IT Projects: Expert Witness, CIO, In-House Counsel & Litigation Forum

Seven IT Tips for surviving the recession

Author:  Cath Jennings        Originally posted on 1/13/09 at:     http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/13/authors/articleauthor.aspx?liArticleID=234171

The global recession and how to cope with it will inevitably dictate the business and IT agendas during 2009. While the general consensus is that IT budgets are likely to remain relatively flat overall, circumstances will vary from industry to industry, with sectors such as financial services and travel being hardest hit. Government and utilities will see investment remain relatively buoyant.

Gartner indicates that, although 46% of CIOs believe their budget will increase, 21% expect expenditure to fall and a further 33% anticipate that there will be no change. Mark McDonald, global vice president of executive programmes at Gartner, says: "Some companies are going through large budget declines, while increases are very modest, which is holding the overall number down."

Nonetheless, many IT organisations are already shelving nice-to-have, discretionary projects and getting rid of costly on-site contractors, while at the same time adopting a somewhat longer-term, wait-and-see approach.

CIO strategy: 10 qualities of IT greatness

December 29th, 2008

Posted by Michael Krigsman @ 9:53 am

Categories: IT issues, CIO issues

Tags: CIO, Information Technology, Successful IT Group, Paul M. Ingevaldson, Strategy...

Successful IT groups are resilient, flexible, and highly responsive to organizational business needs. For many CIOs, this goal appears elusive and completely disconnected from the daily grind of servers, users, downtime, and help desks. Despite the difficulty, CIO success depends on connecting the chaotic, often crisis-driven, IT environment to high-level strategic and business priorities that matter to the broader organization.Linking a tactical IT culture rooted in reaction and response to broader strategic goals is a worthy, if difficult, challenge, which requires understanding the areas of intersection between IT and the business. Despite the obstacles, IT must cross this bridge without disrupting its own operational ability to deliver projects on-time and within budget while still achieving planned scope. To be sure, this balancing act requires careful and delicate choreography!

8 Ways To Save Your Next Project

How does everyone out there feel about taking a "start the project and see what you're up against" approach for IT projects?  And perhaps the comparison of a project to a turkey is an unconscious commentary on the rate of failed projects.

Has anyone out there ever referred to a failed IT project as a "turkey"  (not to be confused with "turnkey"). Any thoughts?      Marlene (Turkeys added for emphasis)

:http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Projects-Enterprise-Planning/8-Ways-To-Save-Your-Next-Project/1/
By Elizabeth Bennett 2007-12-17

With IT projects consistently running late and over budget, it's time to look at what technology leaders and project managers could do to step up their performances.    

Mumbai, IndiaTechnology projects bare a striking similarity to home renovations. Both are surrounded by wildly high hopes at the start and often end up causing financial and emotional heartache. There are some new numbers to back up the unfortunate reality that many projects simply don't deliver as expected. 49 percent of organizations have suffered from budget overruns on IT projects and 62 percent have experienced schedule delays, according to a new report by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an IT consulting firm based in Mumbai, India.

The study, which surveyed 800 organizations in theUnited States, Europe and Asia, also found that 47 percent of respondents have experienced higher-than-expected maintenance costs and 41 percent said IT projects failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI.

In short, IT projects are a chronic disappointment.

It's hardly news that technology projects are rarely on time and within budget, but the question remains: what more can be done? We thought it was worth taking a look at why projects are so likely to fall behind and where IT leaders and project managers could improve their performance—and therefore the likelihood of successfully completing a project with minimal cost and schedule delays.

Baseline created the list below with the help of Kent Crawford, CEO of PM Solutions, a project-management consulting firm based in Havertown. PA, Bob Laliberte, an analyst  with Milford,  Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Research

101 Ways To Know Your Software Project Is Doomed

I thought this was a pretty good list.  I picked my favorite ten, presented below from the full list -- and that was harder to do than I first envisioned.

1. Management has renamed its Waterfall process to Agile Waterfall
2. Allocated QA time is for Q and A why your crap is broken
3. All of your requirements are written on a used cocktail napkin
4. Progress is now measured by the number of fixed bugs and not completed features
5. Every bug is prioritized as Critical (or Every Bug Is Trivial)
6. Your spouse only gets to see you on a webcam
7. The sales team decreased your estimates because they believe you can work faster
8. Budget for testing exists as “if we have time”
9. The client will only talk about the requirements after they receive a fixed estimation
10. Broken unit tests are deleted because they are obviously out of date

Taken from http://www.codesqueeze.com/101-ways-to-know-your-software-project-is-doomed/

Your part:  What favorites do you have that are not on this list or which ones on the lsit do you disagree with?   Warren (Note: Click below to see the full list.)

Technologically Challenged Lawyer Suspended

An attorney was suspended for three months by the Kansas Supreme Court for, among other things, failing to obtain a login name and password to comply with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's e-filing requirements.¹

The respondent-attorney attempted to file a bankruptcy case by submitting paper pleadings rather than e-filing. The bankruptcy court sent Respondent an order advising that petitions and other pleadings must be filed electronically. The court ordered Respondent to attend the required training, pass the examination, and obtain a login name and password within 30 days. Respondent failed to comply with the order.

An attorney was suspended for three months by the Kansas Supreme Court for, among other things, failing to obtain a login name and password to comply with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's e-filing requirements.¹

The respondent-attorney attempted to file a bankruptcy case by submitting paper pleadings rather than e-filing. The bankruptcy court sent Respondent an order advising that petitions and other pleadings must be filed electronically. The court ordered Respondent to attend the required training, pass the examination, and obtain a login name and password within 30 days. Respondent failed to comply with the order.

Reasonable Suspicion not Required for Laptop Search at Int'l Airport

First it was your shoes; then your cosmetics; not it's your LAPTOP!  What's next?    Warren

From: MSBA Computer and Technology Law Section: The Official Blog of the Minnesota State Bar Association's Computer and Technology Law Section. http://mntech.typepad.com/msba/ 5/23/08

Generally, border search agents are given wide lattitude to conduct searches relative the reasonableness of suspicion¹ and, which provides an exception to the warrant requirement.² 

Some time ago, I posted a story concerning a border exception to the warrant requirement, where a border agent inspected a laptop and discovered contraband (click here).  From the Ninth Circuit, U.S. v. Arnold, we have a similar underlying fact situation, except that the question before the court concerns the reasonableness of the intrusion

Be Mindful Of IT Workers' Age Groups

In most companies, the policies and practices used to motivate the workforce were established with older generations, the traditionalists and baby boomers, in mind. However, the mind-sets of the younger generations, Generation Xers and millennials, are markedly different. IT leaders need to craft the cultures of their organizations to ensure that all technology workers have the highest motivation levels.

Traditionalists, born between 1900 and 1945, are comfortable with a command-and-control managerial style primarily because they believe it was effective in World War II.

Internet Archive (archive.org) may provide inculpatory forensic evidence

In case now pending in the district court of Colorado, presided over by that court's embattled Chief Judge Edward Nottingham, the Internet Archive may prove to be a source of incriminating forensic evidence.

Briefly, the case arises from allegations that a resort's ski instructor raped a teenage girl. The girl and her family have sued the resort, noting that it gave assurances that any ski instructor working with children must have a "clean criminal record."  Read full story. The accused instructor, in fact, has a lenghty rap sheet.

In its response to the lawsuit, the resort contended that it never promised that criminal checks were performed on employees and supplied copies of its Web pages to support the contention.  However, the family's attorney said that the supplied offers-of-proof are phony, noting that a search of old Web pages on www.archive.org revealed that the resort had, in fact, made such representations since 2002.  Moreover, he said, the archive site contained no pages similar to the ones that the resort supplied. "As the record now stands before the court, it appears that [the resort's] affidavits are false and misleading, the alleged copy of [the resort's] Web site is fabricated and [the resort] has attempted to destroy evidence."

Posted by Sean Harrington on March 20, 2008 at 04:34 PM in Technology and the Law | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Briefly, the case arises from allegations that a resort's ski instructor raped a teenage girl. The girl and her family have sued the resort, noting that it gave assurances that any ski instructor working with children must have a "clean criminal record."  Read full story. The accused instructor, in fact, has a lenghty rap sheet.

In its response to the lawsuit, the resort contended that it never promised that criminal checks were performed on employees and supplied copies of its Web pages to support the contention.  However, the family's attorney said that the supplied offers-of-proof are phony, noting that a search of old Web pages on www.archive.org revealed that the resort had, in fact, made such representations since 2002.  Moreover, he said, the archive site contained no pages similar to the ones that the resort supplied. "As the record now stands before the court, it appears that [the resort's] affidavits are false and misleading, the alleged copy of [the resort's] Web site is fabricated and [the resort] has attempted to destroy evidence."