2009 : 05Powering Up Innovation at Your Organization

Smart business isn't slowing down. You need to encourage innovation and control costs, schedules, and quality of delivery. In this newsletter we hear from an IT industry guru on managing innovation, delivery lessons from the engineering industry, and experience on managing risk and delivery in organizations that reject structured project management processes and tools. Plus the results of a survey on how leading organizations are implementing intelligent cost cutting and thoughts on what it will take for states to deliver on the United States stimulus package.

Managing Innovation : An Interview with Todd Warren

The Holy Grail is to find ways to improve your organization's ability to innovate even when you have to drive down hard on costs. Todd Warren spent 20-plus years involved in managing research and development with Microsoft. Learn about the lessons he takes from those two decades of launching numerous new products. Read article ›

Hard Lessons : What Engineering Can Teach IT

Engineering has a stronger record on successful program delivery than the business change and IT industry. Perhaps it isn't that engineering projects are inherently easier, but that the engineering industry has learned a few lessons that could be applied on IT-enabled change programs. Ky Nichol offers five key points for the IT industry to pick up on. Read article ›

Reducing Risk to Reduce Costs : 4 Vital Requirements

If you want to control costs in complex programs, then manage risk. Most companies learn this the hard way. Simon Hodgkinson and Jerome Chemit provide a short-cut with their four lessons on what's vital to cost-effective delivery. Read article ›

Risking Rejection : How to Find Success Without Project Management

Structured portfolio, program, and project management tools are anathema to some organizations. They reject hierarchy and disdain standard business processes and project management applications. How do you drive effective program delivery in these organizations? Richard Evans recommends three ingredients for success. Read article ›

The Year of Getting Optimized : Results of Pcubed's Executive Survey on Value Engineering and Intelligent Cost Cutting

We asked CFOs, CIOs, and VPs of Planning and Strategy how they were prioritising their change initiatives in the current market conditions. Pcubed measured how well these companies executed their initiatives when measured against a value engineering framework -- a framework based on Lean principles aimed at driving efficiency and effectiveness. Ron Thompson provides a summary. How do you measure up?... Read article ›

Great Expectations : How U.S. States Must Manage Stimulus Funds

States are about to receive unprecedented funds to kick start economic activity. What will it take to manage these funds and drive delivery of real results? Sean O'Brien, Sean Laffin, and Adam Bergmann provide a general response and approach. Read article ›

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