August 13, 2019

What is all this?

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This blog was started to spread my vast knowledge about the subject of technology business management. Vast may be an overstatement, but my point of view may be valuable to you. Read this page if you’ve just started in the field or if you’re looking for tips to take your company (and your career) to […]

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April 3, 2021

Who should approve IT investment?

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The question of who approves IT investment should be an easy one. In theory, there should be a group a senior people that are both interested in the allocation of money and have the seniority to makes decisions. Unfortunately that’s not real life. In the real world, you have a group of department managers that […]

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March 27, 2020

You should be a stand-in for the CIO

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I get it; we all have day jobs and sometimes they can be focused on admin. But for your role to really matter, you should be an extension of the CIO. If you aren’t making decisions on behalf of the org and are instead asking the CIO every time; you simply aren’t doing your job […]

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October 4, 2019

Let’s be bold (and save some money)

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Most organizations have the same problems, just at different times and on different scales. But the one constant is that there isn’t enough money to fund every priority. Even in an environment where investment dollars are being added, the full list of programs can never be funded. That why it’s incumbent on all of us […]

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September 25, 2019

Apptio Implementation Lessons Learned

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While I don’t recommend any specific technology business management tool, I have lead two separate Apptio implementations.  Each program had slightly different goals, but some of the challenges I faced popped up in both instances.  Here are some lessons learned: It’s important to realize that no tool is going to fix dysfunctions in your organization.  […]

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September 17, 2019

Change vs Run vs Transform

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Traditionally, the IT stack was divided into two buckets; change and run. For the first ten years of my career, any further delineation was unheard of. Like all standards, things change. The organization needs more granularity. I know what you’re thinking, “we have tons of detail!” But we all know that management doesn’t need every […]

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September 5, 2019

Apptio

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There are two types of TBM sites on the web; those that shill for Apptio and those that hate it.  I guess I’m about to introduce the third type. If you work in this space you know that Apptio is by far the largest current player in TBM tooling.  They have deftly created a product […]

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September 5, 2019

The worst business managers

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Over the years, I’ve learned what to do from some very smart people.  These folks took an active interest in my career and showed me the ropes.  In fact, this site is based on paying that knowledge transfer forward.  But, like most people, I’ve seen some people do the job poorly.  For whatever reason, they […]

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August 27, 2019

How much do I actually need to know about technology?

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The question I get most often about my career is “how do you have a position in technology management without a background in technology?”.  It’s been my experience that most business management people are in my shoes, they have some sort of a business/accounting/finance background and not a development/engineering background.  So how do you add […]

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August 27, 2019

Don’t just be a numbers monkey (or what does the COO do?)

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A lot of the content on the site so far and basically all the content in TBM forums is focused on the Financial aspects of the job.  While you are expected to have a mastery of this area, this doesn’t represent the whole job.  I should say, you hope this doesn’t represent the whole job.  […]

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August 24, 2019

What to do with legacy infra costs when you want to move to the cloud?

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If you’re like me, you’ve heard the term “cloud” more than you’ve heard your kids names over the last year. And, if you’re like me, you already have expensive legacy data centers. Yes, cloud is cool. No, it’s not free. If you have a barrage of app owners looking to move apps to the cloud, […]

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