The right thing is to plan, organize and execute with long-term results in mind. But nearly every manager is so driven by short-term metrics that they fail to account for longer-term effects of their decisions and actions. As a result, they accomplish less for themselves and for their organizations, making them less effective and less […]
Agile Management
Tips on managing product development and engineering by John Levy, consultant, expert and author of “Get Out of the Way!, An executive’s guide to creating timely, innovative and relevant products.”
Success always looks easy
March 13, 2012
With all the news about IT projects that go bad, you would think that we’d hear more news about projects that go well. Then we could just copy down the “best practices” that led to the success and – voilà – our projects would come out perfectly every time. But life is not so simple. […]
Stranger ways to fail
February 29, 2012
In the last article, I gave three reasons for IT project failure. These are not the only ways to fail! In this article I describe failure modes I’ve seen that are much less conventional – and harder to overcome without serious dedication at the top. Here are the three reasons from last time: They’re not […]
Three causes of IT project failure
February 13, 2012
IT projects often don’t get done. Not just done late, but not done at all. Industry statistics show that over 50% of major IT projects are not regarded as successful. They get abandoned because they’re too late or because they’re so far over budget that the sponsors give up. Many more deliver something, but not […]
Agile Clouds
December 21, 2011
Buzzwords abound in the Business IT world. You can’t ignore these words because they come at you from all sides. Here are the realities of “Cloud” and “Agile” to help you cope with the possible hype you’ve been hearing.
A Look Back – The Era of the Personal Computer is Over
October 2, 2011
Because of Hewlett-Packard’s recent announcement suggesting that they will abandon the PC business, I think you might enjoy reading this piece I wrote – 12 years ago, in 1999 – about the impending demise of the PC business as a high-growth market. The era of the Personal Computer is over. Not because PCs are […]
The Trickle From the Pipe
June 30, 2011
I spent many years managing engineering projects. It was satisfying work, because the people doing it are very dedicated, they have a culture of finding the best solution, and they get satisfaction from seeing their creations go into the world and be useful (and profitable). When I began to consult for managers who were counting […]
How to get business value for every dollar you spend on development – Part 1
April 6, 2011
I’ve spent many years managing development projects in high-tech industries. My experience teaches me that people doing development are extremely aware that their time and effort is frequently wasted, for a lot of different reasons. The key point for you as a business leader is that wasted effort is the same as wasted dollars. It’s […]
Discovering the Real Requirements and Resources for a Project
January 18, 2011
When you’re responsible for a project, one of the first things you’re supposed to do is determine the requirements for the project. In other words, what exactly do the people who asked for it want? This is much more complicated than it sounds, and much has been written about eliciting requirements and getting them written […]
What Does an Architect Do?
November 26, 2010
Architecture is about design at the top level, including interfaces and protocols. Architecture of complex systems requires knowledge of the technology in all of the components. In software, there are few constraints on how the components are put together, so it requires discipline to keep things simple and consistent. Bring in an architect when you are trying to integrate many existing subsystems.