Protect your organization: Why a Disaster Recovery Plan matters

May 2, 2013 By

Enterprise Security 150x150 Protect your organization: Why a Disaster Recovery Plan matters

 

A number of studies have been conducted over the years regarding Disaster Recovery (DR) planning and it’s importance to business.  These studies increased ten fold in the wake of 9/11 and the results were consistent- “it’s not will you need a disaster recovery plan, it’s when.” 

 

The results of the studies were shocking:

  • 61% of all businesses surveyed had to invoke their DR Plan at least once in the last 5 years
  • 80% of businesses that suffer a disaster and have no plan, ultimately go out of business within 3 years
  • 40% of businesses that suffer a critical IT failure go out of business within a year

The statistics above clearly demonstrate that businesses need a DR plan, ideally one that addresses both business and IT because they can result in different scenarios.  Unfortunately, despite the wealth of information regarding the importance of DR planning, 30-40% of all IT organizations do not have a DR plan nor do they know how to properly use the one they have.

Don’t launch a DR plan planning exercise without engaging the right people

The first step in the DR planning process is to engage with the business leaders to gain buy-in and support for this process. Most companies launch a full blown DR planning effort without realizing that development of a DR plan is a complex and invasive project that can take many months or even years to complete depending on the size of the company.  The project demands significant time and involvement from the organization; valuable resources that are almost always in short supply causing projects to either fail or be deferred.

The Interim DR Plan

A key to succeeding in the establishment of a DR plan, that is both functional and provides a solid foundation for subsequent revisions to the plan, is to start small and evolve to a plan that is specific to the needs of the organization.  In DR terms this is usually called an “Interim DR Plan”.  An Interim DR plan covers the basics of a particular DR scenario (such as the complete loss of the data centre) and identifies the necessary information and processes to recover the key systems needed to continue to operate the business.

The importance of reviewing your plan

An Interim DR plan is critical to the development of a comprehensive DR plan.  Once the Interim DR plan has been established and tested, a review of the assumptions used in its creation should be conducted.  This review must involve the business and IT teams to identify the risks associated with each assumption.  As a result, the IT group can cost the necessary mitigation strategies  and the business and IT can then review and agree on how to deal with gaps for the next iteration of the DR plan.  This iterative process should continue for some time in order to provide the necessary flexibility to the business and IT regarding costs, resource demands,and execution.

Continuous Improvement

The final critical piece of a DR plan is related to awareness and continuous improvement.  Once created, the DR plan is a living document that needs review and update.  There were a number of businesses during the 9/11 disaster that had DR plans but whose plans were out of date because they did not follow a continuous improvement model and the plan was, in the end, useless.  The organization, the vendors, partners and customers all need to be aware of the plan and they need to be involved in ensuring it is maintained.

Regular testing for effectiveness of the plan

The plan is only as good as its’ last test.  DR plans should be tested yearly (or more frequently, if possible) as this provides feedback on the effectiveness of the plan and identifies gaps that may be present and must be mitigated in the next revision.

  • 40% of businesses surveyed tested less than once a year and another 40% of those surveyed did not do a complete test of the plan.

The IT DR plan will be a long term and complex undertaking that has proven to be an absolute requirement for business success.  Start it modestly, covering the absolute basics to keep the business running; update it every year with a complete review and conduct a full test; communicate the plan to everyone inside and outside the company and evolve it through an iterative process that uses the DR test as a feedback process for the next revision of the plan.

Written by Greg Stopelli, Senior Associate at Litcom.

 

 

Filed Under: Enterprise Security, Information Security Health Check, Information Security Program Development Tagged With: ,

Best IT Management Practice: The role of the IT Steering Committee

April 23, 2013 By

IT Management 150x150 Best IT Management Practice: The role of the IT Steering CommitteeNearly 80% of all IT organizations have steering committees and 69% of those organizations make full use of their committees, meaning the committees meet regularly to align IT’s goals, objectives, and priorities with the needs of the business, according to the Computer Economics IT Management Best Practices 2011/2012 study.

The use of IT steering committees ranks No. 1 as the most mature IT management practice out of 15 practices covered in the study. Steering committees, which usually include executives and departmental heads, set priorities from among competing requests for IT projects, services, and attention, among other duties.

Organization’s that are not actively engaging in this practice should be asking themselves: why not? According to Computer Economics, “These practices have withstood the test of time. They would not be so widely practiced if they were not effective.”

There are varying approaches to IT decision-making, including:

  • the CIO gets all the requests and decides what to do;
  • the CIO makes all the decisions;
  • the decisions are made by a committee run by the CIO;
  • the CEO and the CIO make all the decisions, and
  • the officers of the company meet on a regular basis and decide what should be done.

Makeup and Functioning of the IT steering committee

IT should have a set of basic operating principles which should be universal among all IT departments. The makeup and the functioning of the IT steering committee should be one of them. In our view, the IT steering committee should be composed of the officers of the company and should be chaired by the CEO, or in certain circumstances, the COO.

Our rationale is as follows:

  • The officers of the company understand the strategic plan for the entire organization and have the insight and the power to add projects, exchange projects or delete projects based on resources, budget and plan. Lower level executives should not be put into that position.
  • The CIO should not be put into the position of deciding priorities. If the CIO does this, then the CIO’s position is compromised relative to all the officers. In this scenario, the CIO is required to determine that one officer’s priority is not as important as another. Decisions should be the consensus of the entire officer group based on the strategic plan.
  • The CIO, as a member of the steering committee, is allowed to express views just like any officer may comment on their or any others requested project. Each officer should be able to defend his or her project before the committee. The CIO should bring technical expertise to the conversation to either support or discourage discussed projects. The CIO must also defend any large technical infrastructure projects.
  • This approach avoids the “squeaky wheel” approach which allows powerful executives to dominate the IT agenda while less powerful departments are ignored even though their requirements may be more strategic.
  • This approach assures that IT is aligned to the business and ensures that IT is working on projects that the company wants and needs.

Establishing the IT steering committee

Important considerations in establishing an effective IT steering committee process are as follows:

  • Focus the IT Steering Committee on three main tasks: IT strategic planning; project prioritization and project approval.
  • Ensure the meeting agenda is related to the future IT needs of the business, versus last month’s service disruption reports.
  • Poll committee members for their ideas on what IT’s priorities should be for next year’s budget long in advance of the budget cycle. Use the committee meeting to encourage those people to speak to those priorities and encourage discussion.
  • Review new emerging technologies and brainstorm how they could be used for the business.
  • Implement a communications plan to pre-empt the need to react to requests coming from the executive table, seemingly out of left field. The IT steering committee becomes the process to examine requests that come via that route, reducing the number of requests that appear to be end runs to established policies.

The role of the CIO

The role of CIO is central to an effective IT steering committee as he or she serves as the primary facilitator – but not as an advocate. As we previously mentioned, the CIO is allowed to express views just like any officer and may comment on any project. The CIO must also bring technical expertise to either support or discourage projects and also defend any large technical infrastructure projects.

The Litcom Approach

Litcom’s professional team is equipped to provide comprehensive and efficient solutions for improving IT governance. For further information, please contact us at: info@litcom.ca

 

Filed Under: IT Management, IT Strategy Tagged With: ,

How secure are your systems?

April 3, 2013 By

Information Security Program Development 150x150 How secure are your systems?Recent news of the Chinese military involvement in electronic espionage raises the question of how to secure an organization’s systems in an era of advanced persistent threat (APT). According to Wikipedia, APT refers to “a group, such as a foreign government, with both the capability and the intent to persistently and effectively target a specific entity”.

The natures of cyber-attacks have increased in frequency and sophistication. Even information security firms such as RSA, Verisign and Symantec have become victims. Google, Sony, and government agencies such as the FBI, CIA, IMF and the Canadian federal government add to the list of examples. Most importantly, taking simple steps to create an effective security program can greatly reduce your organization’s exposure and risk.

Here are some simple and effective strategies to follow:

Be Focused

Without a Risk Analysis, organizations will not be able to focus limited resources on the information and assets that matter. Going after the “low hanging fruit” (easy to fix items) is not always the best strategy when protecting your systems.

Train your Users

Users are usually the weakest link in any security strategy. All compromises involve tricking a person to take an action (i.e. open a file, visit a malicious web site). Train your users and create your “human firewall”.

Increase Detection

Eventually, someone or something will fail, and then your last defense is to be able to detect and react quickly before any serious damage is done. Think of it as your “air bag”. Proactively monitoring and auditing system logs is an effective strategy most organizations do not implement, and a fundamental element in your information security strategy.

Implement Defense in Depth

Create resilience by relying on many layers of defense such as end-point virus protection, intrusion detection, formal education programs, and background checks.

Written by Kees Pouw, a Senior Litcom Associate.

The Litcom Approach

How can we help? We have great experience helping organizations develop and execute an information security program that is both effective and efficient in term of using limited resources. We can provide expertise both in technology and the management skills required to protect the information and assets that are critical to your business success. Contact us at: info@litcom.ca.

Filed Under: Enterprise Security, Information Security Program Development Tagged With: , ,

Ensuring the smooth integration of disparate IT systems

March 25, 2013 By

Post Merger Integration 150x150 Ensuring the smooth integration of disparate IT systems

 

Research shows that on average, organizations will spend approximately 30 percent of their IT budgets dealing with the integration of disparate systems. Why? Because after a merger or acquisition, organizations begin to feel pressure to solve immediate issues and deal with problems.  As a result, organizations start acquiring new technologies; an action that complicates the integration process and deepens the impact to the IT budgets.

 

In light of the information above, the goal of most organizations is to limit the time and cost spent on integrating IT systems, while at the same time achieving the data consolidation that is required to improve the organization’s performance.  The problem is that typically, after a merger or acquisition, organizations need to gather, analyze and report on information that may be coming from a number of disparate and complex systems. The need to maintain the integrity of transactional data in financial, customer and other operational systems is extremely vital. There is also a necessity to improve reporting systems to provide information at a broader, more consolidated level. More efficient communication among application systems is important, in order to provide management with the data they need, and the ability to produce the information required to make more informed and timely decisions.

During a system integration project, it is important to ensure that all the areas of IT are worked upon for smooth integration. A sample checklist is provided below:

Before Starting:

  • Has the IT roadmap and strategy been determined?
  • Based on the IT strategy, is the consolidation plan for the IT systems established?
  • Does a consolidation plan have adequate time and resources for integration?
  • Have test plans been developed?
  • Based on the IT strategy is there a contingency plan on hand?
  • Are all systems elements included in the consolidation plan?
  • Has the plan for IT procurement, physical location and resources been determined?
  • Is all the documentation being obtained from the merging parties?
  • Are the productive IT integration team formed with efficient leadership and team members?
  • Is there a risk management plan in in place?

During Integration:

Are following particulars of the IT environment addressed?

  • Network Connectivity
  • IT Leadership team
  • IT Integration of work culture
  • Mainframe infrastructure
  • Business application and architecture
  • Data or call center facilities
  • IT Processes
  • IT products and services
  • Licensing of products
  • Office applications
  • Desktop/laptop systems
  • Machine setups

Post Integration:

  • After the consolidation, is ample testing performed on integrated systems to ensure the success of integration and seamless functioning of integrated applications?
  • Are the timelines and milestones being considered?
  • Is the whole integration process documented, updated in a timely manner and properly maintained?
  • Is the integration report and plan made available organization-wide?

Proper systems integration can help an organization achieve anticipated synergies by consolidating the key data and transactions that enable effective decision making. The challenge is integrating the merged organization’s different technologies systems, and processes while protecting the organizations’ investments in each of these areas.

The Litcom Approach

Litcom’s PMI methodology provides a structured approach for rapid integration of IT Services & Technologies to deliver optimum value to the new organization. Within our PMI process, we focus on our client’s key needs and issues including retention of people, reduction of costs and maintaining market confidence.

When a company decides to merge with or to acquire another company, a major question is to what extent to integrate the information technologies and the organization.

At Litcom, our post-merger integration team provides strategic due diligence, communication planning, implementation planning and change management in order to meet your post-merger IT needs. Our goal is to provide a cost-effective way to ensure that your new company merges all of its IT operations as seamlessly as possible. Our strength is our extensive experience in information technology and project management. With these skills, we can create concrete goals and executable projects that ensure your merger will be as productive as possible. To learn more about Litcom’s PMI methodology, please contact us at: info@litcom.ca.

Filed Under: IT Strategy, Post-Merger Integration Tagged With: , ,

Rescuing troubled projects

March 20, 2013 By

IT Management 150x150 Rescuing troubled projectsThe first step in dealing with a troubled project is to be sure you actually have a project that is in trouble. In some circumstances, there is the perception of a problem when in actuality there really is none at all. In other situations, a project may be in trouble, but the project manager might already have begun a process of damage control. Sometimes the project has problems, but the problems are not significant enough for the project to be considered troubled. For instance, if a ten-month project has been extended an extra week, you would need to decide whether it really is in trouble.

How do you spot a project that has gotten into trouble?

Spotting and fixing problems early can help team members, clients, stakeholders, and sponsors avoid project failure. Some warning signs to watch for include situations in which:

  • There are excessive scheduled delays, continuous changes and missed commitments.
  • The project is already over budget and there is no end date in sight.
  • Team members are exhibiting low morale and seem to have lost interest in the project.
  • Major issues have not been acknowledged or diagnosed.

How do you rescue a troubled project?

Here are 4 tips on how to get that project back on track:

  1. Investigate the current situation of the project

  • When a project becomes troubled, it is vital to review project documentation, such as a project plan and open issues list in order to pinpoint where the error or issues occurred. Conducting detailed interviews with sponsors, team members, stakeholders and project vendors involved in the project will help to identity project expectations and identify whether all viewpoints are aligned. It is also important to identify show-stopping problems. This will help to re-align the project and get it back on track.

  1. Assess and re-cast the project (if it has been derailed)

  • Affirm who the project sponsors and stakeholders are and reconfirm the project objectives. It will help to clarify the project’s priorities and risks and determine where the project falls with respect to the organization’s other priorities. (Consider whether the project should be cancelled, postponed, or scaled down if it’s low on the list of priority projects).
  • Review the processes for escalating questions, concerns, and problems and determine whether the right resources are available; both people and funding sources. It’s necessary to clarify everyone’s roles and responsibilities as well as assess whether you have the right documentation. For example, is the project plan up to date? Are critical issues identified with action items assigned?

  1. Reset everyone’s expectations (regarding the original project scope)

  • Present the facts to the sponsor, stakeholders, and team members and obtain input consent from everyone on how to move forward. If the project requirements or deliverables need to be scaled down, or if the budget and schedule need to be revised, negotiate these changes with the sponsor and stakeholders. Don’t forget to align your team and remove any barriers as they occur.

  1. Target for success of delivery

  • Keep the project schedules and issue logs current, and discuss them with the team regularly. Continue to escalate major issues when needed to, whether to a steering committee, management, or other stakeholders as well as reset expectations as needed. In addition, maintain a positive but realistic attitude about achieving the project goals. Recognize team members, celebrate success, and learn from past mistakes. Most importantly continue to communicate!

The Litcom Approach

Our dedicated team has significant experience rescuing troubled projects. We conduct a review of your existing systems and projects, develop a comprehensive profile of all IT-related projects underway, monitor the progress of each initiative, organize the IT efforts to support any business process improvement activities, and identify and bring forward IT-specific value propositions which outline either cost saving or revenue enhancing opportunities. For more information on our IT Management Services, please visit: http://www.litcom.ca/it-management/

For more on how Litcom can help you with your project management needs, please contact us at info@litcom.ca.

Filed Under: IT Assessment, IT Management Tagged With: ,

4 Tips on optimizing your ERP system

March 1, 2013 By

ERP Optimization 150x150 4 Tips on optimizing your ERP systemIf you have implemented ERP and you are not realizing the return that you anticipated, you should consider optimizing your ERP system. When optimizing your ERP system, the focus must be aligning the application with your business processes and business rules.

Here are 4 tips on optimizing your ERP system:

 

 

1. Explore and understand your needs and capabilities

  • Determine what your current business and operational objectives are, and examine what you are using in your current ERP package.  Examine the features and functionality of the software. The organization should have examined the features and functionality of the software when it created the business plan and selected the ERP solution.

2. Prioritize your options

Rank each feature based on the following factors:

  • timeline to implement
  • cost to implement,
  • organizational readiness to accept the feature, and
  • expected benefits of implementing the feature

3. Don’t forget about change management

  • Since the direct results of an optimization effort are changed or new processes, change management should be an integral part of an optimization effort. Identify and involve impacted end-users early in the process.

4. Optimization is a continuous journey

  • Government processes and applications will continually change over time. So should your ERP. ERP optimization assessments should be continually updated.

Companies that recognize the value of their ERP systems must be willing to make the investments of time and money required to transform their ERP system into a strategic tool that aligns the applications and business processes seamlessly. ERP is not a magic tool which will transform everything overnight. In fact, successful organizations have developed optimization efforts that over time allow them to become more agile and responsive to customers needs.

The Litcom Approach

Optimization projects should be planned and executed with the same diligence and accountability that was afforded the initial system implementation. Litcom helps companies work through the intricacies of post-implementation optimization projects. Our consultants have extensive experience managing both implementation and post-implementation ERP projects. We have worked with a wide variety of ERP products as well as the functional areas within them. We have a comprehensive methodology that ensures we achieve the desired results.

Want to find out more on ERP Solutions? Check out:

http://www.litcom.ca/2011/06/effective-selection-and-implementation-of-software-solutions/

http://www.litcom.ca/2012/09/the-need-for-erp-optimization/

 

Filed Under: ERP Optimization Tagged With:

SharePoint: Not your average collaboration tool

February 19, 2013 By

SharePoint Solutions 150x150 SharePoint: Not your average collaboration tool

1. Improve team productivity with interactive collaborative tools

Connect people with the information and resources they need. Users can create team workspaces, coordinate calendars, organize documents, and receive important notifications and updates through communication features including announcements and alerts, as well as the new templates for creating blogs and wikis. While mobile, users can take advantage of convenient offline synchronization capabilities.

 

2. Easily manage documents and help ensure integrity of content

With enhanced document management capabilities including the option to activate required document checkout before editing, the ability to view revisions to documents and restore to previous versions, and the control to set document- and item-level security, Windows SharePoint Services can help ensure the integrity of documents stored on team sites.

3. Get users up to speed quickly

User interface improvements in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 include enhanced views and menus that simplify navigation within and among SharePoint sites. Integration with familiar productivity tools, including programs in the Microsoft Office system, makes it easy for users to get up to speed quickly. For example, users can create work spaces  post and edit documents, and view and update calendars on SharePoint sites, all while working within Microsoft Office system files and programs.

4. Deploy solutions tailored to your business processes

While standard work spaces in Windows SharePoint Services are easy to implement, organizations seeking a more customized deployment can get started quickly with application templates for addressing specific business processes or sets of tasks.

5. Build a collaboration environment quickly and easily 

Easy to manage and easy to scale, Windows SharePoint Services enables IT departments to deploy a collaborative environment with minimal administrative time and effort, from simple, single-server configurations to more robust enterprise configurations. Because deployment settings can be flexibly changed, less pre-planning time is required and companies can get started even faster.

6. Reduce the complexity of securing business information

Windows SharePoint Services provides IT with advanced administrative controls for increasing the security of information resources, while decreasing cost and complexity associated with site provisioning, site management, and support. Take advantage of better controls for site life-cycle management, site memberships and permissions, and storage limits.

7. Provide sophisticated controls for securing company resources

IT departments can now set permissions as deep down as the document or item level, and site managers, teams, and other work groups can initiate self-service collaborative workspaces and tasks within these preset parameters. New features enable IT to set top-down policies for better content recovery and users, groups, and team workspace site administration.

8. Take file sharing to a new level with robust storage capabilities

Windows SharePoint Services supplies workspaces with document storage and retrieval features, including check-in/check-out functionality, version history, custom metadata, and customizable views. New features in Windows SharePoint Services include enhanced recycle bin functionality for easier recovery of content and improved backup and restoration.

9. Easily scale your collaboration solution to meet business needs

Quickly and easily manage and configure Windows SharePoint Services using a Web browser or command-line utilities. Manage server farms, servers, and sites using the Microsoft .NET Framework, which enables a variety of custom and third-party administration solution offerings.

10. Provide a cost-effective foundation for building Web-based applications

Windows SharePoint Services exposes a common framework for document management and collaboration from which flexible and scalable Web applications and Internet sites, specific to the needs of the organization, can be built. Integration with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 expands these capabilities further to offer enterprise-wide functionality for records management, search, workflows, portals, personalized sites, and more.

(http://sharepoint.ulitzer.com/node/2539364)

The Litcom Approach

At Litcom, we know that an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of Microsoft SharePoint Server is only one of the keys to a successful implementation and improved communication within an organization. Our SharePoint implementation experience is the foundation for our work. We combine this knowledge with our understanding of the vital roles that project management, business analysis and training play. We bring this knowledge to all client engagements where they quickly recognize the benefits in working with our team of experts.

Let us help your organization avoid the pitfalls of a technology-only SharePoint rollout, preventing your SharePoint site(s) from becoming unused repositories of corporate information. Litcom can assist in implementing Microsoft technologies such as InfoPath or your existing Microsoft Office environment to enable your employees and business partners to develop a seamless workflow.

Want more information on SharePoint? Check out:

http://www.litcom.ca/2012/10/2172/

http://www.litcom.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/SHAREPOINT-SOLUTIONS.pdf

Questions? contact us at info@litcom.ca

 

 

Filed Under: SharePoint Solutions Tagged With:

Reaping the benefits of Agile project management

February 5, 2013 By

IT Management 150x150 Reaping the benefits of Agile project managementSuccessful organizations constantly strive to use IT as a business enabler. With software development at the heart of business differentiation, companies have long searched for software methodologies that combine aggressive time to market and top quality with lowest cost. Agile has proved to be successful in meeting enterprise goals. Agile adoption rate has accelerated over the past few years with Fortune 500 companies reporting gains such as 57% reduction is costs, 60% decline in defects and an astonishing 69% improvement in time to market.

Agile is different than traditional methodologies. Many organizations will fail to recognize its difference and, by underestimating the change management, will not reap the full benefits of the Agile project management and engineering practices.

The agile methodology focuses on:

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiator
  • Responding to change over following a plan

The Litcom Approach

Litcom offers 2 Agile services that map to the specific needs of all organizations:

Agile adoption coaching: Litcom will implement the Agile methodologies and practices that best suit your organization by walking your teams through the steps required for a best possible ROI for your software development effort. Agile adoption coaching is very scalable and customized to your exact needs. Unique challenges are identified early and managed through a combination of on-site workshops, coaching, pilot management and other tools, in partnership with your organization.

Agile development resource sharing: Litcom will work with your product managers or business lines to implement your projects with our resources or with a combination of your team members and ours. You stay in control of your business requirements and the development team delivers a business-focused, high-quality software solution at the best possible speed. Litcom’s Agile development services include team and infrastructure building, and the maintenance of all projects and products until retirement.

For more information, please contact us at info@litcom.ca.

Filed Under: IT Management, IT Strategy Tagged With: ,

Crafting an IT Strategy: Some points to consider

January 23, 2013 By

IT Strategy Crafting an IT Strategy: Some points to considerHow is IT perceived in your organization?  How can this perception (if negative) be changed?

If IT has a track record of failed projects, and as a result, the business has poor confidence in IT, it might be time for a change. Using a third party that is knowledgeable in IT Strategy implementation to interview executives is a great way to ensure privacy and unbiased results throughout the organization.

 

What are the growth strategies for your organization?

What are the critical areas that need attention? What are the goals of your organization?

What does IT need to look like?

What kind of staffing does your organization need to meet its IT needs?  What does the IT organization need to look like in order to accomplish these goals? Detail about roles and responsibilities would be useful in discovering any gaps or overlaps in roles.

What do the financials look like?

Is the IT budget sufficient to get things accomplished? Is there a way to reduce IT expenditures in order to focus on revenue producing activities?

What processes will you put in place to make sure that IT is aligned with the goals of your organization?

It’s imperative that you understand the business and how applied technology will move goals forward.

The Litcom Approach

Litcom provides an IT Strategy and roadmap, enabling an organization to most effectively leverage technology. Our comprehensive IT Strategy approach helps organizations shape the direction of their IT. We assist organizations in developing:

  • A comprehensive IT strategy, including IT opportunity assessment, shareholder value diagnosis and IT investment prioritization
  • IT strategy for mergers and acquisitions and due diligence
  • Strategies for all key components of IT, including information strategy, IT sourcing strategy, IT systems strategy and IT infrastructure strategy

To see how Litcom can assist with your organization’s IT Strategy plans, please contact us at: info@litcom.ca.

Also check out:

http://www.litcom.ca/2012/09/an-effective-it-strategy-can-go-a-long-way/

http://www.litcom.ca/2012/11/4-steps-for-successful-integration-of-it-with-business-objectives/

http://www.litcom.ca/2012/10/assessing-the-value-of-it-in-your-organization-2/

Filed Under: IT Strategy Tagged With: ,

10 Ways to fail at Project Management (Don’t try it at work!)

January 17, 2013 By

IT Management 150x150 10 Ways to fail at Project Management (Dont try it at work!)

 

Stakeholders, consultants and project managers have all made up their personal opinion about the ultimate causes of failure of IT projects. Here are some good ways to make sure a project will not take off! (In no particular order):

 

 

  1. Ignore the environment (in particular stakeholders)

  2. Introduce a new technology in a market too quickly

  3. Don’t worry about establishing fall back options

  4. Don’t nurture new ideas

  5. Don’t bother organizing feasibility studies

  6. Never admit project is a failure

  7. Over manage project managers and their team

  8. Don’t worry about conducting post-failure reviews

  9. Don’t bother to understand project trade-offs

  10. Make sure that a project is run by a weak and inexperienced leader

SOURCE: Pinto, Jeffrey K.; Kharbanda, Om P.: How to fail in project management – without really trying; in: Business Horizons, Vol. 39 (1996), No. 4, pp. 45-53.

The Litcom Approach

For more information on how Litcom can help you (the right way!) with your project management needs, please check out: http://www.litcom.ca/2012/11/7-tips-for-project-management-success/ or contact us at: info@litcom.ca

 

 

Filed Under: IT Management Tagged With:
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