IT Management Ideas
Current Month's Articles
A Day of IT Reckoning . By Michael Vizard We need to fundamentally rethink our collective approach to enterprise computing. As the recession continues to deepen, its becoming clearer that were not just experiencing a momentary downturn that will cause us to restrain IT spending for the next fiscal year. Instead, the new economic reality is calling for a permanent reduction in the total cost of enterprise computing. Read more at Baseline .
Comparison Shopping for Software . How well do Open Source and Software-as-a-Service options stack up to traditional, proprietary products? J. Schwan, managing partner with Solstice Consulting in Chicago, compared several factors and ranked the three categories in relation to each other. Schwan says, To be successful in this economic environment, we should find creative ways to stop paying license and support fees for commoditized services and save those dollars for what really is going to give us an edgeour people. Read more at CIO Insight .
17 Ways You Undermine Your Own Career . Nobody can afford to be casual about their jobs in this economy. But personal skills, an area where IT workers do not have a reputation for excellence, could cost you. A new book, The Personal Credibility Factor: How to Get It, Keep It, and Get It Back (If Youve Lost It), by Sandy Allgeier, looks at common ways people gain and lose the trust of others. Focus on one issue at a time, says Allgeier. All quotes in the slideshow are from the author. Read more at Baseline .
Articles From Prior Months
A new book, Adventures of an IT Leader, due out in April by Rob Austin of the Harvard Business School indicates that an IT leader should be problem solvers and understand the business operation rather than be a technology guru.
10 Books for Managing in Tough Times. From CIO Insight.
Leading Through the Recession by CIO James Knight How to succeed in tough times: Be resourceful, watch the details, and live up to your commitments. He adds that a high degree of transparency of projects is also needed so that executives supporting the project will have a clear understanding of what is to be deliveredand at what cost. Finally, its crucial for IT executives to speak about the business outcomes of their efforts, rather than simply engaging in technology-laden descriptions. From CIO Insight.
Keeping a Strong Staff Despite Layoffs By Bruce F. Webster. With a tighter budget and a narrowed set of projects, your highest priority is to ensure that those projects come in on time and under budget. That means that you need to have your best and brightest IT personnel highly motivated and working hard, with the equipment and tools necessary to be as productive as possible.
10 Tips for Managing with Reduced Headcount, Read more in CIO Insight.
Taming the Wild Open Source Implementation By Bob Violino Read how in Baseline
10 Silver Linings For Project Management. Projects are being slashed, staff members are being shown the door and the economy is in the tank. But there are still a few bright spots for project managers and the project management office (PMO) during these lean times. Michael Welles of EdWel Programs, Lou Russell of Russell Martin Associates, and Gregory Balestrero of the Project Management Institute named a few opportunities project managers can find today.
8 Tips for Shutting Down an IT Project Not every project will survive the recession. Many don't make it even in better times. Shutting down an IT project should be a methodical process, whether the job is being put on hiatus or killed once and for all.
10 Tips for Recruiting and Hiring Tech Gurus. Managing IT professionals is a lot easier task when the technology team is made up of talented individuals. Unfortunately, many IT managers fail to cultivate their skills around recruiting because they do it so infrequently compared to their other day-to-day management tasks. In this last installment of Getting the Best out of Geeks slideshow, we spoke with Dan Martineau. A 25-year veteran in IT headhunting, Martineau is principal of Martineau Recruiting Technology. He offers 10 tips on improving IT recruiting practices.
10 Ways IT Employees are Different from Everyone Else. Baselines first installment of a four-part series on how to get the most from your IT role players.
How CIOs Stays Relevant with a CFO Boss from CIO Insight. CFOs are increasingly overseeing IT. Here's how CIOs must respond.
Buy vs. Build Software Applications: The Eternal Dilemma by Bruce F. Webster, Baseline. A given piece of software application can range from being an unmodified, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software package to being a completely custom, written-from-scratch program. Between those two extremes you can find customized and/or configured COTS software, custom software built using commercial software frameworks and libraries, and complex application systems comprising all of the above. The question: which solution is best?
Assessing the Business Value of Technology. by Faisal Hoque. Baseline. Using the right metrics to assess the business value derived from technology is critical in demonstrating the effectiveness of business-technology investments.
Social Media Leads the Future of Technology. From Facebook to smartphones, advances in technology are changing the way we work and communicate. Professor David Yoffie led three experts in a recent panel discussion on "The Technology Revolution and its Implications for the Future" at the HBS Centennial Business Summit. Read more at HBS Working Knowledge.
The Seven Roles of Highly Effective CIOs from CIO Insight.
10 Insightful Web 2.0 Books from CIO Insight.
How to Survive a Security Audit. A handful of problems are distressingly common. CIO Insight.
Top 10 2009 Security Threats and Vulnerabilities. Popular technologies like virtualization, databases and mobility could be as risky as they are useful to enterprise users in 2009.