Information Technology Blog

Swoopo Review, Bid Strategy and Tips

Marios Alexandrou — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:44:21 +0000

Swoopo.com is the next generation in online auctions. Unlike eBay where your average Joe posts items for sale, Swoopo acts as the middleman between manufacturers and suppliers. As such, the products they auction are new, have warranties, and can even be returned for a refund of the purchase price. Although the product selection is limited when [...]

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Swoopo Review, Bid Strategy and Tips

Evaluating and Choosing Solutions

Marios Alexandrou — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:33:39 +0000

For many years, decision making was studied mainly by economists who made several assumptions about how people choose among alternatives. They assumed that decision makers have well-articulated and agreed-on organizational goals. They also assumed that decision makers are rational thinking machines who efficiently and simultaneously process facts about all alternatives and the consequences of those [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Evaluating and Choosing Solutions

Identifying Problems and Opportunities

Marios Alexandrou — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:28:08 +0000

Problems and opportunities do not announce themselves. They are recognized and ultimately defined by the decision maker. However, people are not perfectly efficient or neutral thinking machines, so problems are often misdiagnosed and opportunities are overlooked. The project manager's role is to correctly understand a problem and to identify opportunities to correct such problems -- [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Identifying Problems and Opportunities

A General Model of Decision Making

Marios Alexandrou — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:27:07 +0000

When Albert Einstein was asked how he would save the world in one hour, he replied that he would spend the first 55 minutes defining the problem and the last five minutes solving it. Problem identification is the first step in decision making and arguably the most important step. A problem is a deviation between the [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

A General Model of Decision Making

Communication Barriers

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:19:31 +0000

In spite of the best intentions of sender and receiver to communicate, several barriers inhibit the effective exchange of information. As author George Bernard Shaw once wrote, "The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished." Executives estimate that 15 percent of their time is wasted due to poor communications with [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Communication Barriers

Sources of Power in Organizations

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:56:34 +0000

Project managers often feel like they have no power. And in fact, they typically don't have any in the traditional sense of the word i.e. they don't have managerial responsibility over the people they are trying to coordinate. However, project managers do finish projects so what sort of power do they have over people in [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Sources of Power in Organizations

Strategy and Planning: Overcoming The Failures

Guest — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:19:46 +0000

This post builds on the fundamental principle that many of the challenges stem from the fact that project management is not the primary purpose of organizations, and never will be. Companies are created, structured and run primarily to deliver operational products and services. Projects, however, are still critical to the business success of these organizations - in creating, enhancing, replacing and retiring products and services in response to competitive and market demands. The challenge, then, is to arrive at an approach to managing projects in organizations that can co-exist with their current operational focus. This series addresses the practical steps that organizations can and must take to successfully create an effective project management capability.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Strategy and Planning: Overcoming The Failures

The 5 Habits Of Highly Dysfunctional Companies

Guest — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:18:24 +0000

The concept of management by projects is a non-starter. The average company is not a project-driven company, and likely never will be. So why is this an idea that continues to be so prevalent? What problems -- real or perceived -- do it's proponents hope to address? And if the project-driven organization cannot exist, what business model will surface that will reasonably address these problems? This series takes an in depth look at these questions, and offers insightful and reasoned answers.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

The 5 Habits Of Highly Dysfunctional Companies

The Best Project Management Methodology

Marios Alexandrou — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:05:23 +0000

I received an e-mail from a visitor to my site who described the following situation: Hope you're fine. I was wondering if you could possibly help me. I'm a final year project management student currently undertaking a university research project as my final year assignment. I was shocked to see that so many methodologies actually exist as we have only been taught Prince2. My question is, what would be an ideal methodology for me to undertake in regards to a university project on children with asthma? My university has received funding from an organization called [company name removed] and we want to create an Expert Patient Program for young children with asthma. This will be done by conducting a number of workshops and drawing conclusions from the children's views. Any ideas?

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The Best Project Management Methodology

Projects and Investments

Guest — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:56:04 +0000

In a previous post, we discussed the reality that while the practice of project management may continue to advance, overall project results will not significantly improve until better decisions are made through the full lifecycle of an idea. One of the most significant barriers to improvement, however, is the comprehension of what this lifecycle represents in terms of stages -- and where the responsibility for decisions resides in each stage.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Projects and Investments

The Road To Organizational Change

Guest — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:51:50 +0000

The road to organizational change is an odd one: both well traveled and unfamiliar at the same time. The intensity of resistance, the many bumps and potholes and the sense of isolation all too often lead one to surmise that the road is one seldom traveled. It is easy to assume that few have passed this way, and those that have had not too easy a time of it. Certainly no easier than ourselves as we face it today as if for the first time.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

The Road To Organizational Change

Is Project Management a Fad?

Guest — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:34:41 +0000

An emerging theme that I have encountered in conversations of late is the perception that project management is becoming the latest management fad. Interestingly, my reaction has ranged from "Is it?" to "Already?" to "Why did it take this long?" For someone who has been on the inside of promoting and developing project management as a corporate competency, it is easy to develop the impression that this is the way things have always been done. Objectively stepping back, however, project management as a formal discipline is a much newer concept for many organizations.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Is Project Management a Fad?

Where Should The Responsibility For Project Management Really Lie?

Guest — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:26:02 +0000

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Where Should The Responsibility For Project Management Really Lie?

Two Project Management Metaphors

Marios Alexandrou — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:11:22 +0000

I recently got through the book, The Blind Men and the Elephant by David Schmaltz. The sub-heading of this book is "mastering project work". That, along with recommendations from others, prompted me to buy the book expecting to read about processes and techniques for managing projects. That's not quite what I got.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Two Project Management Metaphors

10 Styles of Innovation

Marios Alexandrou — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:01:52 +0000

In a recent issue of PM Network, Peter Fretty covered the topic of innovation in corporations. His perspective is that innovation doesn't always arrive with a bang, but that is can also be an incremental process that takes years. Along with his review of these two types of innovation he also provided some guidance on fostering innovation. But what I found most interesting about his article was the innovation styles he referenced.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

10 Styles of Innovation

Portfolios and Project Management Organizations (PMOs)

Guest — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:46:56 +0000

To do a project, or not to do a project. That is the question. The rationale by which project decisions get made varies widely from organization to organization, and is for the vast majority of organizations largely a subjective process. While a few short years ago the linkage between projects and strategy was a much more tenuous one, it is now becoming much more widely recognized that projects are a key means of realizing organizational strategy. The choices we make in terms of the projects that are taken on have a significant influence in defining organizational strategy for the organization.

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

Portfolios and Project Management Organizations (PMOs)

10 Steps to a Successful Project

Marios Alexandrou — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:36:49 +0000

The state of Maine spent $25 million on a web-based Medicaid claims system. In exchange for all that money, they got a $300 million backlog in unprocessed claims. Doesn't seem like a particularly good deal, does it? The details of this web services project were unique, but the problems were quite common. Projects fail all [...]

This is a post from the Information Technology Blog ©2009 Marios Alexandrou. All Rights Reserved.

10 Steps to a Successful Project

The Battle For Control of Project

Guest — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:14:14 +0000

When Projects and Organizations Collide

Guest — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:04:37 +0000

The Problems Of Top-Down Leadership

Guest — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:56:41 +0000

Given the diversity of beliefs and the passionate intensity of opinions, is there any right answer for how organizational change is accomplished? Is it dictated, or facilitated? Mandated or guided? Driven or led? And is there a single meaningful answer? Some of the greatest innovations - not just of our lifetime, but throughout the ages - are the products of a select few individuals seeing, understanding and believing a truth where all others saw fallacy, lies and heresy. Any radical change to the established order of the world started with a handful of iconoclasts who dared to look at the world through a different lens. Whether the product of genius, madness or slightly unhinged creativity is irrelevant. They saw the world differently, and refused to accept a reality out of lockstep with their convictions, merely because theirs was the sole dissenting voice in a world of conformity.

Tools Aren't Process, But Process Is A Tool

Guest — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:32:06 +0000

Project scheduling tools don't do project management. If I had a buck for every time a client said "We need project management. Can you teach us how to use this tool?" I wouldn't need to be a consultant anymore. Project management tools let you 'do' project management like a word processor lets you 'do' English. To successfully use a word processor requires a number of skills. Familiarity with a computer and its operating system is a given. An understanding of the principles of the program, and what buttons do what, also has value. More important, though, is the understanding of the principles of words on a page, and the thought process behind creating them. Which means that the fundamental principles of English are essential: grasping paragraph and sentence structure, intuiting subject and object agreement, and knowing not to split your infinitives (the Oxford dictionary notwithstanding) is a fundamental pre-requisite in successfully using a word processor.

Projects Are Strategy

Guest — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:23:32 +0000

The column builds on the fundamental principle that many of the challenges stem from the fact that project management is not the primary purpose of organizations, and never will be. Companies are created, structured and run primarily to deliver operational products and services. Projects, however, are still critical to the business success of these organizations - in creating, enhancing, replacing and retiring products and services in response to competitive and market demands. The challenge, then, is to arrive at an approach to managing projects in organizations that can co-exist with their current operational focus. This series addresses the practical steps that organizations can and must take to successfully create an effective project management capability.

What I Learned At The Olympics About Managing

Guest — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:05:29 +0000

This column was originally published during the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998. In honor of the Salt Lake City games, we've brought it out, dusted it off and are pleased to place it back in the line-up. Enjoy. Fundamental to our society is the concept of keeping score. We measure ourselves (and more importantly, those we view as competitors) by income, social status, wealth, number of cars. Raw measures that provide an automatic comparison of how we stack up, and how far we still have to go. As the saying goes, he -- or she -- who has the most toys when they die wins.

Project Management as a Microcosm

Guest — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:41:27 +0000

Companies today, recognizing they face serious cultural, behavioral and management challenges, often look to project management as a quick-fix band-aid that can alleviate - or even eliminate - many of the problems in the organization. Unfortunately, this approach is exactly backwards. The way project management is conducted is a direct reflection the larger management behaviors of the company; a project is in fact a microcosm of the organization as a whole.

Measuring Organizational Change

Guest — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:26:48 +0000

As I manage various organizational change projects, I never cease to be amazed by one fundamental truth that - while unspoken - is the single greatest burden that every successful change project must overcome: management acceptance. No more is this true than in projects implementing performance measurement programs. The reason that this truth often goes unstated is worthy of special recognition. In many - if not most - cases, the management team that ultimately has the greatest difficulty in coming to terms with the nature of the change is frequently the same management team sponsoring the effort in the first place. Paradoxical? Perhaps, but there are some clear drivers of why this is so.