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10 July 2009
20 April 2009
Focused Fear
 | Neal Leininger |
I've written on our other blogs in the past about some of our more momentous airline incidents, well this story stuck me as very compelling :
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/14/plane.emergency/
A gentlemen who had some flight experience with single engine propeller planes was on a flight, and by sheer luck, noticed the pilot become unresponsive behind the wheel of a 10,000lb turbo propeller airplane :
"The only thing I knew how to do up there was talk on the radio," White told WINK. "I've only been up there (in the cockpit) one other time. I made it a point to ask the pilot -- not Joe, but another one -- 'How do I talk on the radio?' and they showed me what button to push."
While he spoke to the air controllers, they actually called someone who knew how to operate the airplane and were able to walk him through landing safely.
So why do I mention this article? I think a few points are very important.
1 - Being aware and curious of our surroundings, even though it may not be "your job" ; never stop asking those around you questions. Someday those little tid-bits of information will come in handy
2 - Trusting those with knowledge to guide you safely in an emergency; it's sometimes quite apparent when we are out of our realm, know that moment and embrace the fact that by trusting those around us, we can make it back to solid ground in one piece
3 - In those moments of peril, be personally or with a project, focus that fear. Sometimes it's the fear of failure, the fear of budget overuns, or the fear of personal impact; Focused Fear is an asset. Embrace it.
Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.
30 March 2009
Shuttle Launch Perspective
| Neal Leininger
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In Project Management, perspective is everything.
When an event occurs, on the surface it may appear to be a "deal breaker" or something that will drastically change the quality of the product to be delivered.
It's at times like that, an overall perspective can turn that issue into an advantage.
Speaking of perspective, these folks decided they weren't content watching the space shuttle launch from the ground, so what does one do in this situation?
Jump out of an airplane and video tape it.
Never forget to look for other people's perspective too, sometimes it takes a truly radical independent consultant to help develop a fresh perspective!
Like Veris.
Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.
16 February 2009
New Obama Pick
| Neal Leininger |
Hard to believe we are almost through February already!
Today it was announced that Obama picked Google Vet Katie Jacobs to head up the "Citizens Participation" post.
LINK
I think we have the opportunity to do a lot of things right with this situation.
It also reminds me how important requirements gathering is for any project, how else will we know we've achieved the desired outcome?
Along that same line, there were several articles on how Google kills projects, also a topic from previous Blog posts found HERE
The article talks a little about the projects that Google is working on, but also how previous incarnations were killed due to lack of interest, or not living up to expectations. LINK
My favorite quote was : “Perfection closes off the process,” Mr. Jarvis said. “It makes you deaf. Google purposefully puts out imperfect and unfinished products and says: ‘Help us finish them. What do you think of them?’ ”
Like it or not, that's Project Management in a nut-shell, sure we talk about the triple constraint of "Time, Cost, Quality" ; but we all know in the real world it's about getting the product or project out the door so we can find the flaws and fix them, some flaws will never be discovered "in the lab."
Comment below or visit us on LinkedIn
you can also find me directly for feedback at : http://www.linkedin.com/in/neall
Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.
16 January 2009
IT Governance: Bridging the gap between Gatekeeper & Innovator
Maryanne Pilson
Consultant
Veris Associates, Inc.
Today the race for Sarbanes Oxley compliance has all but reached the final lap. So does your organization continue to sponsor IT governance initiatives or has sponsorship hit the proverbial “wall” in the final lap?
One way to ensure funding for your next IT governance initiative is simply leveraging all IT governance components as intended. In doing so, IT governance becomes more than an operational expense; it becomes an asset. Over time your IT governance program is strategic to the future of your organization.
There are two distinct IT governance roles, both equally important, but not always apparent during the early phases of implementation.
For the sake of this article, I will give each role an assumed alias (Table 1) and will refer to each by alias through the remainder of the article.
Table 1
| | Alias | IT Governance Role | |
| 1. | Gatekeeper (a.k.a. IT expense) | “IT governance practices aim at ensuring that expectations for IT are met, IT's performance is measured, its resources are managed and its risks are mitigated.”
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| 2. | Innovator (a.k.a. IT asset) | “To enable the enterprise by exploiting opportunities and maximizing benefits.” | |
In the early stages of implementation, it is easy to limit yourself as the Gatekeeper, focusing on identifying and mitigating risks. However, if you want to drive IT governance to new levels and continue making contributions - you must evolve!
As business needs are constantly changing, IT governance can lead the way as Innovator. IT governance controls and procedures need to be periodically reviewed to ensure they are still fit for purpose. You should have no problem obtaining IT governance sponsorship if you (the Innovator) take advantage of everyday opportunities to maximize benefits. An Innovator understands the benefit of being first in bringing new ideas and technologies into the organization and the Gatekeeper knows the consequences of implementing poor processes. By recognizing and promoting opportunities for improvement, the “Gatekeeper” transition to “Innovator” becomes effortless.
Listed below are common IT governance activities. We have traditional on the left and forward-looking on the right.
On the other hand, as we bridge the gap from Gatekeeper to Innovator, defining procedures is very much the same as developing solutions.
| Gatekeeper | | Innovator |
| Define procedures | vs. | Develop solutions |
Let’s look at an example figure 1, to help make the connection. This example is a proposed proof of concept (POC) for developing a new solution for recently defined procedures. The solution uses the concept of “reuse” by customizing an off-the-shelf web application. The objective is to improve productivity after it was decreased by Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) implementation. SOX resulted in too much time being spent on administrative tasks to create new user accounts, which took time away from core responsibilities.
In the example above, the current process objective was to ensure compliance with Sarbanes Oxley regulatory requirements for requesting new financial user accounts. The current process (defined and implemented by the Gatekeeper) met all requirements; however, it had a negative impact to productivity. Obviously, productivity was overlooked during the requirement phase. Manual processes are time consuming and without additional staff, your service levels will likely take a hit.
In this case, the pain was short lived. It was quickly recognized we had an opportunity to implement a process improvement/solution. In the example above, the new process would automate the user account request with minimal development effort, thus improving productivity by eliminating Helpdesk tickets and manual processing. Finally, the new process would be accomplished without compromising SOX compliance status and accessible via the web 24X7.
Later the following additional benefits were identified as result of the new process.
· Reduce end to end turn-around time by 30%
· Reduce the number of errors caused by missing or incorrect data given to the Helpdesk by 10%
· Reduce amount of manual effort spent on SOX quarterly reviews by 40%
As Gatekeeper and Innovator, you also motivate others to exploit opportunities and maximize benefits. If not, perhaps it is the next “gap” worthy of remediation!
Copyright (c) Veris Associates, Inc. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Comments contents are the opinions of the person posting the comment (commenter) and not necessarily those or endorsed by Veris Associates, Inc. Veris Associates, Inc. reserves the right to remove any and all comments it wishes without any recourse of the commenter. Decision of Veris Associates, Inc. is final.
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