The kernel Alphas are the core, key, critical, central, essential conceptual entities that we need to manage and progress in a controlled way in order to ensure a successful outcome for our project. But, like all concepts, they have the distinct disadvantage of being invisible. A project manager is convinced that his project is important and that managing its progression to a successful conclusion is critical. But if, as an outside assessor, I were to say “bring me this project of which you speak so that I may gaze upon it and assess its status” he would be stumped. He can show me plans, people, documents, but he can’t show me “the project”. These key concepts are the elephants in the room that no one can see because …  well , because they are invisible. To be useful, they need to be made visible and real, so normal people can interact with them.

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I have met hundreds of organizations that are trying to improve their way-of-working. What I have found most interesting is that the vast majority of these organizations are looking for the solution outside of the company. They are either benchmarking with other similar organizations or running after the latest fashion in the industry. However the perceived benefits are not always there and the answer is usually much closer than they know.

Good industry standards are one thing, but many things that are good for a specific company are not necessarily transferable to another company with another background and culture.

In reality many solutions can be found inside the company. There are top-performers, top performing teams and projects in all companies and if we could repeat the good behavior from those individuals and teams, the organization could improve tremendously. However we need a structured way to capture that behavior so that it could be easily understood, distributed and reused; this is where using Practices makes perfect sense. Practices is a way to effectively describe the Essentials of Things to do, Things to Produce and the Competencies needed for a specific area of concern.

What good practices do you have in “your belly button”?

Our new ‘corporate’ blog has been launched and I think the timing couldn’t be more serendipitous.  As we come to the end of 2009, it is definitely a year that has caused quite a bit of reflection in the business and IT world. The world economic crisis forced many organizations to focus on the basics and ensure that core business was operating effectively and efficiently. Aligning IT to business became critical as every investment dollar was scrutinized. At IJI, one of the ways the business and technical teams align is by ensuring we’re communicating better as a team focused on a common set of objectives – the new blog is just one result of that strategy. Read More