Posts tagged as:

marketing

How to Create Misleading Statistics in 6 Easy Steps

by Harwell on March 25, 2010

in IT/Business Alignment,Management,Projects

Want to deceive people?  Here’s how the professionals do it: 1. Do a survey and use a biased sample population People focus on the survey result and seldom pay attention to information about your sample population.  So feel free to bias your result by surveying people you know will answer the way you want. Want [...]

Tagged as: Change, Communication, Expectations, human nature, Management, marketing, perception, Product Selection, Productivity, requirements, trust, vendor

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4 Reasons We Disagree, and What to Do About It

by Harwell on July 29, 2009

in Careers,IT/Business Alignment,Leadership,Management,Strategy

You’re trying to get a new project approved, and you’re having trouble. Or you’re trying to get an employee to do things your way, and the employee keeps fighting you. Both these situations are disagreements, and the process to deal with them is similar. Why Do We Disagree? Let’s start with individual disagreements. When two [...]

Tagged as: alignment, Careers, Change, Communication, cost, Effectiveness, Expectations, Focus, human nature, Leadership, Management, marketing, Motivation, Objectives, perception, Product Selection, Productivity, Projects, requirements, risk, stereotypes, Strategy, trust

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Why CIO’s Have to Work Harder Than Other Executives

by Harwell on March 10, 2009

in Careers,Leadership

I was having dinner with a CIO who had retired after a long and distinguished career. The conversation had been mostly small talk, but suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he sat up straight in his chair. “Why is it,” he asked vehemently, “that CIO’s have to work so much harder than every other [...]

Tagged as: alignment, Careers, CEO, CIO, human nature, marketing, training

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To Succeed in Corporate IT, Play Hard to Get

by Harwell on April 10, 2007

in IT/Business Alignment,Projects

According to popular fiction, “playing hard to get” is a strategy sometimes used by women to snare a man. It makes the assumption that men want something more when they can’t have it, so if a woman acts like she’s not interested in a man, it makes the man more interested in her. I have [...]

Tagged as: alignment, Centralization, Decentralization, human nature, marketing, Objectives, perception, Projects, Strategy, training, trust

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5 Approaches to Software Strategy

by Harwell on February 13, 2007

in Strategy

I recently visited a potential client company who wants help in setting strategy for its licensed software products. In the last few years I’ve mostly helped companies with IT strategy, so I had to think back to my product development days and consider the differences between IT strategy and software product strategy. And in doing [...]

Tagged as: Change, Expectations, human nature, Leadership, maintenance, marketing, Objectives, perception, Product Selection, requirements, Strategy, vendor

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Fixing Broken Windows (not the Microsoft kind)

by Harwell on May 10, 2005

in IT/Business Alignment,Leadership,Management,Projects,Strategy

A few weeks ago there was an article in an Atlanta newspaper about George Kelling, the author of the book, Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities. Dr. Kelling has been called “the man who helped Rudy Giuliani turn around New York City” by refocusing some of the city’s priorities. As [...]

Tagged as: alignment, Centralization, Change, Communication, cost, Decentralization, economy, Effectiveness, Expectations, Focus, human nature, Leadership, Management, marketing, Motivation, Objectives, perception, Productivity, Projects, requirements, stereotypes

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