Everyone in IT knows projects are often late, over budget, and out of scope. There are several contributing factors and distraction definitely ranks near the top of the list. Nothing new there. But how many of us sit back and think about the dark side of those distractions? Think about distractions in relation to pitching in baseball. A pitcher gets in the game and has a few bad innings. His ERA creeps up a bit; no big deal. Bad outings happen. But what happens if the pitcher

Why do IT engineers almost universally loathe processes? It all begins with the intent of a process: to control the way an engineer performs his or her job. The vast majority of IT engineers prefer to complete their job as they believe it should be completed. Engineers enjoy the liberty to do their job creatively without the routine nature of a process. While a loose process may provide helpful guidelines to an engineer, the stricter the process is, the more likely the engine

Have you ever wondered what "the customer is always right" really means? Business owners know it isn't a literal statement; on occasion, the customer is very wrong. The old phrase isn’t really about customer service– it's about supply and demand. What the customer demands is what you should supply, even if it isn't what you thought it would be. Dealing with Unexpected Demand It's often the case that one offering from a business will prove far and away more popular than any of

Sell. It’s one of those four-letter words that often conjure the image of a nearly bald man in a bad suit and smoking cheap cigar, trying to sell you a lemon of a car. Our research shows that this perception of sales is impacting you. Your budget, relevance, and tenure are all impacted by your perception of this four-letter word. 1. The Art of Communicating Selling lost its way for a while. It’s is about communicating the benefits and value of products or services as they rel