Shadow IT and the app-building practice of “citizen development” is still an area of concern for many IT leaders. After all, it forces them to cede at least some control over an area they have managed solo for decades. Here are some actions IT leaders can take to grow more comfortable around shadow IT applications.Understand your own prioritiesIT departments are inundated with line of business requests and simply don’t have...
Ten years ago, employer branding wasn’t even on the radar of organizational psychologists. But after a Society for Human Resource Management study revealed that over 67 percent of organizations view employer branding as a strategic recruiting tool to attract top talent and nearly one-half identified the employer brand as a top five strategic initiative, psychologists such as Born and Kang at Cornell University began to look...
In their research, Gartner analysts Jeffrey Brooks, Heather Colella, and John Roberts found that CIOs believe current approaches to assessing executive satisfaction are missing something, and that IT organizations require a technique that puts the onus on line of business partners to articulate exactly what they need from IT.Gartner has developed one such technique, which involves understanding the importance of a reciproca...
IT leaders including Miami-Dade County database manager Sue Camner, Wal-Mart CIO Karenann Terrell, and NSM Insurance Group CIO Brendan O’Malley, share their views on effectively managing legacy IT.Miami-Dade County’s Sue CamnerAccording to GCN’s Stephanie Kanowitz, Florida’s Miami-Dade County IT department faced a tough choice. One of its middleware stacks had reached end of life, and officials could either upgrade or get r...
I am fascinated by Chris Bailey. After hearing about his productivity experiments, you will be too.Over the course of the year, Chris Bailey, author of the new book The Productivity Project, completed several personal experiments to assess which ones positively and negatively impacted his productivity. Let’s highlight some intriguing ones that worked, as well as a few that didn’t.Working 90 Hours a WeekWhen Bailey was work...
Using telepresence robotics technology by Double Robotics and others, organizations are virtually sending their employees on client meetings and speaking engagements every day. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.Telepresence is one of the few commercial applications of robotics technology that I’ve been genuinely excited about. Now that remote work is significantly on the rise, I view telepresence as a terrific means fo...
In March, Gartner analysts Mbula Schoen and Michael Hanford outlined their recommendations for new PMOs in a detailed report, The PMO Leader’s First 100 Days.Schoen and Hanford defined project management office, or PMO, as a function designed to facilitate and improve the management of projects through the application and use of PPM disciplines, such as project management and program management. The PMO also participates i...
New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made headlines recently when he explained quantum computing during a press event. Quantum computing, despite its sexiness, is not all that new, but in this post, we’ll explore certain recent developments IT and Project Management pros should be aware of.Justin Trudeau is getting a reputation: not as a scion of government but as a knowledgeable scientist. The Washington Post nicely...
As IT loosens its reins, trust, communication, and thoughtful planning are paramount. Observations about Citizen Development and business-IT alignment with QuickBase, Inc. CEO, Allison Mnookin, and Gartner VP and Research Director, Mark Driver.Digital transformation is officially on everyone’s radar. According to an upcoming QuickBase survey, 45 percent of CXOs say it’s a top priority this year. “This is a time of increased...
Alec Sprague is not an IT guy. His background is in consumer advocacy, but in his position as database developer for Work for Progress, he has instituted a culture of citizen development at the fast-growing nonprofit organization.“Our organization is scrappy,” Sprague said. “We operate on shoestring budgets to maximize our benefit to society and our return-on-investment for our funders and donors.”At the beginning of his te...