Author's posts
Apr 10
The six worst things I hate about lists
1. There is an annoying tendency of bloggers to resort to lists to connect random thoughts rather than writing a coherent article2. Worse still they call it the “eight greatest..” or the “five worst..” and did they do any actual polling to find out which are the most important? I think not.3. They have lots …
Feb 09
It’s time to kill big IT contracts
“I’ve met many programme directors who’ve said ‘I’m doing a £100m programme’, I say ‘I feel very sorry for you’” Phil Pavitt – the man in charge of the UK government’s largest IT outsourcing deal – believes Whitehall needs to end its love affair with supersized IT contracts. See the interview on Silicon.com : http://bit.ly/bRj2wU
Jan 01
2009 – A Year of Change in Finance Systems
Despite the relative absence of large new clients, lease software vendors are still investing in their products, particularly their back office functions, reports Nic Evans in January 2010 Leasing Life. Finance Companies are expecting their technology to work harder in these tough times. As many organisations start new budget periods in the new year …
Nov 07
Drive a stake through this cliché
Kill off “Stakeholders”. Not my esteemed business partners, suppliers, customers, technology, providers, shareholders, backers, funders, board members: I love you. Really. It is just the word. “Stakeholders”. Worse still the phrase: “Stakeholder Management”. It is very convenient shorthand – and I have been guilty using it in CVs and general project communications. So what’s wrong? …
Oct 13
Lets Do The Risk Warp Again
In this trilogy of blogs (triblogy?) we have been seeing how some basic intuition and understanding of projects can lead us to manage and master risks. Dont think all these charts and graphs are any great theory – they are just a graphic representation of common sense! Having understood the “cone of uncertainty” let us …
Sep 17
Planning Uncertainty
I came back to Mike Cohn’s great book on Agile Estimating and Planning. The Agile Manifesto that values responding to change over following a plan doesn’t at first seem to warrant a whole book on planning. It still needs to be done – as well illustrated by his quote : “A good plan violently executed …
Jul 28
Risky Business
Here’s a great white paper on project risk assessment in the context of corporate risk appetite. http://www.projectperfect.com.au/white-paper-a-different-view-of-project-risk.php?b3note=riskmat Unfortunately it doesn’t extend onto management of project risks. The Office Of Government Commerce also has some really useful risk potential assessment tools and techniques . They even have the spreadsheets set up to save you the math! …
Jun 30
Risks out of control
In any project some of the projects costs and benefits are out of your control. Not through any fault of the project. It’s just the way it is.In any business case there will be a number of macroeconomic and other external factors in play, and with the market discontinuity in the last year these have …
Mar 04
Anything is better than what we have..
When building a business case for a project it is all too easy to go for your first option.OK, you haven’t said its a “no brainer” and got the differences in cost, and the shiney benefits. But with some thought you can justify anything. But have you included the full costs, and factored in all …