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.
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
Readers’ thoughts and input on this list are welcome as we plan to continually refine it over time.
Posted by Tom Wolf on May-30-2010 3:31 pm
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Friday, March 05, 2010
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our first public offering of this workshop Hosted by American Office at the impressive Herman Miller showroom in Washington, DC. Below, 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 (e-mail link to the left) with follow up questions if you’d prefer.
I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent discussion and appreciate your active participation in the session. Don’t forget to do your quick and easy follow up homework!
Posted by Tom Wolf on Mar-05-2010 1:15 pm
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Thursday, February 04, 2010
Deere PM Forum participants: below you can find a link to download the presentation slides and other materials from the February 2010 workshop at our protected file site. The post is protected with the password distributed at the meeting.
Workshop Materials for Download
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 (e-mail link to the left) with follow up questions if you’d prefer.
Thanks for your participation in the session!
Posted by Tom Wolf on Feb-04-2010 9:35 pm
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
test link
Rhythm of Review was one of the most important management concepts I learned while at GE. Every manager (and most employees) knew the dates of the monthly financial closes as well as when the major strategy sessions with corporate were scheduled. These were big events where success or failure was objectively measured and the future of the company was energetically planned.
Regularly scheduled rigorous reviews of results against plan (finance, sales, project status, inventory, etc.) are critical to ensure companies stay focused on their most important metrics. In particular, your IT department needs this rhythm to align their efforts well with the business strategy and flow.
In my years as a consultant, I’ve been surprised to find that many companies of all sizes have no single calendar that shows when all their important management meetings are scheduled. And often these aren’t planned at the macro level at all, so there is no communicated rhythm of review in place.
If you’re doing everything ad hoc, then chances are you’re missing some necessary disciplines around both strategic planning and tactical execution.
I’ve searched several times for a good calendar template and found none, so I created this Excel tool and have used it for several clients and my own consulting practice:
visular—-company-master-calendar-example—-v02.xls
visular—-company-master-calendar-example—-v02.xls
This example is populated with dummy data for demonstration purposes - feel free to customize to meet your needs. Read on for instructions:
Posted by Tom Wolf on May-28-2009 5:04 pm
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Friday, May 01, 2009
No matter how experienced you are as a manager it’s never fun to give a negative review to an employee, much less fire someone.
I recently gave some advice to a colleague who was lamenting going into a performance review for one of his people who was delivering far below expectations. It was at the point where if major improvements weren’t made soon he would have to be fired. My approach helped and he just e-mailed me saying the discussion went much better than expected, so I thought I’d share the leadership tip.
When you sit down face to face with that problem employee for the dreaded bad review, before you go into your documented laundry list of their problems, weaknesses, and failings - let them talk first.
There’s a good chance they know that at least some bad news is coming and they’ll feel better if they get a chance to articulate the problems right up front in their own words. An intro like "Bill, before I go into the details of this review, why don’t you tell me how you think you’ve performed over the past X months" is a great way to kick off this session.
It will give your employee a bit of empowerment during an uncomfortable situation and may also give you some examples you can refer to later where you know they already agree with your assessment. If you have a formal document with your feedback and scores in writing, turn it over face down on the table during this first part of the chat. Then, when it’s your turn to talk you can show the ugly details after the ice has been broken a bit.
Posted by Tom Wolf on May-01-2009 4:08 pm
people •
leadership •
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