The last two decades have been all about ensuring that American workers are as productive and efficient as possible. But the tide is turning. Organizations have started to emphasize cultivating more innovative work product as opposed to churning out higher volumes of it.Last year, we reported on the worldwide productivity slowdown. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) compared the...

I have a good friend who’s an experienced data architect. Since I write about IT project management all the time, I recently asked him if he’d ever consider a PM job. To this he replied: “No way.”I probed further about his rationale, and we came up with these five reasons why he dislikes project management and project managers and tries to steer clear of the profession whenever possible.Project Managers are too structuredWh...

Change management is difficult, especially when it involves a complex structure like an organization. But some techniques are better than others, and here are a few you’ll want to avoid next time around.Driving from the bottom instead of the topAny successful change strategy requires the enthusiastic involvement of managers and employees on the ground, and bottom-up goal setting is terrific for innovation and morale. Howeve...

In its 2015 research, executive recruiting firm RRA uncovered 21 attributes of the best digital transformation leaders. The analysis revealed that digital transformation leaders are defined by their ability to serve as productive disruptors: leaders who transform companies not by simply generating bold strategies but also by engaging people in the hard work of transformation. These leaders are more disruptive and innovative...

When I met Dana Brownlee, the founder of corporate training company Professionalism Matters, we got to talking about time wasting habits. It turns out that certain types of people are actually prone to ineffective time management.Being the productivity nut that I am, I naturally probed a bit deeper on this one and asked Brownlee to describe her four personality types, and how to stop struggling if you have one of them.The F...

A new book by McKinsey and Company outlines four major forces that will transform the world of the mid 21st century.A disruptive force is one that causes a major change in the fabric of an industry or society. Consulting firm McKinsey and Company believes that globalization, technological change, aging population, and trade connectivity will profoundly affect business and the economy. As they gain strength, they feed on, in...

Two distinct speeds are all the rage, but can you box your operations in? And should you?One of the most intriguing sections of Deloitte’s new Tech Trends 2016: Innovating in the Digital Era report discussed the right speed for IT. Moving beyond the current, hyped-up two speed approach, the report highlighted speed-related considerations CIOs must take into account: business process-related, architectural, and organizationa...

As IT loosens its reins, trust, communication, and thoughtful planning are paramount. Observations about Citizen Development and business-IT alignment with QuickBase, Inc. CEO, Allison Mnookin, and Gartner VP and Research Director, Mark Driver.Digital transformation is officially on everyone’s radar. According to an upcoming QuickBase survey, 45 percent of CXOs say it’s a top priority this year. “This is a time of increased...

The Project Management Institute’s 2016 study shows that organizations around the world waste an average of $122 million for every $1 billion spent on projects as a result of poor project management practices.Poor project management practices are costing us big time, says the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) 2016 Pulse of the Profession®: The High Cost of Low Performance study. Wasting $122 million for every $1 billion...

Business process improvement requires good business process visibility, or the ability to accurately and completely view the processes, transactions and other activities operating within an enterprise.In particular, it ensures that the business has a complete and accurate picture of IT operations, and vice versa. Organizations can also quickly identify process problems and get processes that don’t map to overall business ob...