Unleashing the Power of IT : Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together

by Roberts, Dan

• ISBN13: 9780470920428
• ISBN10: 0470920424
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-26
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Timely guidance for transforming IT into a strategic business partnerToday's leaders are expected to reduce costs, increase productivity, drive innovation and help the business identify and pursue new business opportunities. Successful IT leaders will be the ones that become strategic business partners and decision influencers in their organizations. Leading IT Transformation describes in actionable detail, the new mindset, core skill set, and interpersonal tool set that are necessary for IT leaders to thrive in today's increasingly complex challenging business environment. Provides tangible, hard-hitting, real-world strategies, techniques and approaches that will immediately transform your IT workforce and culture Includes Top Ten lists of tips and techniques, proven frameworks and practical guidance to help you launch and sustain your IT culture change and professional development initiatives Addresses how to build a client-focused IT culture; move your organization from order takers to trusted business partners, market IT's value, lead change with confidence, manage projects and vendor relationshipsA special feature of this book includes a chapter profiling several world-class organizations that have implemented the principles in this book. Learn about the culture change challenges they overcame and benefit from their best practices and successes.

Author Biography

Dan Roberts is President and CEO of Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc., the IT leadership and professional development company known globally for developing the "human side" of the IT equation. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of industry experience, and based on their work helping more than 3,000 IT organizations transform their workforces and cultures, Roberts and his team share a road map for succeeding in today's increasingly complex, ever-changing business environment. Roberts has contributed to several books and published numerous articles in leading industry journals on topics relating to IT transformation and preparing IT for the future. To learn more, visit www.ouellette-online.com.

OUELLETTE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC., has worked with more than 3,000 IT and shared service organizations since its founding in 1984 and is the leading provider of IT professional development and project management training, focusing on the "human side of technology." Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together has been years in the making and is based on this extensive real-world experience.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Creating Your Twenty-First Century Workforce and Culture	p. 1
Core Skills for Success	p. 3
A Consistent Terminology	p. 4
Who Will Benefit Most	p. 5
Leveraging This Book	p. 6
Transforming Your IT Team	p. 9
How to Make This Transition: Learn to Think Differently	p. 13
Five Critical Success Factors that Enable IT Organizational Excellence	p. 19
Conclusion: High-Performance Reality	p. 28
Building a Client-Focused IT Culture	p. 31
What Good Service Looks Like	p. 33
Service Skills and Mindsets	p. 38
Strategies for Developing a Service Mentality	p. 46
Conclusion	p. 51
Evolving into the Role of Consultant	p. 55
What Exactly Is a Consultant's Role, Anyway?	p. 58
Why Do I Need to Become More Consultative?	p. 60
Learning to Change Hats: The Four Roles of IT	p. 62
So, How Do I Become a Consultant?	p. 64
How Difficult Can This Be?	p. 72
Conclusion	p. 74
Negotiating: Getting What You Want without Damaging the Relationship	p. 77
Position versus Interest Negotiations	p. 79
Three Key Factors; Three-Step Process	p. 82
Applying the Key Factors to the Second Step: Information Exchange	p. 89
The Final Step: Now Comes the Bargaining	p. 91
Conclusion: Effective Negotiators Are Made, Not Born	p. 92
Notes	p. 94
Managing Projects: The Science and the Art	p. 97
The Building Blocks of Project Management	p. 100
Structuring Projects for Success	p. 104
Developing Plans that Work	p. 105
Managing to Successful Completion	p. 108
The Four Tenets of the Project Manager's Mindset	p. 112
Conclusion: Thinking like a Project Manager	p. 118
Changing Your Requirements-Gathering Mindset	p. 121
The What, Not the How	p. 124
The Importance of the Interview	p. 127
Communicating through Pictures	p. 131
Writing a Solid Requirements Document	p. 134
Conclusion	p. 136
Sharpening Your Political Savvy	p. 139
Picturing Yourself as a Political Player	p. 141
IT and Politics: Historically Strange Bedfellows	p. 142
A Five-Step Process for Developing Political Awareness	p. 145
Developing Political Skills	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 156
Marketing IT'S Value	p. 159
Marketing to the IT Department	p. 162
Build Partnerships	p. 165
Differentiate Yourself	p. 166
Establish Credibility	p. 168
Create Product and Service Awareness	p. 169
Develop a Formal Plan	p. 172
Determining Success	p. 172
Conclusion	p. 174
Managing the Vendor Relationship	p. 177
Both Sides of the Coin	p. 178
Preparing for a New Role	p. 180
Getting a Fresh Start	p. 182
Seven Phases of Managing Vendor Partnerships	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 200
Driving Change with Intent	p. 203
Defining Terms	p. 205
The Components of Change	p. 205
Achieving Commitment Is Essential for Sustaining Change	p. 206
Change Takes a Community	p. 211
Clarity Precedes Activity	p. 214
Messaging the Change	p. 217
Conclusion	p. 220
Putting the Book into Action: Stories from the Trenches	p. 223
A Newly Consultative IT Function Helps Drive St. Luke's Health System Transformation	p. 224
At Marriott, a Transformed IT-Business Relationship Is the Underpinning for Hospitality Giant's Success	p. 231
At Bowdoin College, Trust in IT Created a Culture of Change within a Haven of Liberal Arts	p. 236
Conclusion	p. 242
A Call to Action: Create Your Road Map for IT Transformation	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 245
About the Contributors	p. 253
About O&A	p. 257
Index	p. 259
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