Green is beautiful, and it is certainly the color of IT looking into the future. There is a challenge, however, to coordinating the environmental shade of green with the financial one. Here are some thoughts and ideas for greening up your IT initiatives while holding on to the green stuff that pays the bills.
How green are you? For many, implementing Green IT solutions is an imperative that transcends ROI or enterprise alignment. For others, it's a good thing to go green if it is cost effective and in tune with other stakeholder expectations and needs.
Organizations are incorporating environmental considerations into their project planning and decision-making. Even if your organization does not, you can advance your career by taking a green approach to projects. Not only is it good for the planet, but it can differentiate you in a very positive way from your peers. After reading this article, think about the following questions and consider how you might adopt green project management principles on your next project.
IT is heading for greener pastures, but how soon, how fast and how green are questions that still need to be addressed. If you're planning to take your IT to the next level of energy efficiency, you need to take a look at your data center.
Welcome to IT Strategist's annual roundup of IT surveys. Here are the trends you need to know about to wind up 2009 and head into 2010.
How can you make your IT dollars even greener? Here are some tips on moving your IT department into the green without bringing your business into the red.
The environmentally conscious PM doesn’t have an easy time of it, but they can still do their part.
A project charter gives the project manager the green light and authority to get moving on a project. Use this instructional document as an example of how to put a project charter together.
A real commitment to operating a business and performing projects in an environmentally conscious and responsible way is a commitment to quality standards that minimize CO2 emissions and promote sustainability. To realize the full benefits of turning green, an enterprise must take a disciplined and systematic approach to implementing green standards.
As if building a high-performing team wasn’t hard enough, a global project brings an array of additional challenges, from time zone conflicts to cultural differences. Here, a practitioner who has led a number of successful global projects shares 10 tips for leading a virtual team.
Our yearly look at the state of IT, collected from various industry surveys. We'll take a look at everything from outsourcing and budgets to IT's move toward something greener.
A new survey tries to uncover what really makes a difference in project portfolio performance.
Gartner’s 2010 Magic Quadrant report surveys the state of PPM in a challenging economy, evaluating 31 technology providers, naming six “leaders” and identifying two important market trends.
Many potential projects that are considered for funding will ultimately not be approved despite significant time and effort spent on their business cases. Starting with a Value Proposition document can help weed out the less promising projects before a more detailed business case is necessary.
Fortunately times have changed, both in perception and in reality. Organizations can now legitimately use the ability to supply eco-friendly solutions as a major selling point with their customers.
An effective issue management process is vital to project success. Here are several best practices.
…would still look like modern project management. The value-driven benefits of scrums, stories and showcases have made sense well before the emergence of Agile. And they certainly aren’t incompatible with so-called “traditional” project management concepts and techniques.
Over the last number of years, the concept of sustainability has taken on a much larger role in the collective psyche of the global community. Kyoto and Climate Change aside, the spirited environmental conversation has left an indelible mark on how we approach and think about the colour the environment. But what about its affect on projects and project management? How has it impacted your discipline and your projects? Join us for this Project HEADWAY webinar where we will explore the greening of project management and examine the role that the project manager can and maybe should play. This is a newer area of interest and should provide for some fascinating opportunities for discussion.
When confronted with difficult choices in today’s complex project environments, project managers and teams need techniques to extricate them from the proverbial rock and hard place. A simple binary decision-making model, based on weighted criteria, might do the trick.
If you don’t see how your project fits into an overall strategic vision, you’re operating with blinders on, and without information critical to success. Here’s some guidance on what you need to know about the relationship between your project and your organization’s business plan, and how it can improve project performance.
Adaptive leadership is a critical skill for succeeding in a post-recession economy. It includes being willing to rewrite the rules of the game, realign project portfolios and redefine the work people do. Here are some solid suggestions for applying it to your organization’s PPM efforts.
Communication is a critical success factor in project performance, but those status report aren’t the only, or even the most important, tool in your communication arsenal — unless they’re telling you about the individual needs of each stakeholder. Here is a framework for how to craft a more comprehensive communication plan.
On multi-team development projects, there are significant advantages in having each team organize around the end-to-end delivery of features as opposed to working on separate components. Fewer handoffs reduce waste and integration-related risks. And feature teams have a clearer understanding of the impact of design decisions. However, in some circumstances, component teams offer benefits.
Business and relationship management skills are critical for IT career advancement, regardless of economic climate, according to the Society for Information Management.
Follow these four pointers to help ensure your project objectives are crystal clear.
With a world economy in recession, there isn't a whole lot of technology spending on the horizon. For an idea of where those precious IT dollars will (and should) be spent, here are the hot technology investments to look forward to in 2010.
Sustainable project management is growing. Indeed, there is a clear economic imperative for companies to adopt greener practices, from telecommuting to managing projects almost exclusively paperless. And project managers can play a vital role in demonstrating how even seemingly small actions can make a positive impact difference — on the environment and the bottom line.
Your chances of success in any major change initiative are directly linked to the capabilities, commitment and experiences of the stakeholders involved. Do you have any idea who these influencers and decision-makers are — really? Here’s an assessment checklist covering a range of important attributes to help you find out.
When green initiatives require organizations to go beyond traditional project management methods, specialized software templates can provide a framework for defining environmental goals, reporting to different stakeholders and measuring value.
In the final installment of our series on structuring Agile teams, here is an iterative process, in the form of questions, to help project leaders design the most appropriate team structure for the project at hand.
Over the last number of years, the concept of sustainability has taken on a much larger role in the collective psyche of the global community. Kyoto and Climate Change aside, the spirited environmental conversation has left an indelible mark on how we approach and think about the colour the environment. But what about its affect on projects and project management? How has it impacted your discipline and your projects? Join us for this Project HEADWAY webinar where we will explore the greening of project management and examine the role that the project manager can and maybe should play. This is a newer area of interest and should provide for some fascinating opportunities for discussion.
Now more than ever when a company decides to embark on a project, business leaders are demanding a clear ROI, explicit expectations about the longevity of a project and, more importantly, results. The era of the project manager is back...so use this time to hone your skills, discover new roles and learn how to market yourself for a changing economy.
More and more projects span different locations, time zones, even cultures. It only makes the project manager’s job more challenging. To succeed on such projects, you must learn how to improve your interactions with remote team members. Here are six suggestions.
The use and misuse of metrics is a colorful world. Are you red, yellow or green? And what does that mean, anyway? Be careful of what you ask for…you just might get it.
Creative problem solving can make all the difference on a project. But how can project managers make the most of innovative thinking and still keep a firm grasp on the realities of scope control, timelines and budgets? Here are some techniques for not only encouraging creative behavior but also incorporating it into your existing project delivery processes.
With the New Year well under away, how about some project portfolio management resolutions?
Maturity models, metrics and misleading metaphors have encumbered project leaders and teams. They miss the essence of knowledge work, which can’t be tidily represented in a PERT or Gantt chart. We need to explore different models to supplement and better guide our project efforts.
Faced with an ever-expanding number of projects, applications and stakeholder expectations, IT executives must balance three prime directives: align IT with strategic business objectives; increase opportunities for IT to contribute to growth and profitability; and manage new and existing IT investments. To deliver, they need a balanced approach to IT portfolio management.
Here is a framework that can help project managers guide the decision-making process with stakeholders on major change initiatives. Encouraging a broader perspective on the short- and long-term impact of changes — from people and processes to business and technology — it addresses four domains and 18 factors.
The term "eco-friendly" shouldn’t make people roll their eyes anymore…they should see dollar signs. The companies that can embrace the change will be poised for success, and the project managers that demonstrate an aptitude in dealing with eco-friendly projects will have yet another weapon in their arsenal.
The green movement is transforming the IT landscape — and creating a new set of challenges for project managers, who must balance hard ROI choices, fuzzy metrics and assorted expectations. When it comes to cutting energy costs and delivering long-term sustainability, the blueprint for green projects isn’t black and white. But best practices are emerging.
The worlds of classic project management and contemporary agile development are not as far apart as some practitioners might believe. In this two-part series, two devoted agilists share practical strategies for building understanding among project leaders and moving teams and organizations toward realizing Agile’s benefits.
The worlds of classic project management and contemporary agile development are not as far apart as some practitioners seem to believe. In the second part of our series, two respected agilists share tips for realizing Agile’s benefits on a variety of projects by building understanding among stakeholders and within organizations.
Going green is clearly in fashion these days, and what has been pitched by vendors so far is a panacea to make your organization green. But not one of these solutions alone can address the complex landscapes that large organizations face. Additionally, there is a massive scale of implementation required in each of these solutions to even make a dent into an organization’s IT carbon footprint.
A new survey finds that more software development professionals and executives see IT budgets increasing, but project scope and estimation are still concerns.
When it comes to most project meetings with sponsors and other stakeholders, you have one minute, one page. More than that has to be earned, or you’ll probably lose this audience. Here are 10 simple guidelines for keeping the attention of busy or distracted executives.
Preliminary results from an ongoing research project suggest that it is not the experience and competence of individuals that matters most to project success; rather, it is the team members’ willingness to share and combine their knowledge.
Here's a checklist of six best practices for implementing and running a successful PMO.
Remote worksites, international time zones and dispersed teams can isolate project managers and stymie their problem-solving efforts. But communities of practice may help, connecting them with like-minded individuals and the tools to approach issues collaboratively. Here are five ideas for improving project collaboration through CoPs.
No matter what “new” green policies affect your project, crucial steps can be used to ensure your workforce is ready when your project begins.
