C/D/H Talks Tech

Author:

Mike Blair

I first started working at C/D/H in 1995. During my time here I’ve consulted in many technical areas including Novell, Microsoft and Cisco. As a network generalist, I gained a broad range of experience and skills that aid me in technical project management and IT strategy consulting. After going back to school and earning my MBA from Grand Valley State University, I found a passion for bridging IT with the business world. I discovered that there's a need for people who can talk tech and talk business.

I enjoy working with my clients on high-level strategic and financial matters related to IT and also working in the trenches, helping manage technical projects.

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Articles by Mike Blair

It’s taken a long time, but I’m happy to see that many IT organizations are starting to get it.  Project management is important to IT, and we need more of it.  Sure project management has been around IT for decades, but has it really been effective? 

And what about the not-so-large businesses and small IT teams within large companies?  They’ve been struggling to deliver projects on time and on budget for decades, if they can deliver at all.

Given today’s economic conditions, companies are taking an under-the-microscope look at all investments, including IT, scrutinizing them for returns and a short payback.  How will your organization guarantee that a project will come in on time and on budget?  How can you instill confidence in management’s eyes when they consider investing more money in IT?  Well, the cards are already stacked against you considering that over half of all IT projects fail to meet their deadlines.  However, you can definitely improve your chances by integrating project management into your IT organization.

Also, guess what?  I predict that this level of scrutiny over IT projects won’t go away once the economy turns around.  The crisis has just forced the issue.  IT must be held accountable for project investments just like operations, finance or marketing.  So if you’re a leader in an IT organization, this is a great time to get on the project management bandwagon and invest some of your own internal resources into the development of a project management practice within your organization.

Of course, project management alone won’t guarantee complete success; there are several factors. Many of these factors are non-technical, and a few have been discussed on this blog by my colleagues.  For example, Sue Cotts blogged about project sponsors and the importance of executive buy-in, and Doug Brower discussed the idea of a standardized methodology developed by a Project Management Office within an IT organization.