The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) making its way through the US Congress regarding Federal financial reporting has several implications:
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How Important Is ‘Total Cost of Standardization’ to the DATA Act?
Last week I attended a meeting in DC sponsored by the Data Transparency Coalition, PwC, and Intel. Representatives of the Federal agencies likely to manage implementation of the evolving DATA Act presented their thoughts on implementing the Act’s requirements for standardizing and reporting on Federal financial data.
Making Open Data Accessible Inside the Firewall
Balance between control and autonomy will be critical and will vary by program size, complexity, structure, and maturity. Also critical will be how external and internal users of related data resources are supported when important distinctions related to privacy and security need to be maintained.
There is obviously a need for transparency about this problem; it’s too serious not to discuss openly but we need to do so in a mature and fact based way.
In episode 72 they discuss three project management apps they are familiar with, Asana, Trello, and Basecamp. Veteran project managers will be amused — and will recognize — Gina’s comments at the end about her “Giant Life-Defining Spreadsheet”:
In “IT governance is killing innovation” Andrew Horne and Brian Foster argue that IT project selection needs to move beyond traditional capital investment based ROI measures. The authors think it is more appropriate to take into account project support for critical business capabilities and that such a focus will be much more supportive of innovation.
How To Make Datathons and Hackathons Sustainable
What’s a “datathon”? Here’s one suggested definition from NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge:
Planning for Big Data: Lessons Learned from Large Energy Utility Projects
What can we learn from working with large energy utilities and their data that will help others plan and manage “big data” projects?
When Federal Government Project Management Collides with the "New Normal"
Welcome to the New Normal world of the federal project manager. Shutdowns. Furloughs. Sequesters. Red tape. Delays, Retirements, Meetings.It’s not an easy task managing Federal IT projects these days.Not that it ever was. But now the problems are severe.
A Project Manager's Perspective on the GAO’s Federal Data Transparency Report
While improving data transparency for both financial and non-financial data is an important goal, any effort requiring an enterprise level shift in data formats or associated business processes can also require a substantial early peak in required resources. If in fact we need to delay implementing data transparency programs, perhaps we can use our time wisely by doing a more detailed job of research and planning.
Who Buys Strategy Consulting These Days?
“It seems there are two extreme situations where people buy high-end analytical strategy work. At one end of the spectrum you have a company that’s doing well, has money to spend, and is in the enviable position where management can afford to “sit back” and contemplate what to do next. At the other end of the spectrum you have the company that’s not doing well, has cash flow problems, is having a tough time making payroll, but management realizes it really needs to do something different and wants to have an outsider look rationally at the problem of what to do next.”
How Project Management Roles Impact Use of Mobile Technologies
A project manager has a certain set of responsibilities and authorities, a project task leader has another, and a temporary member of a specific task team will have yet another. How individuals performing these roles interact with the project plan, with other project team members, and with project stakeholders and clients will influence — and be influenced by — how mobile technologies can support project management, communication, and collaboration.
One assumption is that a core set of project planning and task assignment information exists that can serve as a baseline model for structuring how data are organized, displayed and updated. Regarding the last point: the app needs to have the ability not just to organize and display information, it also needs to make it easy for participants to update and report status on actions and deliverables.
Extended Project Deadlines are a Double Edged Sword
At minimum, project and program managers need the ability to know and communicate to project and program stakeholders what the implications are of changed deadlines in terms of cost, quality, and performance.
What I Learned About "Budgeting At The Brink"
I expect that adjustments to IT projects at some agencies and programs are going to be pretty messy, painful, and ugly as indiscriminate budget cuts continue to ripple down to individual programs.
Facing Reality and the Need to Recalibrate Sequester-Impacted IT Projects
In some ways this looks like a standard IT strategy alignment project where a small team helps gather and present data to enable a client to see a path forward whereby technology resources are defined and managed to improve support for accomplishment of a set of defined objectives. But…
Oh, Great, Another "Why Projects Fail" Article
CIO recently published another one of those “why projects fail” articles. This one is called 15 Ways to Screw Up an IT Project.
Outline of a Sequestration & Project Management Research Program
I’ve been researching how the federal budget sequester is impacting federal projects and project managers. In “Mitigation of Sequestration Impacts on Project Management” I suggested that not all Federal programs are able to quickly assess and reconfigure ongoing projects in the face of sequestration-related uncertainties, so I’ve given some thought to …
Mitigation of Sequestration Impacts on Project Management
How you respond to the impacts of Federal sequestration on ongoing projects will be at least partly determined by how “mature” your project management practices are.
More Thoughts on the Budget Sequester's Impact on Project Budgets
In A Project Manager’s Perspective on the Cost Impacts of the “Sequester” I suggested that an unintended consequence of the US government’s budget “Sequester” might be that some ongoing projects will end up costing more than originally planned because of the effect lengthening a project schedule can have on a project’s budget.