May 01
Henry Ford is the father of modern mass production. His production lines established Ford as the first global car manufacturer. Yet it was not until 34 years after his death that Ford produced their first global car – the Ford Escort. Ford set out to use common components worldwide, but by the time the Escort …
May 01
For many international finance organisations there is a holy grail of a single system and standardised global processes that can deliver best practices and major efficiencies. But can a single platform meet all the diverse needs of the local businesses? Do the complexities, costs, delivery time and risk of global projects outweigh the benefits? In …
Feb 22
I’ve been getting a lot of stick about my car. Jeremy Clarkson berates me every week calling me a “Pious Driver”. But it suddenly got a lot worse. Now it’s open season for Toyota drivers: first with the accelerator pedal problems, then with the brake problems on newer models of the Prius than mine, and now the …
Feb 09
“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 08
Building your project plan is the most critical step in any project. Your plan is the basic way of measuring the progress of the project – and if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it. If your project is to be successful it must start with a solid plan. Much of comedy of BlackAdders sidekick and servant …
Jan 01
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
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
Let me give a blatant but well deserved plug to the PM Podcast – An excellent podcast on all aspects of project management. Catch it at http://www.thepmpodcast.com . The recent one that has caught my ear in particular was PPM and Agile dont mix.. Right? with a really good discussion of how you can combine …
Aug 07
Pilots will know that when you are taking off there is a speed called V1. The plane has reached such a speed that there is not enough runway ahead of you to stop. So you are committed to take-off. Unfortunately V1 is usually less than V2 – the speed at which the plane can safely …