Blog

As I write this, February 14th is approaching fast and the shops are full of roses, chocolates and teddy bears clutching hearts. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Don't tell Mrs C, but as I make my preparations to remind her why she's the luckiest woman in the world I'm also preparing to lavish attention on my ...

Most of my friends, colleagues and clients are forecasting that IT budgets will increase during 2017 but according to a recent survey, many CIOs say that managing and implementing those budgets is getting tougher. Which, I suppose, stands to reason. With greater budgets comes greater responsibility ...

OK, the Mr T reference may be wasted on anyone under 30 but in IT Project Management your 'B.A.' is as much a key part of the A-Team as B.A. Baracus ever was! Often, I've seen the holder of the role of Business Analyst be the positive difference between success and failure - so why don't BAs get the...

Originally published in CIO magazine. Have you made any New Year resolutions? Eat better? Exercise more? Spend less? Save more? What about work? Here are five Project Management resolutions that will help you get off to a successful start in 2017. 1 - Resolve to Be Even More Of An IT Project Managem...

Getting lulled into a false sense of SECURITY can be bad enough - in your personal life, in sport and, of course, especially in business. Last year my friend's company boasted about a new contract on social media before the client had signed on the dotted line only to have their bitterest rival swoo...

I hope that you returned to work after the Christmas break rested and recharged because I think that IT Project Management is in for a heck of ride over the next few years. Looking at the portfolios of clients and friends in the profession, 2017 to the end of the decade will be a period of complex I...

"Why CIOs and project managers need to better understand each other's turf" is an interesting article from Bill Siwicki, Managing Editor of Healthcare IT News that really got me thinking. The piece is naturally centred around healthcare IT but really highlights a growing concern across most sectors ...

Santa delivers his project on time every year, despite its scope increasing year after year due to increased numbers of children - naughty or nice. Sure, the big man has a year to prepare to make sure he nails it and the methodology is tried and tested to the extreme but still - great job! Could San...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the team at Stoneseed! We’ve been blogging on a weekly basis for just over three years now and hope you enjoy reading our posts. We look forward to sharing many more with you in 2017. We’ll be back on 3rd January with a great year of articles ahead. In the mea...

I recently wrote a piece on the apparent lack of CIOs and similar IT professionals at board level of many companies. It followed a thought-provoking article in The Times newspaper that suggested just four specialist technology professionals had made it into the boardrooms of FTSE 100 companies. Whil...

During the summer I wrote about where an IT Service Delivery Roadmap may take you. Thanks for some great feedback especially to my conclusion 'somewhere better than where you're at now'. Having addressed 'where' it could take you let's take a look at 'how' you put together an IT Service Delivery roa...

I heard a cute joke today from an IT Service Manager friend's son Benjamin, who is only 10. Q: Who makes sure everything goes to plan in the anthill? A: The govern-ants. Great isn't?! Made me smile. And well done Benjamin for identifying the value of asking ‘who?’ ‘Who’ is one of the most important ...

Originally published in CIO magazine. Do you really need a Project Management system? Would a new software system help or hinder? Could it be like buying the Emperor’s new clothes? When I work with companies on Project Management assessments I often hear software systems getting blamed for failures,...

Planned changes to IR35 in April next year are potentially going to have a seismic effect on public sector IT. How much depends on how prepared the sector is by then but now is the time to act. It's time to hit the G-Cloud and get to grips with what's new in the Project Management as a Service (PMaa...

Only four specialist IT professionals have made it into the boardrooms of the UK's FTSE 100 companies. Put that another way ninety-six of the UK's biggest firms have no tech representation on their board! I think this should be a major action plan for EVERY company or organisation. OK, a technology ...