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Here's something interesting, in Gartner's IT Glossary there is no entry for "Scope". Now, there could be two reasons for this. It could be that its scope is such an obvious thing that Gartner feels there is no need for a definition. Or it could be that scope is such a movable concept that it actual...

Aren't PMOs amazing? In recent years the Project Management Office has evolved from the brink of extinction to in many cases a vital driver of critical strategic change. Consider that transformation for a moment - from a position where lots of organisations where questioning the point of even having...

Originally published in CIO magazine. Project, program or portfolio? Probably. How about power, potential and pioneer? While governance and process are vital to the smooth running of IT projects and their ultimate successful outcome, strong leadership is essential. “Essential to what extent?” you ma...

Do you have them? Projects that set out with the greatest of intentions but which failed to deliver and because no-one ever put them out of their misery they stumble on devouring resources with every uneven step they take. Zombie projects. Most CIOs, Project Managers and Project teams will vehementl...

"He who truly knows has no occasion to shout". It’s a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It sprang to mind this week after I had been chatting to a Project Leader friend. He had been struggling with an IT Project but had managed to get it back on the rails thanks to a very simple trick. He liste...

A blog with some real straight talk originally published on CIO.com - When asked “What does good look like in IT Project Management?" here’s why I answered, 'Probably failure.' It was a brilliant IT Project Management question from a client. "What does good look like?" I breathed in ready to answer,...

No-one sets out on an IT Project imagining that it's going to fail. IT Projects are never designed this way and yet many teams make life so hard for themselves that failure is almost inevitable - almost as if by design! I would love to ban the f-word, 'failure', until after everything has been tried...

Have you ever considered how much of your IT Service Delivery time is spent managing vendors? It's OK if you haven't, most don't give it a great deal of thought. Actually, it often gets lost under other headings. For example, there may be a due diligence issue (that’s caused by your vendor selection...

"User error," said the IT Service Delivery Manager to his CEO who was wondering how a few thousand pounds had been missed off an invoice. The accounts department systems had recently been linked to production and transport and in theory, everything was now fully automated. The system was infallible,...

I was reminded this week of a joke I first heard as a child. Run with me on this! One cloudy day, on the viewing platform of a tall skyscraper two strangers are chatting. One says, “I bet you £50 that the cloud is so thick you could jump into it and bounce right back here." Although initially scepti...

I overheard a conversation today that made me smile. "What is ITIL?" asked an intern having read the term online. The way he had pronounced 'ITIL' allowed the IT Manager to quip, "It's short for 'It'll fail' and when it does 'It'll be me that has to stay late to fix it.'" It was a nice joke, of cour...

Have you ever toiled with a cursed IT Project? Imagine your server not arriving because there is a man standing on a gantry on the M1, shutting it for 28 hours. Imagine your kit arrives with American plugs. Imagine your lead architect getting stuck in Iceland because of a volcano erupting. Sometimes...

I heard Hofstadter's law being quoted by programmers and Project Managers and it caught my attention. If you're a ‘Big Bang Theory’ fan you'd be forgiven for thinking that Hofstadter's law is "the more, you try not to appear like a geek - the more charmingly geeky you'll appear". (I love Leonard! If...

5 tips to successfully pitch an IT project. So many worthwhile IT Projects never even get greenlighted here’s why. Originally published in CIO magazine. You had made a solid case for your IT Project, convincing you and your team that the C-suite would be putty in your hands. The appointment to pitch...

The conclusion drawn by most IT/tech firms is that they do. So, as most companies digitise their service offer and effectively become IT/tech firms - the question is does YOUR organisation need a PMO? Seven great questions coming up to help you decide. First though, it would be a mistake to enter th...