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Discussion based on Mary K. Pratt’s article in CIO, "Why IT Projects Still Fail." The teaser for the article said, “Despite new methodologies and management techniques meant to head off spectacular failures, critical technical initiatives still fall flat at an alarming rate.” About Mary K. Pratt -Mary K. Pratt is freelance journalist who reports mostly on business and technology management with a focus on how organizations use technology to reach their goals.Her work appears primarily in TechTarget and CIO.com (as well as others in the IDG publication family), and in the past Mary has contributed regularly to Computerworld and the Boston Business Journal.  Her work has also appeared in MIT Technology Review and the Boston Globe as well as other publications.- Topics Discussed - -Discussion based on Mary K. Pratt’s article in CIO, Why IT Projects Still Fail -The teaser for the article said, “Despite new methodologies and management techniques meant to head off spectacular failures, critical technical initiatives still fall flat at an alarming rate.” -Today’s failures are different than early IT failures-Not necessarily catastrophic failures as in the system doesn’t work. More likely they’re rolled out and they don’t accomplish what they were supposed to accomplish or not the full impact of what was expected.-Or the software works as designed but the business need has changed and the software doesn’t meet the current needs of the business.-There are still places where IT misses the mark, where IT isn’t delivering what the user community really wants-Good communications is still a high level need-Not all IT organizations understand how the business makes it’s money and how technology needs to support that-Business also needs to understand the limits of technology as well-Important of business and IT being partners, having good communications, setting expectations-Hype around new technologies-Another aspect of failure is around IT implementations, shadow IT, outside of the IT organization-There is good news around Agile implementations-The newer technologies around automation, testing code, are part of the improvements-Failing fast, being better tomorrow, and how failure is viewed, which is positive in moving toward innovation-Technology like cloud and rapid development lower costs for failure, but it doesn’t take into account opportunity costs-There could be a minimum actual cost when fail, but if not about to roll out a feature or a function, you could be losing much, much more in potential revenue -Not all IT projects have the same value to the organization and the consequences can vary significantly-Setting priorities based on business needs and impact is key-Because the cost of failure is coming down, there’s more permission to be innovative and see how it works-There was one person in the article who mentioned that while the individual parts developed using new methods like Agile work, the individual parts work well, but what he’s seen is when organizations move to combine the parts, there are problems with the whole-He drew the analogy is that it’s like treating the individual symptoms but you’re not treating the underlying causes- Questions answered --What are some of the questions keeping CIOs up at night?-If more organizations are using Agile and other new development methods, why are IT projects still failing?-Besides budget, timelines, and functionality, what are some of the reasons IT projects fail?-Are IT organizations just giving lip service to it being OK to fail?-How are today’s IT failures different than technology failures in the past?-What’s gotten better with IT projects?-How do those in technology keep up with the changing business needs?-Is there any good news around Agile projects?-What is the good news around Agile projects?-How should CIOs set IT priorities?

Mary Pratt discusses why despite methodologies like Agile and management techniques like DevOps IT projects still fail.

Kelly Vandever announces that the Permission to Speak Podcast will shift its focus to concentrate on leadership issues related to the information technology and software development industries.

Leadership issues related to the information technology and software development industries.

Episode #49 - Permission to Speak - Leadership Blog - Jamie Sutherland Talks about Leadership Challenges in ITPermission to SpeakVideo Blog & Podcast Hosted by Leadership Communications Expert Kelly VandeverPermission to Speak is the video blog and podcast that loiters at the intersections of leaders who want their people to speak up, technology that facilitates connections, and results that serve an organization’s higher purpose.Topics covered in this episode include:-Communications is the foundation of human relationships-If you can put the communications in a story form, there’s so much more that can be gained from that experience-Stories allow us to experience information rather than just consume it-The foundation of the internet was the commercialization of storytelling-Sonix is a transcription service for audio and video files-Machines do the translating and it can transcribe the recording in less time than the actual recording-Leadership challenges in technology companies-Prioritization is the biggest challenge-Need to work on your top 3 priorities at all times, regardless of your level-Important to retain key employees, we called them “10X” employees-Retaining those key employees depends entirely on the individual employee and their needs and motivations-Not at all interested in hiring someone who’s not a team player-When someone who was great in their job gets promoted to management, you need to give them the tools to be successful (shadowing, mentoring)-Managing expectations of the team, this person’s a new manager-External training-Keeping up with the unrelenting pace of change is a constant battle-Have to stay abreast of what competitors are doing-People are such an important part of your business, regardless of size, but especially in a start up-People are your most valuable asset, it can’t be forgotten-People you know and trust or strong endorsement from someone you trust-Don’t think the hiring process has been solved well by anyone-More time you spend together, the better able you are to see if it’s a good fit, but no one has time for that-People who are high performers want to work with people who are high performers-It’s always a pleasant surprise of how helpful users are in giving feedback, they do it on their own, without being compensated for it! They’re very engaged and helpful!To learn more about the transcription products at Sonix visit www.Sonix.ai

Episode #49 - Permission to Speak - Leadership Blog - Jamie Sutherland Talks about Leadership Challenges in IT

About Kevin:- Kevin Monroe is a leadership consultant, executive coach, blogger, podcaster, and the organizer of the Navigating North Summit: Discover Your Purpose for Business and LifeTopics Discussed:- Virtual Summit – 5 Days – Monday, October 30 through Friday, November 3, 2017https://www.navigatingnorthsummit.com - 3 conversations and 1 live panel discussion each day- Tickets to the Summit are free.- Marshall Goldsmith, #1 leadership coach in America, is one of the guest conversationalists- Other speakers/conversationalists are:Thom Winninger,Bernadette Jiwa,Dima Ghawi,Todd Henry,Craig Juntunen,Mark Timm,Mike Kim,Jevonnah Ellison,Dr. Rhonda Kehlbeck,Zach Mercurio,Kitty Waters,Katie McNerney,Jeremy Courtney.- Kevin talks about hearing Thom Winninger speak at NSA Georgia.- Thom’s book comes out Oct 24, 2017 – It’s called Your True DNA: Discovering God’s Gift within You! DNA being – Divine, Natural Attribute- Kevin heard Thom’s message to say, that which you’re gifted to do, you can’t even understand.- It’s easy to undervalue the things that come easily to you- Gift + Journey + Experience = no one exercises your gift in the same way you exercise your gift- Kevin loves Thom’s words in his new book, “Uniqueness is never identified in comparison.”- We compare our documentary film of life to other people’s highlight reels- We long so hard to stand out, but we try so hard to fit in- Featured conversations will be released each day - Finding purpose is the quest of every generation- Kevin asked Marshall Goldsmith and he said yes!- Recordings are up at 4 AM ET and stay up for 24 hours- The Panels will be 10 AM ET and will be recorded and posted once they’re ready- Purpose thrives in community but starves in isolation.- Using a Facebook group to continue the conversation after the summit- Purpose in business, in family, in leadership, personal, in finance, and on and on- A full spectrum conversation on purpose- Kevin has also struggled with purpose- Most people zig zag to find their purpose- Purpose paralysis- It’s hard to steer a parked car, we don’t have to figure it all out before we start- Jeff Goins talks about how clarity come from action- Or as Kevin thinks, is confirmed through action- It’s like heading north, if you get off track, go back to navigating north, you don’t have to restart- Figure out your next step toward purpose- Come open, looking for one insight- Come willing to connect- Have discussions, use the tools they provide-The journey for purpose continues the rest of the time we remain on earth-If you have a pulse, you have a purpose-In each conversation, Kevin asks, “What’s your advice for someone who’s just awaking to purpose?” -“What would you say to someone who’s on the journey, but is stuck or stalled?” “What would you say to the person who is thriving in purpose but realize that there’s an opportunity to take it to a grander scale?” -There’s also a place for businesses to be involved. On Wednesday, the day is more focused on business, but there’s a spill over into all areas of life during each conversation.-We’re all wired for purpose. Don’t settle for less.

Permission to Speak Podcast. Hosted by Leadership Communications Expert Kelly Vandever. Episode #47 - Jackie Martin. Permission to Speak is the video blog and podcast that loiters at the intersections of leaders who want their people to speak up, technology that facilitates connections, and results that serve an organization’s higher purpose. Topics covered in this episode include: -Work shouldn’t suck-Life is too short for that-Jackie was fortunate to work for a great company when she was early in her career-Rifts come from leading from positional authority rather than about relationships-Each employee at that company had a personal professional development budget-Allowed employees to get a massage onsite during the work day-Grew an attachment to the company and the leaders that said it would be that way-Creating a connected work place-Leaders don’t need to be separated from those they’re leading, especially today, people expect relationships-People leave/stay because of their relationship with their leader-A leader’s job is to connect with their employee, to connect the individual’s job and goals to the company goals, and to connect team members to one another-Creating a relationship, as a leader, it starts with attitude-Leaders are responsible to serve the people on your team-Leaders are judged on the work of their team-Being great at a specific job doesn’t mean you’ll be a good leader of people who do that job-The attitude shift helps change behaviors-It feels more like, I’m coming along beside you-Leaders need to know their individual employee’s goals and needs-Be seen as a resource as a leader-Invest in the person, notice them doing something right, or if they’re struggling, coach them-As a leader communicate to your employees that your success is important to me-Silo-ing in an organization-Don’t foster competition across teams-Focus on collaboration-Share praise-Set the tone that we will work well together-Rather than listening to an employee complain about another employee, ask them if they’ve gone to that employee to address the issue-Extrinsic and intrinsic motivators-Every company has a culture, whether it’s been done intentionally or not-The better question is, “Is our culture serving us?”-Example of company who has a zero tolerance policy on gossip-Even if the larger culture isn’t good, you can still make difference within your group as a leader-You can pull your team together, ask them what we can do in our department to make this a better place to work-John Maxwell says leadership is influence-Identify what it takes to be a strong leader in your organization first in order to hire/promote anyone into a leadership position-There are millennials that have great traits that should be on the leadership track-One employer mentioned what they look for in job candidates is energy-An award winning hotel mentioned they hire people who are happy, you can’t train happy-You can teach skills, you can’t teach attitude-Make eye contact-At a meeting, contribute to the meeting and do it early, put yourself out there-Having a team isn’t always easy-Because we’re human beings, companies and especially employees can be incredibly forgiving-Be yourself, be authentic-You won’t get it right every time, it’s a process-This new generation in the work place really wants to make a difference-The new generation is excited about the possibilities