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain when I’ve given them “too much” information. If it is too much, they ignore it. Fine. At least that lets them decide. Too little information and once again, you have frustrated users. Worse, they can often fill in the gaps with their own made up info. Example, the T1 line goes down, so external email is not being delivered. Without any information from you, the user assumes Lotus Notes is down and IT sucks. If you communicate the information (the T1 is down and external email will not be delivered until the T1 provider fixes the problem) AHEAD of anyone complaining, you will have far less user frustration and misconceptions.

However, too much communication shouldn’t mean “tech speak”. Throwing out a bunch of technical terms just to get users off your back doesn’t count as communication, see the paragraph about being condescending. Have you ever had to sit in on a marketing meeting? Lots of industry jargon. It can be frustrating to sit there not understanding a word people are saying, can’t it? Don’t do that to people.

Don’t be afraid to speak to users in real life. Too often we rely on emails and IMs. In the daily barrage of information we all receive, these can often (always) be ignored.
Frequently, tone and intent can quickly be misread in email or IM. When things start to get out of hand or have too many back and forths, stop, get up and speak to the user in person.

Bottom Line. Communicating with people is a good thing. Communicating well is even better. Even just trying to be better at communication shows an effort. Believe me, you will be rewarded. When I communicate effectively with users and management, I have less work to do and WAY less frustration. You can too!

FOREX Management

What is Foreign Exchange (FOREX)?
Foreign exchange involves exchanging money to facilitate the transfer of goods and/or services in one currency for another traded on foreign exchange markets.

What are the risks involved in FOREX?
Foreign currency transactions are sensitive towards fluctuations in the exchange rates. A price agreed with a customer or supplier on one day could rise or fall if the exchange rate changes. Changes in the value of currencies worldwide will affect organisations engaged in international transactions and businesses.

Some of the foreign exchange risks faced by organisations worldwide can be summarised in the following broad categories:

i) Accounting/Translation Exposure
Occurs on consolidation of financial statements of business units/subsidiaries in foreign countries as a result of the change in the value of currency of the business units/subsidiaries when translated to the domestic currency of the parent company.

ii) Transaction Exposure
Represented by the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on present cash flows as a result of importing and exporting, borrowing and lending in foreign currencies, inter-firm fund transfers, etc. This will affect the organisation’s revenues, costs, cash flows and profits.

iii) Real Operating Exposure
Changes in exchange rates alters future operating revenues and costs streams of an organisation. The changes in future cash flows as a result of the changes in exchange rates represents the real operating exposure of an organisation. Ultimately, this will affect the overall competitiveness of an organisation against its competitors.

Factors affecting risks
• Economic - Domestic & International
• Political / Country Risk
• Regulatory
• Spillover
• Other untoward events

Identifying Risks
• Strong information system for Currency exposure
• Continuous flow of information, review of factors affecting risk
• Continuous process involving reading, interaction, experience etc.
• Prediction extremely difficult

Objectives of FOREX Management
• To reduce costs involved in foreign exchange
• To contain and minimise losses in foreign exchange transactions
• To optimise potential foreign exchange gains
• To protect the operating profit of the Company/Group
• To achieve Company’s budgets and targets



How to achieve the objectives of FOREX Management
i) Determine the nature of exposure
ii) Evaluate the risk and rewards
iii) Decide on targets and appropriate strategies
iv) Formulate policies for day-to-day operations
v) Strong MIS Reporting System
vi) Periodical review of performance and strategy
vii) Single treasury concept for FOREX & money market

Key factors for an effective FOREX Management Strategy
• Management’s attitude towards risk
• Type of exposure – Tenure & Cost
• Firm’s willingness to devote the amount and quality of resource to exposure management function
• Access to various markets & instruments such as forwards, options, futures etc and there implications
• Choice of currency - Dollar / Non- Dollar
• Gross or Net Exposure to be managed

Management’s approaches towards FOREX Management

1) Conservative Approach
• Hedge the exposure as it arises
• Yields and costs of transactions are known
• Less risk of cash flow destabilization
• Less of management time and effort required
• Unlikely to yield optimum results
• Any opportunity arising in the market cannot be encashed

2) Moderate Approach
• Partial/Selective hedging
• Scope for taking advantage of opportunity gains
• Helps in averaging out total cost
• Management time and effort required

3) Aggressive Approach
• Active trading in currency
• Continuous cancellation and rebooking
• Aim is to treat treasury as a separate profit center
• Active treasury and management efforts
• High Risk :High Reward scenario
• Proper evaluation of risk extremely important bearing in mind risk-taking appetite of the company.

4) Indifferent Approach
• No conscious decision to manage exposure
• No hedging - everything left to chance
• Risk of destabilization of cash flows very high
• Merit – ZERO investment of time and effort
• Worst approach – Highly speculative

Tools for Hedging FOREX Exposure
• Financial Engineering Products:

i) Forwards - contract to sell/buy specific amount of currency at a future date against expected receivables/payables at a pre-determined rate.

ii) Futures - simultaneous right and obligation to buy/sell a standard quantity of a specific financial instrument at a specified future date and at a price agreed between parties at the time of contract.

iii) Forward Rate Agreement - This is interest rate agreement for future dates between two parties on London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR)/London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID)

iv) Options - A contract between two parties which gives them the right but not the obligation to buy/sell at an agreed price at a future date.

v) Swaps - is an agreement between two parties to exchange their liability. Primarily can be categorised as Interest rate swap (exchange of periodic interest payments - no exchange of principal. E.g. from fixed rate of interest to floating rate and vice versa) and Currency Swap (exchange of interest and principal in two different currencies.)

vi) Others

• Internal Hedging Strategies:

i) Netting – receivables/payables can be netted out by matching amount. It reduces the amount of exposure to be covered hence reducing the banking costs.

ii) Leading and lagging – shift the timing of exposures by leading or lagging payables or receivables.

iii) Invoicing – choice of currency for invoicing

iv) Asset and Liability Management - e.g. increase exposed cash inflows in stronger currencies and vice-versa

v) Price Variation

How To Spice Up Your Company Meeting: Ten Tips for Planning and Success

Are you the planner of the monthly or periodic company or department meeting?
They can be deadly dull if you're not careful. You know the drill. A bunch of talking heads line up to give people company information. People are interested, but the most effective meetings woo their attention with thought-provoking questions and answers, audio-visuals and participation.

These tips bring you success. Here's How:

1. Start your meetings, presentations and training sessions with an ice-breaker or warm-up activity. In a large meeting or a short meeting, the icebreaker can be a single question that gets people thinking and talking with their neighbor. As an example, ask a question that causes people to raise their hands. The length of the ice-breaker depends on the length of your meeting, so plan wisely.

2. Diversify your presentation methods. If every speaker talks to the audience, in lecture format, even interested heads soon nod. Ask people to talk in small groups. Use audio-visual materials such as overheads, Power Point presentations and pictures. If you're talking about a new painting process, show your employees before and after parts. Pass around positive customer surveys and comment cards.

3. Invite guest speakers for audience participation and excitement. Your customers have lots to say to your workforce about their needs and quality requirements. One client organization that partners with non-profit, charitable associations features guest speakers from the organizations that receive their donations. Speakers from organizations your employees support financially are dynamite.

4. Encourage questions to get a dialogue going. Ask people to write down their questions in advance of the meeting and during the meeting. Allow time for questions directed to each speaker as you go. If you can't answer the question immediately and correctly, tell the people you'll get back with them when you have the correct answer. If questions exceed time, schedule a meeting on the topic.

5. An often-overlooked, but very important, successful meeting tactic is to ask each speaker to repeat out loud every question he or she is asked. The person asking the question then knows the speaker understood the question. Other people attending the meeting can hear and know the question, too, not just surmise the question - perhaps incorrectly - from the speaker's response.

6. Set goals for your periodic meeting. You can't present every aspect of the company's business at a one hour meeting. So, decide the important, timely issues and spend the meeting time on them. Take into consideration the interests of the majority of the attendees as well. Remember, you have other methods for communicating company information, too. It does not have to take place at the meeting.

7. Formulate the agenda carefully. Identify the needs and interests of the majority of the participants. Start with good news that will make the attendees feel good. Vary the order of the speakers on the agenda each month. You don't want people bored by sameness. Distribute important items across the agenda so people don’t tune out the end of the meeting, or think the final items are less important.

8. An article in the Wall Street Journal, several years ago, stated that U.S. managers would save eighty percent of the time they waste in meetings if they did two things correctly. The first was to always have an agenda. The second was start on time and end on time. I'll add that you need to allot each speaker the amount of time necessary to cover their topic. Hold them to their time limit - nicely.

9. Organize the physical environment so people are attentive to the meeting content. No one should sit behind or to the side of your speakers. Make sure there are seats for all attendees, and if taking notes is required, a surface to write on, too. Make sure visuals are visible and that people can hear. You may need to use a microphone. You can pass props or samples around the room for viewing.

10. Never underestimate the power of food at a meeting. Food relaxes the atmosphere, helps make people feel comfortable, helps people sustain positive energy levels and builds the camaraderie of the team. Ensure you meet the diverse needs of your group with the food you serve. As an example, offer fruit and yoghurt in addition to donuts. Offer vegetarian and kosher hot dogs with the regular franks.

Bad Meeting

Introduction

Meetings are a very important part of the management process in any company. The main objective of meetings is to get the people involved in a project or problem to meet, discuss and come up with solutions. It is as simple as that. However from informal surveys carried out with the participants in my training sessions, I gather that meetings are one of the most mismanaged of management functions in Malaysia. The complaints are usually focused on three items i.e.

a.There are too many meetings.
b.They take up too much time.
c.They are not effective, i.e. a ball park figure of 50% is usually given.

The question therefore asked is, “Why are there so many meetings and why aren’t they effective?” Thankfully, this is not only a Malaysian phenomenon, as it also exists in America. In a survey done by MCI, one of the leading telecommunications company in America, these were the following findings about meetings in Corporate America.

a.Approximately 11 million meetings occur in the U.S. each day.
b.Most professionals attend a total of 61.8 meetings per month and research indicates that over 50 percent of this meeting time is wasted. This comes to approximately four work days in a month.
c.Most professionals who meet on a regular basis admit to daydreaming (91%).
d.A large percentage (73%) say they bring other work to meetings and 39% say they have dozed during meetings.

I am most certain, that these statistics, although taken from America also mirrors the way meetings are held and viewed in Malaysia.

Reasons for Unproductive Meetings

I will define unproductive meetings as meetings that only partially achieve its objectives. As 50% of meetings fall under this category (from my informal survey), I will now try to state some of the reasons why this happens.

a. Routine Meetings
Routine meetings are one of the biggest culprits of non-productive meetings. How many of us walk off to the meeting room on a Monday morning because we have to attend this ritualized ‘manager’s meeting’. Sometimes we do not even know what is going to be discussed and sometimes we do not even care. Worse still, there is nothing serious to discuss, but since everyone is around, trivial matters are discussed to justify the forum, to the annoyance of many of the meeting participants. Once a meeting becomes a ritual, then there is always the danger that people will find ‘something’ to discuss.

b. Weak Chairman
Meetings which have an excellent agenda are sometimes led astray because of a weak chairman. How many times have I seen the following scenario taking place i.e. a decision is made at the first meeting after a long drawn out discussion. At the next meeting someone raises the issue again and the same discussion takes place one more time to the frustration of the meeting participants. Sometimes you just feel like telling someone to tape the original discussion and then just play it back at the next meeting!
Meetings also take a long time, because the chairman is not able to control the meeting well and allows some individuals who have ‘verbal diarrhea’ to dominate proceedings. From my experience, these individuals contribute a lot, but only in quantity but certainly not in terms of quality.
Another trait of a bad chairman is the fact that they are loathe to making decisions on their own but want to try to reach consensus. And as we are all aware, trying to decide on a simple matter like the date for a family day can be a torturous affair if consensus is required.

Habit

Another reason for unproductive meetings in Malaysian organizations is as a result of bad habits. For example, when something goes wrong at the Marketing dept, the usual temptation and habit is to call for a meeting of all department heads to ‘get their views’. The Human Resource manager then goes for the meeting, stays quiet for three hours i.e. the duration of the meeting and then leaves without having made any contribution as he lacks comprehensive knowledge of the issue being discussed. He was there only because it was the requirement for all Heads of Departments to be there. And usually a meeting like this takes place with twelve participants but only three individuals do most of the talking as they are the experts. Wouldn’t it have been better to just call these three people for the meeting?

Deviation from the Agenda

Due to lack of control, individuals try to bring up lots of other issues that have nothing to do with the original agenda. The discussions then deviate such that more emphasis is given to the side issues rather than the main item on the agenda. I have many a time been at meetings where the main objective for example, is aimed at discussing the format of a new performance appraisal system, but however degenerates and ends up discussing the need for extra car parks for employees! More time is spent on this issue as lots of personal interests come into play then the latter subject. A weak chairman does not help either.

Measures to Ensure Effective Meetings

Meetings, as we know are a very important part of an organization’s management system. We are also aware however that that there are too many meetings held and those that are held are to a large extent unproductive. There is also the cost factor to be taken into account during unproductive meetings. Firstly are the salary costs of every meeting participant. Meetings also keep people away from the tasks they were hired to perform i.e. tasks that make money for the company and keep the business more efficient and effective. Then there are the miscellaneous costs of bringing people to the meeting who are outstation or even overseas.
In addition to this financial cost, there is also the human cost such as poor morale, frustrated management, etc. This happens especially, when there is a culture of bad meetings in an organization.
How then can we make meetings more productive? What are the measures that we can take to ensure meetings are able to achieve their objectives?

Is a meeting necessary?

One of the first things we must do before calling a meeting is to ask whether ‘there is a need for a meeting in the first place.’ Are you calling a meeting because it is an organizational ritual, or are you doing it because it really is necessary? Give a thought to the costs involved. Before making the decision make certain that the value you would receive would be greater than the investment in time and the interruption to work flow of the people involved in the meeting.

Ground Rules

Always have ground rules during meetings. These could be permanent features at meeting rooms. Cover such things as speaking rules; focusing on issues and not personalities; staying on the agenda etc. When people are aware of what is expected of them, they are much more likely to adhere to these rules and thereby contribute to a more productive meeting.

In Intel, for example, in all meeting rooms there is a poster with a series of simple questions such as “Do you know the purpose of this meeting”? “Do you have an agenda”? “Do you follow the rules for good minutes”?

These posters are a visual reminder of just how serious Intel is about productive meetings. In addition all employees of Intel are required to attend the company's in-house course on effective meetings. In fact, the CEO Andy Grove himself taught at these courses as he wanted good meeting management to be part of the culture of Intel.


The Agenda

I think one of the most important items before a meeting is to put some thought into the agenda. This step can make or break a meeting.

1.Outline agenda ahead of time. Outline ahead of time what is the objective of the meeting and points that will be covered. Write it out, and distribute it to participants ahead of time. This will help participants to be more prepared for the meeting. No one can say they did not know.
2.Agendas should be strictly adhered to. This might sound very basic, but is definitely a problem in the Malaysian context. People tend to use the meeting forum to bring up issues that they have a personal interest in and the Chairman must use the agenda as an excuse to prevent this from happening.
3.Limit the Agenda to Three Points or Less: Ask yourself, "What are the three most important things we need to cover in the meeting?" Limit the agenda to just these three points. Trying to solve all of the company’s problems in one meeting is a definite route to disaster.


Set a Time Limit

Time limits are important as it creates pressure on the chairman and the members of the meeting to have quality discussions. One reason meetings drag on is that people don't appreciate how expensive they are. The time limits set must be realistic and in congruence with the objectives of the meeting. Many management gurus’ invoke the rule that meetings should last no longer than 90 minutes.


Get the right people

How many times have I seen people coming for meetings who are not sure why they are there in the first place? It is better to have a meeting with three people who can contribute rather than 20 people who are there for the sake of being there.


Conclusion

Bad meetings are probably one of the most pervasive yet underestimated problem in Malaysian organizations. The saying "If I don't have to go to meetings, I'd like my job a lot more" is definitely something that many Malaysian managers hold dear to their heart. On the other hand, good meetings can be a very powerful way to communicate and solve organizational problems. Managers must realize that it is a necessary management tool and what they have to do is to be able to use that tool as effectively as possible so as to create a positive impact on organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

7 Signs of Poor Productivity

If you're like most professionals, there never seems to be enough time in the day. A handful of e-mails may keep you in the office past the time you had planned to leave, or you might find yourself working on Saturday after barely touching a key project during the week. Short of adding an extra hour or two to the day, what can you do to complete everything on your plate?

One solution is to identify and eliminate productivity pitfalls from your workday. Consider the following signs of poor productivity and ways of improving your habits:

1. Not knowing what to tackle first.
If you have dozens of to-dos, it can be difficult to determine which to work on first; you may approach a low-priority project immediately only because it was top of mind. Spending just 10 to 15 minutes at the start of your day organizing your work is a simple and highly effective way to boost your productivity. You'll be able to prioritize and identify the most pressing projects.

2. Biting off more than you can chew.
When you're facing a complicated or tedious assignment, what's the first thing you usually do? Procrastinate, probably. The result is that you have to scramble to finish the assignment on time. A better approach is to break your work down into smaller, more manageable tasks. You'll feel a sense of accomplishment each time you reach a milestone and gradually work toward your goal.

3. Working at the wrong time.
In a recent survey by our company, 57 percent of executives said Tuesday is the most productive day of the week. Monday came in a distant second with just 12 percent of the response. The lesson: Schedule your most important projects for days and times when you are most productive. If you typically have meetings in the morning, for instance, you may save an assignment that requires a lot of concentration for the afternoon.

4. Having an unruly inbox.
Instead of boosting productivity, e-mail can quickly decrease your effectiveness. Over time, trying to keep up with an ever-expanding and unorganized inbox can steal hours from your day. To avoid this, clean your inbox weekly; delete unnecessary messages and file the important ones in an appropriate folder. In addition, remember that some discussions are easier and quicker to conduct in person or by phone. The less e-mail you send, the less you are apt to receive.

5. Keeping your door open.
It's important to be accessible to colleagues, but you occasionally need some time for yourself. When you're under a tight deadline or working on a crucial assignment, minimize distractions and curtail interruptions by closing your door or hanging a "Do Not Disturb" sign in your work area. But keep in mind your request will lose impact if your sign is posted at all times.

6. Staying put.
As most people know, sitting at your computer for hours on end can be draining and put you in a productivity rut. Recharge and clear your head by taking short breaks throughout the day. For instance, you may take a quick stroll around the building or sit at a picnic table outside. Getting some fresh air can be an invigorating break from your routine and give you the energy you need to tackle your next assignment.

7. Missing opportunities to save time.
Small "time cheats" that save you a few minutes here or there can significantly boost your productivity. For example, rather than responding to every e-mail as it comes in and losing momentum hit Reply, then save the message in your Drafts folder. You'll be able to respond to the message at a more convenient time and won't forget to answer the person who wrote you. (Note: or in our case, use "Follow Up")

Finally, be realistic. While you want to push yourself, if your productivity goals are impossible to achieve, you'll end up frustrated, not motivated. Start with small objectives, such as limiting your unanswered e-mail to a single screen before leaving the office each night. As you begin to hit your initial targets, you can gradually increase the challenge.

By: Robert Half International [www.rhi.com]

How to Gain Respect and Support for Yourself and Your Business

By: Olakunbi Korostensky
"He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce"
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

To gain respect from others, you have to respect yourself first. People will give you their undying respect as long as they recognize that you portray these 3 key attributes: trustworthiness, integrity and mindfulness. Because having these qualities demonstrates your level of consciousness and maturity.

When people respect you, it is easier to get their support. Getting people to give you continuous support, also requires you to apply yourself. Here are ways to help you make an impact on people whom you want respect and support from.

1. Be exuberant and passionate about what you do and your life.
People love those who exude vibrancy and passion about their life, particularly about what they do. Think of this: how stimulating do you find people who are forever talking about their "great ideas" and what they want to do and yet, never starting anything? Now that's a damper!

2. Be unique and individualistic in your views and opinions.
Are you unique and stand out with your own style and personality? If you are afraid to voice your opinion, and would rather fit in, I can assure you that it will be difficult to command respect from others. And without respect, no support. This doesn't mean that you have to constantly come up with new innovations. It simply implies that you don't suck up to people, just because you want validation. The best validation is to be true to yourself.

3. Be a great listener. All great listeners are magnetic and charismatic.
There is no charm that equals that of a good listener. Here is an experience I had in a restaurant with my husband not too long ago. I noticed that my husband was fascinated by a woman sitting a few tables way from us.

When I asked him what got him so fascinated about her. He replied that the woman was just fascinating to watch, because she was listening so intently to her partner. Her eyes were on him, as she leaned forward, giving him her feedback, and at the same time not interrupting him. While she let him know that she was hearing him, she also held up her end of the conversation.
Then my husband said something remarkable: "She's the kind of woman I normally wouldn't pay attention to on the street, but while sitting there, listening and being interested the way she's doing now, makes her attractive."

True listening embodies careful attention, patience and honestly wanting to understand what the other person is saying. It also fosters good relationship.

4. Be a life long student. Let people know that you're willing to learn from them and be genuine about it.
Learning is growing, and growing is learning. You cannot learn all by yourself. To truly grow, you need others along the way. And when you show people your willingness and enthusiasm to learn from them, you'll be amazed how helpful and happy they will be to support you.
Be open and get to know people who are different from you. If you're interested in something, never be afraid to ask questions. You won't be ridiculed for showing real interest.
Do you know people who have stopped learning? Do you find them interesting to have around? Probably not! So do yourself the favour of becoming an avid learner.

5. Be authentic and reliable.
Before you make a promise, make sure you can deliver. Keeping your word is very crucial to building trust and credibility. There's nothing more detrimental to your image, than having people believing in you and letting them down.
There are times you may genuinely try to fulfil your promise and it just doesn't work out. In that case, be honest about it and apologize. No one will hold that against you.

6. Be generous.
A generous heart gives freely without having any expectactions. Don't try to buy people's loyalty or support. It will backfire on you! You will reap more benefit and reward from giving truly from your heart, rather than being calculating. Even if you don't get something in return, the eternal laws of reciprocity will find a way to balance things out for you and give you your dues.

7. Be direct and have boundaries.
When you have something to say, just say it and let people know where you stand. Letting people know what you want and don't want, liberates you and those around you. Don't allow people to walk all over you. Let them know your boundaries.
For instance, to avoid lying about a proposition which may not interest you, an appropriate answer could be: "I'm sorry that doesn't work for me right now". This is a straightforward and truthful answer making it easy for you and for others to move on.

In conclusion, do you trust and respect yourself? If you don't, no one else will. This especially means be true to yourself and what you believe in. Just as Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves".

To Team Or Not To Team‏

Everyone thinks teams are a good thing. Leaders like to form teams. People, for the most part believe in the value and purpose of teams . . .

All of us are smarter than each of us.

1 + 1 = 3

. . . are just two common phrases that reinforce and prove how pervasive our belief in teams is.

And that belief is justified.

Sometimes.

There are many times in our civic or church groups, and in our businesses and professional associations that we need teams of people to work on an issue or a project. And sometimes we would be better off without a team - with individuals contributing as individuals.

What?

No team?

You got it.

At least not the type of team you probably think of, when you think of a team.

Two Basic Types of Teams

To keep things simple, I believe there are two basic types of teams. There are basketball teams and there are track and field teams.

Basketball Teams

Basketball teams (or soccer or hockey) are teams that require, by the nature of their task, that everyone play as one unit. On teams in these sports the players are interdependent. At any moment of any game, in order to be successful, the entire team needs to be working in harmony. The role of each player is designated by their position (which takes into account their innate strengths and acquired skills). However, the situation at any moment during the flow of the game, may require any player to take any role.

And on good teams of this sort, all players are willing to be flexible, to assist, to change roles, to “do what it takes”. Because they know that without working together, they can’t achieve their team goals of victory. The nature of the game forces interdependency among the team members.

Track and Field Teams

Players on track and field teams on the other hand (except in a few relay events) are not interdependent, they are independent. Shot putters have a skill set that is largely unrelated to the sprinters. And the high jumpers can be personally skilled and successful without any tangible help or support from the distance runners.

At the end of the day (or meet), the team can win if enough of the individuals do well. In other words if enough individuals win, the team will win. The most successful of these teams will have highly talented individual contributors, supporting each other to reach their common goal of winning. In this way they are definitely a team. They may feel allegiance to the group. They certainly can have pride in being a part of the group. They want each other to be successful. They know that they can all be more successful when each individual is more successful. They can have a common goal (to win the meet or championship). But the fundamental relationship between the players isn’t the same as it is on a basketball team.

What This Means to Us

In our organizations we most likely have both sorts of teams. We have teams that work in a process flow or project where the outputs of one person directly affect the work of the next – where the work and the people are highly interdependent.

We also have teams that look more like the track and field team. In these situations people are working toward a common mission and goal, but their work doesn’t intersect in nearly the same ways as for the highly interdependent teams.

Fair enough you say.

But in my experience, we tend to want all teams to think they are basketball teams. If the work or project dictates that focus, great. But if you have a track and field (independent) team, you don’t need the same focus on interdependence and traditional “team building” activities.

What Do We Do Now?

If you lead a team or form teams or are just a member of a team, you need to think about and talk about this distinction. Determine across the team (or future team) what type of team you are. Once there is agreement on the type of team you are, you can begin to set the right kinds of expectations for each other and for yourself. You can build more appropriate plans for training, development and team building.

Knowing which type of team your work or project dictates is the first step towards helping that group of people be more successful and the work being done successfully.

So maybe it isn’t really, “to team or not to team?”, but “which type of team?”

. . . that is the question.

Answer that one first. And, using the answer as a guide, watch all of your teams be more successful.

Ten Tips for Increasing Operational Efficiency‏

To remain competitive in an increasingly competitive world, businesses must boost operational efficiency wherever possible. "Sooner or later, any company not operating efficiently will be out of business," says Laurie McCabe, vice president of small and medium-sized business (SMB) insights and solutions for research firm AMI-Partners. It's particularly important for SMBs to operate efficiently, McCabe adds, because they often have more limited resources than larger enterprises. The following are 10 tips for using network technology to help your business increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, and stay ahead of the competition. Provide employees with secure, consistent access to information. One advantage of being an SMB is the ability to react more quickly than larger competitors. But if your company network is frequently down, sluggish, or unsecured, that competitive advantage is eroded. A secure, reliable, self-defending network based on intelligent routers and switches provides your business with maximum agility by providing reliable, secure access to business intelligence. What's more, a secure, reliable network infrastructure provides the necessary foundation for a number of efficiency-enhancing technologies and solutions, such as IP communications. Deliver anytime, anywhere access to mobile employees. SMB employees are typically more mobile than those in larger enterprises, says Jan Dawson, research director of Ovum Research. "Ubiquitous access to people and information is particularly important for SMBs," in order to be productive while on the go, he adds. Technologies enabling ubiquitous access include virtual private networks (VPNs), which securely connect remote workers to the company network, and pervasive wireless networks, which enable workers to stay connected to the network while roaming about an office building or campus. Create effective business processes with partners. Some large enterprises make efficient, secure business processes a prerequisite for doing business with them. To develop efficient business processes that meet the requirements of your partners, your business needs a secure, reliable network infrastructure. Make it easy to collaborate. Effective, interactive collaboration between employees, partners, suppliers, and customers is a sure-fire way to boost efficiency while also reducing costs. Integrated voice, video, and data and wireless provides the kind of interactive calendaring, videoconferencing, IP communications, and other technologies your business needs to foster seamless, easy collaboration. Enable employees to take their phone systems wherever they go. Missed calls create any number of business challenges, including operational inefficiencies (from trying to reach absent colleagues), project delays, missed opportunities and lost revenues. An IP communications solution enables your workforce to have one phone number that simultaneously rings on multiple devices, greatly increasing the chances of being reached on the first try. Workers can access their entire communications system wherever they go and can check e-mail, voice mail, fax and pages all in one inbox, among other benefits. Streamline communications with customers. Interacting with customers efficiently and knowledgeably helps keep them satisfied—and few things are as important to your bottom line as satisfied customers. Linking an IP communications system to a customer relationship management (CRM) solution is one way to enhance customer communications. When a customer calls, a pop-up window of the customer contact record appears on an employee's IP phone screen, computer screen, or both. Before the second ring, the employee answering the call has access to information about the customer calling, such as orders pending and recent returns. Reduce unproductive travel time. Any time spent traveling, particularly by airplane, can dramatically reduce operational efficiency. An IP communications solution that offers rich-media conferencing, such as videoconferencing, helps reduce the need to travel to offsite meetings and training sessions. The time saved from traveling can be better spent on more productive pursuits. Also, reducing travel saves money. Outsource IT tasks. Is it the best use of an employee's time to manage your network security or IP communications system? Often, a more efficient option is to outsource such tasks to a managed service provider. A service provider has the expertise that your business needs but may lack, without the need to spend time or money developing that expertise in house. Also, outsourcing enables your employees to stay focused on productive activities related to your business's core competencies. And that helps keep your business competitive. Outsourcing tasks can help improve customer satisfaction and your competitiveness. "A lot of small businesses think it's cheaper to do everything themselves," says AMI-Partner's McCabe. "But employees can get overloaded, and they may not be in a good mood when interacting with your customers." McCabe adds that SMBs often don't do as good a job at an IT task, such as IP communications, as a managed service provider would do for them. "And if you're not doing a good job at something, your competition probably is," she adds. Improve employee retention and satisfaction. When your business has inefficient processes, such as antiquated phone systems or a sluggish network, employees can get frustrated, because they can't get their jobs done with the tools provided. Customers may perceive that frustration and lose confidence in your business. Even worse, valued employees can become burned out and decide to move on. Not only have you lost a productive worker, you must spend time and money hiring a replacement. To help ensure employees are productive and satisfied, your business needs, at a minimum, a secure, reliable, always-available network. Develop a long-term technology plan. Whenever you replace hardware that has become obsolete or ineffective, it's disruptive to workers—and that results in low productivity. You can minimize or eliminate such disruptions by carefully determining short- and long-term business objectives and the carefully mapping technology solutions to those objectives. "Every year, you should try to determine how well your technology solutions map to your business objectives," McCabe advises. Ask your value-added reseller, network provider, or other trusted adviser for help, she says. "The companies who have a plan and keep it updated are most likely to streamline their operations—and outperform their competition."

A Tale of Two Managers: Command versus Commitment

Organizations should be built and managers should be functioning so people can be naturally empowered..

If someone's doing their job, they should know their job better than anybody. They don't need to be 'empowered,' but encouraged and left alone to be able to do what they know best." — Henry Mintzberg, Management Researcher and Author.

Joel views himself as a "realist." As a manager, he has little time or patience for, as he puts it, "making nicey-nicey." Coming from a deep technical background, he hates meetings ("they get in the way of real work") and resents having to sell changes or get people on board. "I don't care if they like me," he's fond of saying, "I only want their respect and compliance." He likes nothing better than solving tough technical problems with practical, well-designed solutions. He runs his organization "by the numbers." He focuses on continuously improving existing processes and technologies. He sets high targets and relentlessly drives everyone to meet them.

The part of the job Joel likes least is dealing with people. Their irrational, emotional behavior drives him nuts. He often dismisses contrary points of view with comments like, "that's only their perception, that's not reality." He then proceeds to prove his point with facts, rational arguments, and analysis.

Joel believes that most people see their work as a four-letter word and must therefore be tightly controlled, threatened, or bribed with incentives before they will work hard enough. He prides himself on being a tough manager who rolls up his sleeves and digs deep into operational details. He exercises tight control with policies, directives, and rules. His mood swings cause the team's emotional tone to wildly gyrate from high to low with much time being spent figuring out how to read him and avoid his wrath. Joel's main tool for influencing behavior on his team is through punishment and "shooting down people who haven't done their homework."

On the other hand, Denise is an "idealist" with a strong technical background. She realized some time ago that her real leadership work increasingly gets done in meetings. So she has trained and worked hard at developing her facilitation and team leadership skills. She also knows that just wishing or "positive thinking" problems away usually makes them worse. She is also determined not to be so focused on the problem that she and her team can't see the possibilities. To avoid getting stuck in "reality ruts," Denise keeps everyone focused on what could be.

Denise sees possibilities in people. She believes that people want to take pride in their work and be part of a winning team. She has learned that motivation or morale problems are usually rooted in leaders failing to engage people in the broader aims and ideals of the organization. As more people search for meaning in their lives and in their work, this disconnect creates much of the frustration and lack of purpose found in so many workplaces today. Denise works hard at connecting people to her organization's vision, values, and purpose. Denise's high energy and optimistic attitude sets a strong and positive emotional tone throughout her organization. People are inspired to face tough problems with confidence and teamwork.

Out in the real world, we see plenty of Joels – and not nearly enough Denises. Their differences are obvious enough, but ask yourself the following questions:

• Whom would you rather work for?
• Who is the stronger leader?
• Who is likely to get the best results?
• Would your team consider you to be most like Joel or Denise? How do you know?

Denise uses a collaborative approach to partner with people. She sees people as adults who are generally self-managing (with some exceptions). Joel treats them like kids who need to be managed "with a firm hand" (with some exceptions). Denise cares about people. Joel dehumanizes and objectifies them. Denise uses the power of persuasion (leadership) to get things done. Joel uses position power (management). Denise builds a cause and case for change, appealing to the head and heart to get buy-in. Joel tries to overcome resistance to change with facts and force; like someone traveling in a foreign country who can't speak the local language, he'll just talk louder to be understood. Denise shares as much information as she can and builds strong multi-channel and multi-directional communication loops. Joel gives people information on a need-to-know basis; he only "empowers" people as a motivational technique to get people to do what he wants done. Denise partners with people so they feel naturally empowered to reach their mutual goals.

A Template for Marketing IT to the Business

Many IT organizations are just beginning the journey toward more effectively marketing IT to their business constituents. But what is the right step-by-step approach to use to jump-start their efforts? This document examines and synthesizes Forrester’s research and examples of IT marketing and communications, and recommends the steps and categories of information that should be incorporated into a template for each step.

Step 1: Make marketing someone’s job.
Step 2: Articulate your value proposition.
Step 3: Identify and prioritize the audiences for IT marketing.
Step 4: Select a specific pilot campaign to target a problem area.
Step 5: Brainstorm all the feasible channels for the campaign.
Step 6: Craft the material for this campaign.
Step 7: Identify the campaign champion(s) for the targeted audience.
Step 8: Run the campaign using all the feasible channels.
Step 9: Review the campaign and assess what works.

The 13 most common project management mistakes

By Meridith Levinson MIS

Most of the project management mistakes IT departments make boil down to either a lack of adequate planning or breakdowns in communication.
FRAMINGHAM, 23 JULY 2008 - It's no wonder only 29 per cent of IT projects are completed successfully, according to The Standish Group.

Project management consultants and software providers say they see IT departments making the same project management mistakes over and over: IT groups don't follow standard project management processes. They don't have the right staff working on projects. They don't assess the risks that could imperil their projects or determine ways to mitigate those risks. The list of mistakes unrolls like a ball of yarn.

Most of the project management mistakes IT departments make boil down to either a lack of adequate planning or breakdowns in communication (either among the project team or between the project team and the project sponsors). These mistakes can be fatal. They can also be avoided. And who better to point out the most common project management mistakes than project management vendors and consultants. (They also suggest ways to avoid them.)

The following list of the 13 most common project management mistakes ought to help you pinpoint where your projects are going wrong and measures you can take to improve them. The upside of avoiding these most common project management pitfalls is tremendous. Not only will your project success rate increase, you'll also improve satisfaction among internal customers, IT's stock inside the organization will increase in value, and the business will benefit from systems that make them more competitive that get delivered on time and on budget.

Staffing Mistakes

Mistake No. 1: Projects lack the right resources with the right skills.

Impact: Proper project staffing is critical, yet improperly allocating resources tops the list of most common project management mistakes. Not having the right people on a project can kill it. "The key to getting a project successfully accomplished is getting the right people with the right skills," says Joel Koppelman, CEO of project management software vendor Primavera. "All the planning in the world won't overcome an insufficiency of talent."

Solution: IT and project managers need full visibility into the skills and workloads of all of their resources, including consultants, contractors and outsourcers, who often get left out of skills assessments even though they're doing a "huge" proportion of work, says Koppelman. Project management software can provide such visibility into everyone's skills and workloads.

Once IT and project managers know who's doing what, they have to figure out how to allocate resources across myriad projects and day-to-day work.

"There are all kinds of organizational models," says Richard Scannell, co-founder of IT infrastructure consultancy GlassHouse Technologies. "I've never seen anything that works well. There's no easy answer [to the resource allocation question]."

You just have to try synchronizing people and projects as best you can, says Koppelman, adding that one potential solution is to appoint a resource manager who's responsible for figuring out who will be assigned to each project and for ensuring there's a fair allocation of talent across projects.

Scannell suggests setting up "tiger teams" where people get taken out of their traditional job responsibility for a year or more to work on a specific project. Ken Cheney, director of HP Software's PPM Center, recommends assigning resources at a project level as opposed to a specific task level, which he says is much more arduous.

If you're still hard-pressed to adequately staff projects, you may be able to free up resources by cancelling a "discretionary" project (e.g. one that isn't tightly tied to the business strategy), says Cheney. He suggests looking at your entire portfolio of projects your IT staff is working on to identify ones that aren't mission-critical. "By stopping those projects and reallocating resources to projects that will have the biggest impact, the organization as a whole can be much more successful," he says.

Mistake No. 2: Projects lack experienced project managers.

Impact: Projects can quickly grow out of control without a savvy project manager at the helm.

Solution: Hire project managers with certifications and the finesse required to manage stakeholders. Matthew Strazza, vice president of services (North America) for CA, says good project managers have to have strong soft skills. They need to know how to facilitate meetings, manage risk and handle a variety of different stakeholders-the business people who are looking for functionality, the IT people who care about security, and the financial people who are worried about the budget.

"If you're not addressing the financials, managing the budget on a week-to-week basis and notifying the client of any change, you can get into trouble pretty quickly," says Strazza.

Good project managers also need to possess technical expertise in whatever technology is being deployed, he adds.

Process Mistakes

Mistake No. 3: IT doesn't follow a standard, repeatable project management process.

Impact: This is the second of the most common project management mistakes. Lack of methodology increases the risk that tasks related to the project will fall through the cracks, that projects will have to be re-worked, and ultimately that a project won't be completed on time or on budget.

Solution: A project management methodology helps you tackle projects efficiently and makes you aware of all the activities involved in the execution of a project.

"Having in place a baseline of standards and methodologies will remove a lot of the risk associated with IT projects," says HP's Cheney.

Douglas Clark, CEO of Métier, a provider of project portfolio management solutions, recommends establishing repeatable processes for scoping, scheduling, allocating resources and communicating with stakeholders. "Those are the things you want to get a handle on first because they would probably give you the biggest payoff," he says.

Mistake No. 4: IT gets hamstrung by too much process.

Impact: Too much process makes the project team inflexible, and their inflexibility frustrates stakeholders.

Fumi Kondo, managing director of NYC-based consultancy Intellilink Solutions, once observed an exchange between a software developer and a project manager where the developer told the project manager that he could add extra features to an application with no additional effort. The project manager told the developer not to add the extra features because users hadn't asked for them. "My response would have been,'Go to the users and see if those features are useful,'" says Kondo. "I see nothing wrong with over-delivering if it doesn't impact the budget or the schedule."

Solution: Be flexible and communicate with project sponsors and stakeholders.

Mistake No. 5: They don't track changes to the scope of the project.

Implication: The budget for the project explodes. So does the timeline.

Solution: CA's Strazza recommends following a formal change request process: The individual requesting the change in scope (e.g. additional features or functionality) needs to explain the specific changes on a change-in-scope document, and the project manager needs to determine how that request will impact the budget and timeline. The project sponsor has to sign off on the change-in-scope request.

Mistake No. 6: They lack up-to-date data about the status of projects.

Impact: You can't manage what you can't measure, as Peter Drucker would say. Nor can you coordinate resources or react to changes in scope, says HP's Cheney.

Solution: Software.

Mistake No. 7: They ignore problems.

Impact: Problems don't solve themselves. They fester the longer you ignore them and ultimately compound the cost of the project.

Solution: "If you do something wrong, it's about how well you fix it," says GlassHouse Technologies' Scannell. "Most people batten down the hatches and look up in the month. Understanding when you're starting to fail and quickly being able to engage as many stakeholders as possible to fix it is critical."

Planning Mistakes

Mistake No. 8: They don't take the time to define the scope of a project.

Impact: If a project's scope isn't well-defined by the business and IT up front, the project can end up ballooning like Friends actor Matthew Perry in the sitcom's later seasons. What's more, IT lacks the clarity and direction it needs to complete the project on time and on budget and meet the business's expectations.

Solution: Ill-defined projects are best served by a business case and a scoping exercise, says Intellilink Solutions' Kondo.

Mistake No. 9: They fail to see the dependencies between projects.


Impact: Projects don't happen in isolation. They're often dependant on other projects going on at the same time. When project managers fail to see the dependencies between projects-such as staff assigned to one project are needed on another projects get held up. Such slowdowns can have a ripple effect on all projects.

Solution: Take dependencies into account during project planning, says Métier's Clark. Talking with stakeholders and diagramming the project can help uncover dependencies.

Mistake No. 10: They don't consider Murphy's Law.

Impact: Stuff happens, and IT gets surprised by it. Consequently, the project goes off-track while IT tries to clean up a mess it didn't anticipate.

GlassHouse Technologies' Scannell recalls a company in the U.K. that his firm acquired, that was moving its mainframe to a new data centre. The IT group devoted an entire Saturday to taking down the mainframe so that they could move it to the new data centre the next day, he says. While the IT staff were en route to the new data centre with the mainframe on Sunday, they ran into a gay pride parade, and they couldn't reach their destination due to roads blocked off for the parade. They had to drive back to the or


Mistake No. 11: Project schedules are incomplete.
Impact: Project team members don't know what is due when, which makes completing the project on time a challenge.

Solution: Clark says a quick way to come up with a schedule for a project is to determine all the activities involved in getting the project done (e.g. scoping, getting requirements, testing and implementing) and then attaching due dates to those activities based on the deadline for the project. Project management software can also help create schedules.

Communication Problems

Mistake No. 12: IT doesn't push back on unreasonable deadlines.

Impact: IT sets itself up to fail and gets a reputation for not being able to deliver projects on time.

Clark says IT departments will scramble to accommodate project deadlines set by the CEO. But tampering with dependencies and with the plan only creates more problems that make delivering the project on time even more difficult, he says.

Solution: IT management has to explain to the CEO what it's going to take to meet that deadline in terms of cost and resources and has to get the CEO to choose between cost, scope and schedule, says Clark.

Mistake No. 13: They don't communicate well with project sponsors and stakeholders.

Impact: IT fails to deliver the expected requirements.

Solution: Project communications need to be catered to the audience, says Kondo. She sees misunderstandings about the scope of a project or a systems' requirements arise when IT departments hand over a spreadsheet to the business with thousands of lines describing the systems' functionality and specs. Because the business owners don't have time to look over such detailed technical documents, they ignore them.

"One side is communicating, but in a language the other side can't understand," says Kondo. "Then IT gets frustrated and they say,'We described this to them. How come this isn't what they want?'" ( Business analysts play a critical role as the liaisons between users and IT.)

Kondo recommends giving every stakeholder who will be impacted or involved in the project on the business side a high-level overview of the entire project, from design to rollout. The overview should highlight the activities that require interaction with the business and should explain why the business is needed, she says.

In general, IT needs to put more effort into educating the business about the steps involved in executing a project, says Kondo.

"If you have an open dialog about what's needed, what you're really delivering, and you have fluidity built into the process, the budget and scope becomes a dialog so if you go over budget, it's not necessarily a failure," she says.

Kondo's firm once worked with a client that was deploying a financial system and whose employees had never been involved in a large system implementation before. When design of the system was complete and Intellilink was beginning to plan for testing, Intellilink explained to the employees why testing was important.

"We told them about different kinds of testing and what they did and didn't need to be involved in. We talked about why we needed user input, what kind of input we'd need and how much time it required," says Kondo. "That gave people an idea of why it takes so long to test."

Deliver on What You Promise‏

Keep your promises to clients to earn their trust.

Do what you promise to clients, otherwise why bother in the first place?

Tips for assessing & communicating value of IT

Kamala Puram

CIOs today are responsible for developing and defending the IT budget and proving the value of IT to business executives, but that isn't an easy task. These tips, drawn from more than 25 years of IT experience, will make your IT projects more successful as well as eliminating the burden of defending IT initiatives.

PLM Software Implementation

Current Approach

The IT leader completes the capital expenditure request for the software implementation, defends the IT investment needed, and explains how it will support the business goal of reducing product variances by 25 percent.

Strategic (New) Approach

The VP of engineering, who is responsible for new product development globally, has a business goal of "reducing product variances by 25 percent." The VP completes the capital expenditure request, integrating the IT component (for example, in this case, Product Lifecycle Management software), and defends the overall investment required to achieve the business goal, rather than each spend line item.

Key revelations of the recommended approach:

-- The burden of defending IT initiatives as standalone project is eliminated; instead the business leader adopts the IT project as a core enabler of the business strategy. This imparts instant credibility as the business sponsor justifies why the company needs to invest dollars in an IT project.

-- IT projects will likely experience higher success since the business and IT have completely aligned objectives and purpose. Aligned people, process and technology is a winning recipe.

How big is the task of transitioning to this high-impact approach?

1. Active membership at the executive table is a prerequisite.

You should jump into the driver seat to help businesses shape their strategies. Recommend ideas where technology can change the way the business is done. Take the time to educate fellow functional executives about new technologies and share information on industry best practices. Provide real examples of companies that have benefited from such new technologies. Avoid falling into the trap of using acronyms and IT jargon; instead focus on specific business issues that could be leveraged by technology or IT applications--reducing time to market, improving the bottom line through cost reduction, expanding market share, or enhancing competitiveness.

A good example of this is at Procter & Gamble, where the CIO, Filippo Passerini, convinced the business to leverage RFID technology to solve the problem of not having posters and product displays at the right place at the right time during new product introductions.

2. Assign high-performance IT professionals to the business strategy team.

It is critical that you assign IT people who have a good business orientation and think in terms of market share, top- or bottom-line impact, competitiveness, or those passionate about reducing cycle time, so that they can recommend the right IT investment needed to support the business strategy. The IT member should partner with the business project manager and help develop the capital expenditure request (ROI and cash flow impact) with benefits clearly monetized. The IT budget in many cases could be substantial, and it is important that the business project manager have a good understanding of the IT initiative and how IT can enable the overall business strategy.

Business Driven IT Initiative--Key Players

My most recent assignment was with a global manufacturing company. The company had R&D facilities in India and the USA, manufacturing in China and Mexico, and suppliers from the world over. As we started transitioning our workload to India and China, it became impossible to ensure that all parties were viewing the same design documents and were fully aware of real-time design changes. This required us to completely overhaul the current employee mind-set and the available tools. So, the VP of Engineering pulled together a cross-functional team, including a business-savvy IT person to develop new processes to help address current issues and challenges. As part of this analysis, Product Lifecycle Management software was identified as a critical tool needed to help streamline the business process and provide a real-time view of the product design. In this example, the IT budget was almost the entire cost of the project, at more than 80 percent of the total. The VP of Engineering leaned heavily on the IT mentor to recommend the solution that was most cost-effective for the business.

3. The business sponsor presents the ROI to executive management.

The business project manager working closely with the sponsor should integrate the overall budget estimate requirements at the business strategy level and develop the necessary ROI justification. The IT budget should be just one of the line items, and the benefit resulting from it should be incorporated as part of overall ROI analysis. The business sponsor and the IT leader could consider jointly presenting the budget flow-through and ROI analysis. This will enable the business executives to clearly see the connection between the business strategy and the IT initiative. This approach will also eliminate orphan projects that take on a life of their own without any business ownership and ultimately end up abandoned due to budget cuts.

In this example, the vice president of engineering articulated the cost and the benefits information and presented the capital expenditure request to the president and CEO of the business. I was there to provide him support. Intense discussion on business benefits versus cost ensued, ultimately leading to the consensus that the IT project and business initiative were aligned well and all the possible contingencies had been considered.

4. The business strategy governance is indeed the surrogate framework of the IT project.

Within IT a lot of best practices and monitoring tools exist to manage large projects. IT must provide the necessary guidance to the business sponsor to track project progress and manage the business strategy. The onus of ensuring that the project is on track should fall on the business project manager, and he should be responsible for providing ongoing status updates to the executive team. However, the IT leader should track and monitor the IT portion of the project to ensure that all tasks are completed on time and on budget; provide regular status reports to the business sponsor; and work closely with the business managers to make sure that the issues are resolved in a timely fashion.

Successful initiatives have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, processes for timely resolution of issues, visibility into project status at any time, and a governance model that helps make decisions when things vary from the optimal path.

5. Finally, celebrate successes with the business sponsor and recognize the entire team.

Winning is never in isolation; it is invariably a result of cross-functional excellence. Public group celebration provides recognition to key players and fosters future ownership by each member on subsequent projects. IT projects rarely fail because of technology issues; they fail mostly because people and process issues are not addressed or are underestimated.

When you present IT initiatives as an integral part of the business strategy, the need to defend the value of IT becomes moot. Senior executives are readily able to intuitively connect dots between business strategy and IT initiatives.

Kamala Puram is the president of Chrysalis International, a management consulting company, which specializes in creating technology vision and strategy, IT organizational alignment, large global ERP system implementations and IT integration (mergers and acquisitions). She has more than 25 years of IT management experience in various industries.