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#42: Using Project Key Success Factors
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
What are IBM’s Key Success Factors and how can they help you with project success? We are going to be covering this and so much more on this week’s episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley.
Are we enabling the business capabilities. How do we know that we are pleasing our business parts and the right things in place to deliver the business needs.
What are the Success Factors
1) Stakeholders Committed
2) Business Benefits Being Realized
3) The Work and Schedule are Predictable
4) The Team is High Performing
5) The Scope is Realistic and Managed
6) The Risks are Mitigated
7) The Delivery Organization Benefits are Realized
Placing these success factors into a stop light report and placing mitigating plans against any factor that is yellow or red.
Stakeholder Commitment
Is the technology team providing the subject matter expertise and ensuring the outcome will be great for technology but probably will miss on the business delivery. Ensure the stakeholders are committed ensuring the subject matter expertise is coming from the business partners
Are you Realizing the Business Benefits
Does a project have appropriate business partnership and an thus clearly articulated business benefits that everyone can agree on. Look for measurable benefits that are binary, did the benefit realize? Yes or No
The Work and Schedule are Predictable
Are there agreed upon project plans are these plans realistic? Is the definition of finished for everyone on the team. I worked with a CEO years ago who said technology taught him the difference between done and working. Do you know what your partners definition of working is?
The Team is High Performing
Is the teaming working well together. There are multiple challenges to project success yet the often overlooked challenge to project success is how well the team is working together. When teams are assembled they have forming, storming, norming, and performing stages. As a project starts we should be measuring these stages.
The Scope is Realistic and Managed
Does the project have a scope statement and have all of the stakeholders agreed to the statement. Is there a process for addressing potential scope changes. Is the project team working to limit scope creep.
The Risks are Mitigated
I have observed many projects with no or a week risks log. Every project encounters challenges from multiple external forces and these potential issues have to be logged and mitigated as part of the standard practice. If the project has a weak or non-existent risk log then there is a real cause for concern.
The Delivery Organization Benefits are Realized
Is the organizational news about the project positive. The in a previous show I discussed the power of small wins and how they are shared throughout the organization to build morale. If this project is not generating positive organizational buzz then you have a challenge that should be addressed to bring the project back on track.
There you have it the 7 Keys to Success from IBM.
Notes
CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada.
#41: What are the Keys to Project Success
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
What are the key success factors to ensure project success. How will you know if your project is on track or off track. Do you trust your project metrics to give you the full story. In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I will be talking about just those things and many more. Join me today on CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley.
What are the Key Success Factors for a Project
I have spoken with many IT leaders throughout the years and all of us seem to have some of the same opinions as to what constitutes the metrics to rely on when looking at a program or project.
The technology industry has spent countless hours developing metrics. Hence the stop light reports and Red Amber Green statuses for projects. Though how often have we found ourselves looking at a project with a green status and knowing that the status if far from the truth of what is happening on the ground. Yes, the budget is ok, the staffing is ok, the milestones appear ok, and the overall plan is ok. Yet you know underneath things are not ok regardless of what we are seeing on the paper in front of us.
Why is it that we don’t trust the status reports and what should we be looking for? There are multiple other metrics we can look at to determine if a project is doing well. I have altered many steering committee decks to show quality assurance throughout a project. I have added the SDLC and project management hurdles as part of the status; even included architecture reports and common services and technology services gates and reports as part of the reporting. All to ensure the technology side of the project is communicating effectively and so I can get a holistic picture of what is happening; knowing I may see something from my vantage point that the teams may have missed.
Is Something Missing from our Project Metrics
Yet, I still find that something is missing from the metrics, something that is not appearing clearly yet is an issue. That is because everything I have mentioned thus far is all technology and project team focused. What is missing is the other components of project success. And these components are all related to business process, business success, and business change management. The biggest complaint you will hear from your business partners is technology is not delivering what the business wants or needs. Yes, I have heard all of the complaints from my teams too.
How Do You Know a Project Will Succeed
I began to do a little research to see what measures we can add to our steering committee package to identify all of the non-technology items that we should be looking at as part of our regular assessment of a project. And there are lots of opinions on what should be considered. I am going to share some of what I found and then boil it down to a few that that we can use.
IT Project Management Keys to Success
First, I looked into CIO.com. I read this site regularly and find a lot of great information on the site and sure enough there was an article by Meridith Levinson on June 23, 2010 titled, “IT Project Management: 10 Less-Considered Keys to Success” The list was compiled from some work she did on the CIO Forum on LinkedIn and here is the list:
- A Clear Definition of Success
- A Willingness to make unpopular decision
- End-user training and hand-holding after go-live
- Clearly defined roles and responsibilities
- Transparent workflows
- A process for handling scope changes
- Risk Management
- Adequate Documentation
- A good QA Process
- Project Governance
To get clarification on each of these 10 keys please take a look at the article. I have provided a link in the show notes.
Now while I agree with these ten items they were not exactly what I was looking for because they still lack the subtlety or the nuance that I keep feeling in my gut when I am sitting in the project meetings. I still felt most of these keys were still a bit “technology” in air quotes.
Keys for Project Success
I then found a white paper published by Retail Process Engineering, LLC (RPE) in 2006 called, “10 Keys for Project Success”. RPE is a consulting service provider focused on the technology systems specific to the retail industry. I have provided a link to their white paper in the show notes so that you can read the additional detail around their 10 keys. Here are their ten keys for project success:
- Set Expectations: Define the Project
- Get Organized: Create the Project Plan
- Start at the Top: Gain Executive Support
- The Best Teams Deliver the Best Results: Project Team Management
- Prepare for the Inevitable: Risk Management
- Stick to the Plan: Scope Management
- Deliver on the Plan: Quality Assurance
- Spread the News: Communicate Early and Often
- Gain User Acceptance: Change Management
- Quantify Results: Measure Project Success
Again, all very good items needed for project success and I still feel like many of these items are a bit “technology” in air quotes. Though you can see some common elements between CIO.com’s LinkedIn analysis and RPE’s white paper, I will meld some of this after I have chance to get through some of the other top keys.
More Keys to Project Success
Next I found a brief post from Martin Training Associates titled, “The Seven Keys to Project Success” where they identify several measures for portfolio success:
- Commit to improving the project system
- Use project management on all projects
- Sponsor individual projects
- Create a project steering process
- Align horizontally
- Apply the new accountability
- Optimize technical processes
Yet another good list of things that contribute to project success. As I mentioned in the start of the show I am already doing these items and I am sure many of you are as well. Here I knew that the application of good project management practices was in line with much of what is out there as far as documentation related to creating project success. So why still did I feel like there is something missing in insuring our projects will succeed? As I continued my search I started to find some additional thoughts
Ensure Project Success
First, Project Smart out of the UK has an article written by Duncan Haughey titled, “Eight Key Success Factors to Ensuring Project Success”. Duncan lists his eight success factors:
- Planning
- Team Motivation
- Saying No
- Avoiding Scope Creep
- Risk Management
- Project Closure
Unfortunately, this is a poorly written paper and for Duncan because he stopped at six successes factors and kept the title and conclusion at eight. My intention here is not to give Duncan too much grief because what he did include in his paper is a section on “Project Health Checks” and this is the direction I was seeking to move in when I sought out the project success factors. Because even though we are applying all of the factors mentioned in the previous articles it is really a health check that will help us determine if things are going right on the projects we are responsible for.
The Project Health Check
Duncan raised 18 questions for a project health check with a scoring system of -4 strongly disagree, -2 Disagree, 0 Neutral, 2 Agree, 4 strongly agree. Each of these ratings represents a subjective view of the project, however, as you may know the trigger was a feeling of something underneath was not right; thus the search for an outside measure that could address what the standard project metrics were not. Here are the questions that you can apply the scoring system against:
- A strong business case has been developed and approved
- The project is in align with the organization strategy
- I have full support of senior management for the project
- The benefits of the project are well understood and documented
- A clear set of deliverables have been identified
- The customer understands and has agreed to the scope
- The customer has agreed to the critical success factors
- Management will support the request for additional resources
- A detailed project plan exists
- Frequent milestones are built into the plan
- There are sufficient resources available until the project is concluded
- Everyone understands their role and is committed to the project outcome
- All required materials are available
- Risks are identified, recorded, and mitigated
- A communication plan is in place
- The project timeline is accurate and achievable
- I am confident the project has every chance for success
- I have scored the above questions honestly and to the best of my knowledge
This is a start in the right direction, though, I feel this health check is still far to technology focused and a bit rigid with a last question that appears to be pulled from a driver’s license application or a tax form.
IBM’s Seven Keys to Success
That is when I found a white paper published by IBM in October of 2002 (it turns out much of what it takes a project to succeed is not new, it just has to be applied). The white paper is titled, “How to Alter the Course of your Project’s History”. This white paper focuses on “The Seven Keys to Success” system which happens to be trademarked. The essence of the argument IBM is making is that project success depends a lot on Business Executive commitment and sponsorship of the project. IBM developed a language technique for communicating at the executive level and enabling senior level management to engage effectively with the project delivery process. Here are the seven keys to success:
- Committed Stakeholders
- Business Benefits being Realized
- Work and Schedule Predictable
- Team High Performing
- Scope Realistic and Manageable
- Risks Mitigated
- Delivery and Organization Benefits Realized
Here was what I was looking for, something that was above common project detail metrics. A tool for better communication with executive management and stakeholders.
The Required Elements for Project Success
Yes the previous articles covered some very good items on project management. They had the following common themes:
- Clear expectation of what success is
- A component of business change management not just technology change management
Training, support, process modification - A complete project plan
- A component of scope management and how to address the inevitable scope changes
- Risk management
- Quality assurance
- Governance and project management methodology
The Uncommon Elements for Project Success
These were common among all of the articles, yet there were four that were not common among the articles and they are:
- Willing to make unpopular decisions
- Clear role definition
- Executive support
- Communication
In Conclusion
Thus project delivery is very complicated and there are many moving parts to keep track of when attempting to deliver a project and even our common metrics sometimes let us down in the understanding of what is really happening within a project. All of these items are important to delivery and what I wanted to address was a broader issue of team interaction and communication. Can you as a leader or executive effectively know what is happening on the project and if it will succeed. IBM’s seven keys help us understand this through the following
- Committed Stakeholders
- Business Benefits being Realized
- Work and Schedule Predictable
- Team High Performing
- Scope Realistic and Manageable
- Risks Mitigated
- Delivery and Organization Benefits Realized
On the next show I will dig into these keys a bit from my background and experiences to share how they have helped improve the approach to projects and the measures of success.
Thank you for listening this week and I welcome your feedback. Please give me a rating in iTunes. If you would like to connect with me you can reach me through LinkedIn, twitter: @jeffreyhurley, and via email: Jeffrey @ CIOPlaybook.com. I look forward to connecting with you and until next time.
Notes:
IT Project Management: 10 Less-Considered Keys to Success
10 Keys for Project Success
Martin Training The 7 Keys to Project Success
Eight Key Factors to Ensuring Project Success
IBM The Seven Keys to Success
CIO Playbook
CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada.
#40: Thoughts on IDC’s 2013 Predictions
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I discuss the IDC’s 2013 predictions and what they mean to us as technology leaders. I firmly believe these predictions are accurate and if we as leaders are not taking actions now to prepare our organization to accommodate these changes we will find the organization will choose to move forward regardless.
The IDC is making the following predictions:
1. By 2016 line of business executives will be directly involved in 80% of new IT investments.
2. By 2015 90% of IT investments will be evaluated in terms of strategic goals
3. CIOs and CFO will move to “zero-capital” and transform the IT financial model
4. In 2013, CIOs deliver 3rd platform mash-ups as competitive differentiation
5. 70% of CIOs will embrace a “cloud first” strategy in 2016
6. By 2013 1/3 of all new application development will target a mobile form factor
7. Enterprise social networks move beyond pilot stage with business sponsorship
8. Big Data & analytics projects will be like no other IT project
9. IT talent will become the biggest barrier to innovation
10. By 2018, 50% of business execs will view the CIO as a business innovation
Notes:
www.idc.com
The CIO Playbook is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada and New York, US.
#39: What does Your Business Want
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I will be discussing the importance of connecting with your business partners and understanding what they want to accomplish and how you and your team provide the needed support in accomplishment of their goals.
I had the opportunity to attend a book launch party hosted by Robert Herjavec, owner of the Herjavec Group and co host of the Canadian version of the TV show Shark Tank.
How much time are you spending with your business management team? If you are not spending time with them in regular one on one’s you are going to grow apart. The tips for developing personal relationships are just as applicable in developing work relationships. I have heard it said what matters is who you know and how well they like you before they are interested in what you know. As a leader of technology you have tremendous influence on the success or failure of your business partners.
I know it does not feel that way, however, technology is required for each of our business partners to accomplish their goals. If we are not meeting with them regularly to understand what their goals are, we will end up with a gap between what they hope to achieve and the dollars available to accomplish those goals.
There is currently a paradigm shift going on in how technology is viewed within an organization. The current way of interacting with technology, where the team dictates to the business partners what can and cannot be done is quickly being replaced. Technology as a cost center and therefore an expense that must be contained while automating back office or operational processes is now in the past.
There is the new way of viewing technology as a business enabler and innovator for competitive advantage. Technology is a tool for customer interaction. The rise of the chief digital officer is an answer to this predicament. An individual dedicated to working with innovative technology to come up with new and better ways of customer engagement.
New York City has a chief digital officer in addition to their chief technology officer. The same for best Buy. The question is can the CIO act as the CDO or are these roles so markedly different that it isn’t possible?
My opinion is the creation of the CDO was in response to technology’s inability to evolve rapidly enough to meet the demands of the businesses it supports. Technology has come to make up a commodity service consisting of email, servers, databases and some operational practices and help desk, telecommunications etc. While the new employees entering firms have grown up with technology and would be considered “tech savvy” upon entering the organization. They own smart phones, went to college using Google Docs, and look at technology as a life enabler not something to be hated.
Chief Mechanic
Many of my technology leadership colleagues run the risk of being identified as the chief mechanic rather than as a person to seek out for innovation. Why the mechanic? How to you view your car’s mechanic?
First, we look at maintenance as a necessary evil rather than a positive for long life of a vehicle. We are not necessarily loyal to a particular mechanic and always view them as looking for more ways to separate us from our money. Not completely understanding how our vehicles work we have to rely on them to be honest and our constant fear of being stranded on the side of the road drives us to spend money that we feel we shouldn’t have to spend.
Now I don’t know about you, I pick my car based upon high reliability and then carefully follow the maintenance plan; getting the most life and value out of the car. Usually hundreds of thousands of miles before I turn them in for a new one. Not everyone is the same way. they will often lease their cars always getting a new one every few years and never worrying about the maintenance troubles because they have traded out of the car long before that might become an issue.
Technology is currently viewed in the same way as a mechanic is view, as a necessary evil. Though your business partners are beginning to realize this is not the view they want to have. As a leader you must work on breaking down the patterns of behavior established over the years of working together.
Yes, technology is a complicated stack of servers and layers of operating system and application systems on top. Highly complex. But things are changing. No longer do you buy hardware and software and run it for many years. Rather you now lease the equipment. Businesses no longer build their own data centers, buy their own servers, custom build their own software; unless there is a clear competitive advantage in doing so.
Chief Digital
This is where the chief digital officer comes in. Being in charge of digital focusing on problem solving and innovation. The technology stack can be outsourced through cloud computing, software infrastructure, and services. Rather than managing large teams of employees it is managing large groups of vendors. The skills are altering toward stronger critical thinking, negotiation, expectation management.
Senior management is looking for business growth, asset utilization, and business agility.
Business Growth
The process of improving some measure of an enterprise’s success. Business growth can be achieved either by boosting the top line or revenue of the business with greater product sales or service income, or by increasing the bottom line or profitability of the operation by minimizing costs.
Asset Utilization
Asset utilization is key to effective use of dollars spent. It is important to get the best value from the technology investments you have made. obtaining an optimized mix of system utilization and routine replacement and maintenance of existing systems
Asset utilization ratios measure how efficient a business is at using its assets to make money. A business’s receivables turnover, which is defined as its credit sales divided by the value of its accounts receivable from customers, indicates whether a business is able to turn the goods and services it sells into money that is available for other purposes. Inventory turnover is another asset utilization ratio, found by dividing the cost to produce the goods sold during a specified time period by the average value of the business’s product inventory during that same time period.
Business Agility
Agility is a concept that incorporates the ideas of flexibility, balance, adaptability, and coordination under one umbrella. In a business context, agility typically refers to the ability of an organization to rapidly adapt to market and environmental changes in productive and cost-effective ways. The agile enterprise is an extension of this concept, referring to an organization that utilizes key principles of complex adaptive systems and complexity science to achieve success. One can say that business agility is the outcome of Organizational intelligence.
#38: Goal Obsession
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I will be discussing the impact of goal obsession and how that obsession can lead to decision-making focused on achieving the goal at the expense of other opportunities and often ignoring the issues and risks around you when choosing to pursue the goal above everything else.
Marshal Goldsmith in his book what got you here won’t get you there dedicates a chapter to the 21st habit that holds successful people back. This habit being overly focused on the goal to the detriment of other opportunities. Now each of you know how important focus is in achieving your objectives. Much of what we read about success and goal setting talks about the power of focus. Even the research on strategy demonstrates the importance of focus in achieving success. Yet that very same focus that drives success can at the same time be a weakness preventing your success. This conundrum has frustrated me on several occasions and I would like to share a story of one such occasion.
I have had a wonderful travel case from TravelPro for about a year. This case is a wheeled tote, effectively an overnight bag or briefcase. I chose the case after a lot of research to find the best case for fitting in small overhead bins on the airplane and for its ease of use. TravelPro is preferred by frequent travelers because of the quality workmanship and guarantee on the bags. One of the drawbacks of this bag is the telescoping handle. Because of the small size of the bag the handle consists of five interlocking segments. Much of the feedback from users of this bag is the regular failure of this telescoping handle. I discovered, at the one year anniversary of ownership, the reviews were correct the case’s telescoping handle broke. This is a common occurrence of this type of case. TravelPro has several authorized repair centers throughout the country. The one nearest my location happened to be located in New York City. Now as many of you know parking in the city can be a challenge. Yet I had figured that a trip into the city early in the morning would enable me to get my case repaired without to much trouble. However, I was not able to get out of my home quite early enough. Now I was operating with a time limit because the repair shop was only open until 1:00PM. This wouldn’t have been an issue if I had gotten out of my home early. Unfortunately I didn’t get on the road until just after 11:00. Now I had made several trips into the city with very little challenge finding street parking on Saturdays so I didn’t think there would be much trouble in getting into the city finding parking dropping off my case and getting back out.
I figured the hour and a half time limitation wouldn’t be much trouble. This proved to not be true; as I got into the city and discovered no parking opportunities. Because I had chosen to make the trek on my own I did not have a partner that could have driven around the block while I dropped off the case. I had to find a location to park. Street after street proved to provide no parking. I thought to myself, “as a leader I am supposed to make better decisions” and yet I fell victim to the same desires we all face.
I missed the following fundamentals:
- Overly optimistic assumptions
- Not enough resources
- No clear alternative if the scope proved difficult
- Not completely understanding the limitations/issues/risks involved
The key with any situation is to learn from the event. Whether it be a positive outcome or a negative outcome. The Buddhists have a saying, “it is not the situation that is bad or good rather, it is how you react to it” Yes I was frustrated with not getting my travel bag in for repair. Yet the lessons I can take away are a value indeed.
Overly optimistic assumptions
Whenever we embark on new project or activity all of the requirements may not be readily available at the time. Most projects need an element of contingency placed in them to address unexpected challenges. These challenges may result in a scope change. But if you look at something as simple is navigating the challenges of city parking for a few minute drop off. There was no scope change just a set of barriers that I had not prepared for. Yes I could have found parking, however, the time limit prevented me from straying to far from my location.
Not enough resources
I made the assumption this would be a quick drop off, repair and then back out of the city. It didn’t quite turn out that way. All of the street parking was “commercial standing only”. On Sundays any of us can park freely, unfortunately, the repair shop I was looking for was not open on Sundays. If I had brought another person with me I could have either had them run into the shop while I waited in the car, or vise versa. Plus I could have gained some quality time with a family member going to and from the city.
No Clear Alternatives
When parking proved difficult I discovered I had not clear or good alternative. I could have chosen to park in one of the many parking garages or lots throughout the area. Yet I was unwilling to pay north of $25 for just a fifteen minute need. Street parking is much less expensive. Given my time limitation I was also unable to move to far up the streets to find parking because the shop would close rather soon.
Not completely understanding the issues and risks involved
I wanted to get my case repaired and because I thought it was an easy thing to do I wanted it done right away. Even when looking at the time limitations I had backed myself into, I still set out to accomplish the goal. Was it unreasonable of me to do so? Yes. Could I have successfully completed the objective if I was willing to spend more money or risk a parking ticket? Yes. neither of which I was willing to do.
What does all of this mean to you? Let’s take a look at our responsibilities as technology leaders. How often have we started a project because our partners wanted to; regardless of reality of the situation? We start projects all of the time without ensuring resources are in place, upstream dependencies have been met, or without adequate funding. All hoping that somehow the project will be able to succeed. This isn’t the case.
Why do we encounter this type of challenge? Well look at our personal lives, we do it everyday. Marshall Goldsmith reminds us of these challenges in his books. We often expect people to magically become different because they hold a leadership position. This isn’t reality. We are still human no matter what are level. The challenge incumbent upon technology leaders is to be able to recognize when our humanness is overcoming our logical decision-making ability and navigate around it.
What Can You do Different?
First use the power of a second opinion. For all projects have a process of review prior to starting. Not all projects start immediately after they have been granted funds in the annual budgeting process. Generally they are scheduled to start sometime during the year. Have a committee, preferably your IT steering committee have a pre-start review. Ensuring resources, funds, scope, and dependencies are appropriately addressed. This process will ensure the participants and those benefiting from the outcome are making reasonable choices.
My choice for the TravelPro bag should have been to wait, had I considered the risks and issues with starting. When I didn’t wait I ended up with a failed mission. Fortunately the failure was only a delay and I did get to take a nice drive. Traffic was light the weather was nice. however, my time could have been spent on accomplishing other household priorities, after all it is spring and time to clean the yard and prep the lawn.
Each of us can get hung up on one of our tasks of priorities, being to focused on the outcomes and thus lose site of the bigger picture. Next time you are pressing hard to accomplish something whether it be at home or at the office take a moment and ask yourself if you are being to focused on the specific goal and loosing sight of the bigger picture. When you are engaging with family members or team members are they aware of the bigger picture when pressing for their goal or objective. can you share your thoughts with them.
Is this solution foolproof, of course not. I just demonstrated my own bias and I am sure many of us have similar problems. Yet the beginning of change starts with recognition of the current situation and the role we play in it. I wish each of you luck in your endeavor to change and in helping those around you make the changes needed to help the your organization achieve its objectives.
CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada and New York, US.
#37: Part IV Review of Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I continue the analysis of the Digital Government document: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People.
This is the final part of the foundation work in understanding the two approaches to development of a strategic plan for reforming the US Federal Government technology organizations. We will cover remaining principles: Shared platform, Customer Centric, and Security and Privacy
References:Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People
The CIO Playbook is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada and New York, US.
#36: Part III Review of Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I continue my review of the US CIO documents for reforming the federal government technology; focusing on Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People.
Continuing with the work we started laying a foundation for developing a strategy by first looking at what the two US CIO’s outlined for their respective organizations. We will then move on to the process of building a technology strategy.
Not a lot of show notes this week because I had some website issues that had to be addressed.
#35: 5 Tips for Benevolent Leadership
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I will be discussing five benevolent leadership traits to increase your benevolent leadership stance.
1) Encourage others. Take a moment and recall times when you have felt encouraged. Was it things said by others, actions they took on your behalf, or some other mechanism that encouraged you to keep going in the face of adversity? As these ideas come to mind remember to do these very same things for others. Being aware of what motivates you and then taking those same actions to motivate others can be a powerful tonic of encouragement.
When team members are discouraged or frustrated with a project or activity asking how you can help is one approach; they may not have an answer. It might be worth offering help by asking, “would it help if I…” as a leader you can change deadlines, remove roadblocks, and get additional help in ways team members cannot.
2) If you have a “gut feeling”, reach out. Often your sixth sense has picked up on something that you are not readily noticing. Acting on that sixth sense is often a good idea especially when it involves your team.
I had a situation recently when I had a “gut feeling” that I should reach out to a staff member and share a few words of encouragement. I chose not to act on the feeling and several weeks later the staff member submitted his resignation. I explained that I had wanted to reach out and he said that if I had reached out when the thought has come to me he wouldn’t have gone after the other opportunity. Now it was too late. Act on those sixth senses.
3) Write a note. If you hear mention of good work a member of your team is doing write a short email and say, “you did a great job at…”, “I was impressed that you…”, or I heard that…is pleased with the work you are doing”
We don’t always get to hear about how our work impacts those around us in a positive way, often it is when things are not going well when we hear about it. As a leader it is important to keep this in mind and listen for positives and then share them with the individuals on your team. Being told you are good at something can often make the difference between a difficult day and a really good day
4) Be present. As a leader it is important to be seen. Walk your floors, say hi to the staff. If you have a team who is under “crunch time” and they are putting in the extra effort to make the deadline stop by and look in on how they are doing. Just by being out on the floor can demonstrate to your team that you know the hard work they are doing.
5) Write a note of praise. If someone from another team has done a great job, write a note to their boss. Often great work isn’t always recognized and sharing your observations gives that visibility to the other leaders in the organization. Bad news seems to travel very fast, while good news travels much slower. As leaders we should strive to get good news traveling faster.
The CIO Playbook is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada and New York, US.
#34: An Interview with Dave Kubersky North American Head of SimCorp
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CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley
In this episode of CIO Playbook with Jeffrey Hurley I have the opportunity to interview Dave Kubersky Managing Director and President of SimCorp North America. SimCorp is a provider of investment management software solutions and services for investment management organizations. The company was founded in 1971 and holds a very strong presence in Europe. They have recently expanded their international business and view North America as an excellent opportunity.
In this interview with Dave we discuss the challenges of maintaining a successful corporate culture while taking advantage of the opportunities presented by rapid business expansion.
If you would like to learn more about SimCorp please visit their website at: www.simcorp.com
The CIO Playbook is a podcast dedicated to the development of technology leadership and is hosted by Jeffrey Hurley, a seasoned global technology leader who has held positions with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world including diverse countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently based in Toronto, Canada and New York, US.