Where Should IT Focus?

A recent Information Week article, “Return to Growth” by Chris Murphy discusses a survey performed by IW of 333 IT Executives in May 2010.  It also sets up what could be a potential disaster for IT leaders if they blindly follow the direction espoused.

Do ‘Quick Wins’ Hurt Lean Initiatives?

When an organization decides to pursue an improvement initiative (Lean, Six Sigma, etc.), and let’s be honest, they almost always start out as an ‘initiative’ or ‘program’, the organization needs to determine which areas it will apply this new technique in first.  Some will argue that the starting point should be an area that will provide the most benefit to the organization, regardless of the time to complete the initial project.  However, most times, we are told to “go for the low-hanging fruit” in order to show the benefit of the methodology to management.  How often does this backfire?