Tag: Tom Davenport

Fresh Links Sundae – September 7, 2014 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

The quality of the service catalog has a key, direct impact on IT’s ability to deliver value-add services to the organization. Stephen Mann discusses the barriers we need to overcome and the good practices we should implement for Service Catalog Management. 6 Barriers To Service Catalog Success & 13 Service Catalog Best Practices (ServiceNow)

A number of organizations have begun making use of predictive analytics techniques to interpret business results and make better decisions. Tom Davenport discusses the basics about predictive analytics that every manager should know for his/her organization. A Predictive Analytics Primer (Harvard Business Review)

There are many reasons why data governance projects fall short of expectations. In a three-part series, Bryan Finnegan shares his thoughts on achieving persistent data governance and recommendations for avoiding pitfalls in data governance projects. Achieving persistent data governance, pt.1: link your teams Achieving persistent data governance, pt. 2: focus on trouble areas Achieving persistent data governance, pt. 3: find a visionary (The Data Roundtable)

Stuart Rance believes it is a good idea to document improvements you want to make in the register and let it evolve as we discover new things we want to record. For those organizations that want to keep formal documentation on improvements, he gives a list of recommendations on how to make a register and populate the information. Managing a continual service improvement register (Optimal Service Management)

Many IT managers understand the importance of the Knowledge Management process but are unsure of how to get started. Simon Morris talks about the key elements of the knowledge management process and ways to use KM to strengthen your incident management practice. The Avocado of Knowledge Management (The ITSM Review)

People have different opinions about shadow IT efforts and how best to deal with them. Rob England gives his recommendations on working with Shadow IT within your organization. How to deal with Shadow IT (The IT Skeptic)

Overwhelming evidence points to a tendency toward cost and effort overruns due to poor estimation for many software projects. Magne Jorgensen summarizes some of the knowledge he believes we have learned about effort estimation over the years. What We Do and Don’t Know about Software Development Effort Estimation (InfoQ)

Bob Lewis believes that you can draw strong parallels between conducting covert operations and managing typical corporate projects. He outlines a list of the factors without which projects are bound to fail. Spycraft, project-craft … what’s the difference? (IS Survivor Publishing)

Fresh Links Sundae – May 11, 2014 Edition

Not many people have mastered the framework of analytical storytelling by combining narrative along with visual analytics. Tom Davenport describes some examples of such framework. 10 Kinds of Stories to Tell with Data (Harvard Business Review)

A cloud strategy that doesn’t include some key elements will never reach its full potential for business transformation. Paul Chapman outlines those key competencies required for a successful cloud effort. To Succeed in the Cloud, CIOs Must Look Beyond Technology (VMware CloudOps)

In the famed Raiders of the Lost Ark series, Dr. Indiana Jones was fairly successful risk manager, who achieved his objectives. Steve Schlarman shows us what can GRC and Security programs learn from the legendary character. GRC and the Temple of Doom (RSA Archer GRC)

Recently Stuart Rance was asked by his customers what key performance indicators (KPIs) should be used to measure IT change management. He shares and explains some KPIs that may be useful to your team or organization. Defining Metrics for Change Management (SysAid Blog)

Enterprise Request Management is a new framework for incremental and evolutionary approach to centralizing and modifying business processes and service requests across the company. John Sundberg discusses five steps involved in implementing ERM. Implement Enterprise Request Management in Five Straightforward Steps (The ITSM Review)

Many projects wait till near the end of the project to ask the question of how much value can be realized, and often it’s too late. Glen Alleman explains how this critical question can be answered by sound project finance processes. Project Finance (Herding Cats)

As more organizations begin to implement Agile, more and more project managers are transitioning to become Scrum Masters. Eventually, the question of who should the Scrum Masters report to in an organizational hierarchy will come up. Len Lagestee has some scenarios and recommendations. Who Should the Scrum Master Report To? (Illustrated Agile)

Laura Brandenburg believes that clarity is one of the most fundamental attributes of writing good requirements. She discusses the steps for producing clear requirements. 5 Ways to Write Clearer Requirements (Bridging the Gap)

Fresh Links Sundae – April 6, 2014 Edition

Many IT organizations have change management that is so bureaucratic and slow that it becomes unpopular with the business. Stuart Rance explains what the purposes of change management are and the steps that can be taken to do it more effectively. What Is Change Management For? (SysAid Blog) Stuart Rance

Business-IT engagement is a process through which business and IT stakeholders collaborate to create business values. Vaughan Merlyn explains how IT can improve its working relationship with business with his 3-level engagement model. The Disciplines of Business-IT Engagement (IT Organization Circa 2017)

Many organizations are considering or experimenting with big data initiatives. Tom Davenport outlines some key elements he has observed that make the initiative a success. What Makes Big Data Projects Succeed (Harvard Business Review)

A lot of companies are reorganizing themselves in push forward Big Data initiatives. Pearl Zhu compares and contrasts various approaches and paths for doing Big Data & analytics. Push or Pull: Which Way is Best to Do Big Data & Analytics? (Future of CIO)

Audit controls can be effective when applied to retrospective financial reporting, but they have shown losing effectiveness when dealing with today’s dynamic, fast-changing world. Brian Barnier believes we can make the controls more effective with business-objective-oriented management practices. Why didn’t the dog bark? (ISACA Now)

Denise Brosseu describes an amplifier as someone who curates, highlights and even shines the spotlight on the best ideas for the benefit of those around them. She talks about the benefits of being an amplifier and recommends the ways of becoming one. Are You An Amplifier? (Chic CEO)

In today’s competitive world, top executives recognize the need that leaders need to develop other leaders within the organization. Marshall Goldsmith and Kelly Goldsmith talk about six behaviors roadblocks leaders should consider when helping other leaders reach their goals. Helping People Achieve Their Goals (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

After delivering hundreds of live presentations in public, David Meerman Scott recommends the following 10 tips for anyone who wants to get better at public speaking. More top ten tips for incredibly successful public speaking (Web Ink Now)

Something else you might be interested in…

Microsoft has made a free Microsoft SQL Server 2014 eBook by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner available for download. Free eBook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2014 (MSDN Blogs)