Stories by Bruce Stewart

Think about messages you send

Information technology managers don't spend a lot of time thinking about their marketing messages. The ones I'm talking to don't realize they have any. But when we start to talk about the things they are communicating to their business colleagues and clients, it soon becomes apparent to most of them that they are running a marketing campaign without realizing it. Unfortunately, that means they are mostly sending messages that say "We can't help" or "We don't want to be involved" or "We can't be trusted" -- not exactly the messages they want to send.

No time for shrinking violets

In the pecking order of IT organizations, infrastructure usually comes dead last. The operational types essentially are told what to do.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Grind

Ask most people in IT organizations if they'd like to work on something innovative, and the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Why, then, is so much of IT work just grinding out the same old stuff?

Time to think about your legacy

No more outsourcing! It's the recurring cry of today's IT department.

A new IT vision and mission

Again and again during the past 12 months, I've had clients tell me that they are rewriting their IT vision and mission statements. Good! Far too many of those documents are dispiriting pablum that no one can remember anyway.

Making IT exciting again

We spend our days slowing down the pace of change. We no longer upgrade equipment just because it's three years old. We avoid the next release. We worry about money all the time.

Now Batting for the IT Team ...

Every manager in baseball learns the value of the players who "ride the pine" waiting for a moment of glory late in the game. Having bench strength often is the difference between postseason success and an early date with the golf clubs.

Outsourcing: know thyself

Knowing what you know now, would you still outsource?

The case for the portfolio business case

Are you finding it more difficult lately to construct a good business case? Infrastructure managers are probably screaming, "Lately? For years!" But now it's becoming more difficult for development teams, too.

All packaged up, nowhere to go

During the past 10 years, we in IT have done a solid job of weaning ourselves from the notion that custom applications are a good idea.

Spinning down the 3G hype

For months the wireless industry has been backpedaling on promises of the speeds of third-generation wireless technologies. As the industry gathered in Cannes, France, last week for the 3GSM World Congress, more indications surfaced that 3G - which will offer high-speed Web browsing and digital video - would arrive later and be slower and less compelling than previously promised.