We've enhanced our blog to provide valuable content, follow up on workshops or speeches, foster discussion, and keep you informed of our evolving offerings in the area of Technology Leadership. The categories shown on the left should help you to find the information you're looking for. Some of the content on this blog is visible to any visitor while some is for specific audiences and requires a password. We're currently expanding our list of blog authors to include our growing team of Visular Associates and other experts to provide additional content on various areas of technology strategy and management.
Friday, December 23, 2011
It was a real honor to be asked to come back to AFCEA so quickly after my last workshop to facilitate another session for their prestigious Leadership Forum. I had some pretty big shoes to fill in for, but this great group of leaders helped to create an excellent discussion.
Here attendees can find a link to download the presentation slides and other materials from the workshop at our protected file site: Workshop Materials for Download. The information is protected with the password distributed at the meeting (found on the bottom of the Team Assessment Tool).
Feel free to use this site to make any comments or ask follow up questions for continued group discussion under this blog entry or in the password protected area (link above). You can also e-mail me directly with follow up questions if you'd prefer. Don't forget to do your quick and easy follow up homework and best of luck as you work towards becoming the next in a long line of X graduating classes from
Posted by Tom Wolf on Dec-23-2011 6:49 pm
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Friday, November 11, 2011
Thank you to AFCEA and the great group of participants who attended our most recent offering of this workshop in Fairfax, VA.
Here attendees can find a link to download the presentation slides and other materials from the workshop at our protected file site: Workshop Materials for Download. The information is protected with the password distributed at the meeting (found on the bottom of the Team Assessment Tool).
Feel free to use this site to make any comments or ask follow up questions for continued group discussion under this blog entry or in the password protected area (link above). You can also e-mail me directly with follow up questions if you'd prefer. I apprecated everyone's input to the dynamic discussion on leadership in the session. Don't forget to do your quick and easy follow up homework!
Posted by Tom Wolf on Nov-11-2011 12:22 pm
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Friday, November 19, 2010
One of the better concepts for managing a set of systems over time comes from the product marketing world. A Multi-Generation Plan (MGP) is a high-level summary of functionality enhancements in phases. Applying this strategic thinking to your IT department’s list of core systems or your tech company’s products and services is invaluable.
What it is and how it’s used
An MGP is first used as a tool for planning and decision making around your investments in technology. Then, once you have worked out the details and timing, your Multi-Generation Plan can be an excellent communication tool to inform all stakeholders what to expect. A well thought out MGP clearly summarizes key features and functions along a visible time line. It helps busy managers quickly digest a large amount of information so they can give their necessary input into a plan and also make preparations for changes that are coming.
Here is a simplified example of an IT Multi-Generation Plan:
Assuming only two systems to worry about in this example, you could use the above plan to both capture unmovable requirements like planning for regulatory tax changes in the accounting system and to map out a logical order for all other enhancements such as website improvements and additional financial functions. Once everything is laid out, you can make decisions and adjustments as necessary. For example, in Quarter 3, if you don’t have the budget and/or resources to both implement an Accounts Receivable system and deliver Customer Registration, you can use this tool to highlight the problem, decide which has the higher priority for your business, and explain the result to both your marketing and finance department managers.
Benefits of an MGP
People always want more from technology and rightfully so. But balancing the volume of requests that come from all directions and creating a prioritized plan can be tough in organizations of any size. I’ve found that once a good MGP is created and communicated, even the most pushy customers (both internal and external) tend to back off a bit when they see that you do have your act together, you've thought things through, and that in most cases they are going to get what they want in due time. Now that doesn't mean they still won’t want it all sooner, faster, cheaper, better, etc. But that push back from them can lead to healthy discussions about resources and funding levels resulting in the necessary pragmatic prioritization to move forward.
A good Multi-Generation Plan:
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Provides a simple, visual representation of your path.
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Allows you to think about the big picture holistically rather than just focusing in detail on a bunch of tactical improvements with no roadmap.
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Benefits non-technical stakeholders and busy managers by logically grouping and summarizing a multitude of data into manageable chunks.
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Allows your internal developers, analysts, and engineers to see how the detailed work they are doing today fits into the big picture. Even more importantly it allows external or outsourced suppliers to see where you’re going and what will be expected of them.
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Helps you decide when to retire older systems and replace them with new ones.
Note on this last point: for complex environments you may need to create a Systems and Platform Convergence Plan. Sounds almost scary, but it’s actually simple to understand once you see it. We will write about that in a future article.
Details on how to create and execute to a Multi-Generation Plan follow . . .
Posted by Tom Wolf on Nov-19-2010 11:22 pm
strategy & delivery •
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
In healthcare these days, the most challenging information technology efforts are the successful implementation of the electronic medical record (emr), computerized provider order entry system (cpoe) and all the needed interfaces that support these two massive (and incredibly important) systems. During my tenure as chief executive officer for a hospital in Colorado, I had the pleasure of overseeing both of these implementations as we completed a journey from paper to fully digital. Focusing on the cpoe implementation and the critical interactions with physicians, below are nine key strategies that leadership will need to employ to ensure a successful cpoe implementation:
- physicians must have a voice in the process
- build credibility with physicians beforehand
- respond effectively and in a timely manner
- explain the value
- “at the elbow” support
- local voice
- customization
- presence
- key metrics
Details around each of the 9 strategies follow . . .
Posted by Chris Cornue on Oct-12-2010 12:19 am
strategy & delivery •
leadership •
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
I updated this post from awhile ago. The quick list of points is still at the beginning with some more detailed notes below.
I recently was asked to participate on a panel of technology leaders presenting to a group of CEOs. As I only had 10 minutes to give some advice and tips on how to effectively leverage technology, I did my best to pare down my thoughts to a short set of principles:
- First People – Then Process – Then Technology
- Never abdicate your responsibility for your company’s technology
- Have a solid, documented IT strategy
- Practice Rhythm of Review
- Know your total cost of IT
- Strive for simplicity
- Proactively manage security and risk
- Be a very tough, but very fair customer
- Know ALL your “IT people” – treat them as one team
- You get what you pay for – invest wisely and as part of a plan
- Be wary of tech trends
Detailed explanations for each principle follow . . .
Posted by Tom Wolf on May-30-2010 3:31 pm
leadership •
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