I cannot over emphasis the importance of learning how to effectively work with vendors. By managing vendor-related projects well, you can help your departments meet its deadlines. Also, by negotiating well, you can save your organization lots of money.

Vendors can be categorized into two types . . . 

My team and I never seem to get great projects to work on. I feel like we’re always assigned boring tasks that no one else wants to do. What can I do to help our chances of working on the good stuff?

I’m going to divide my answers into three distinct steps: . . .

There are many occasions when it makes sense to bring in a temporary employee on a contractual basis. The reason may be . . .

I have been contract project manager for about five years and have made some great business connections. My hope is to use these people as professional references, job referrals, and potentially to rehire me for additional contract work. How can I keep in touch with these people without being annoying or looking only self-serving?

To begin . . . 

Do you have any tips on how to enhance the emails and other written communications I’m sending to my team, other people inside IT, and my non-IT counterparts and vendors?  The ones I’m writing now seem to leave people flat and uninspired.

Let’s begin by discussing . . .

What is an internal IT thought leader and how can I use it to accelerate my professional growth?

One of the best ways to move ahead professionally is to be viewed by those at your company and those generally within your industry as a thought leader. This, of course, is not an easy task but is very doable with the right plan, a willingness to learn, and a willingness to share your hard-earned expertise with others.

One advantage of being an IT professional is . . .

When my team and I talk with our business counterparts about our software development projects, they seem not to care.  How should I deal with this issue?

As much as we love the technologies we use and how they work, most of our business users don’t.  Business users are, generally speaking, looking for solutions to their problems and not necessarily the behind-the-scenes technologies that make it work.

That said, you will know you are talking too technically to your business users when  . .

There has been a big push by our new CIO for our IT organization to be more innovative. What things can I do in my department to enhance our innovative culture?

Innovation doesn’t always require the use of new leading technologies, such as AI. Within IT, innovation most often comes from innovative ideas on how to use technologies and equipment you already own.

Below are 10 questions you can ask your staff, maybe one question per weekly staff meeting, that may help you drive innovation within your department . . .

Giving someone a promotion sounds like it should be easy. You call the person into your office, tell him he has been promoted and to continue doing great work, shake his hand and send him on his way. In one sense, it is that easy. However, there are a number of factors to consider . . .

My boss is a great person, but sometimes I can’t seem to get his attention and support for the things I think are most important for my department. Any suggestions on how influence my manager in this way?

The first thing you must do to gain the support and ear of your manager is . . .