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I look forward to share some items from my dusted-off, mental shelf. Perhaps some of the presented views, recaps, and observations may find value in your dialogue - whether where you work or where you roam. I also use the social media site Digg to comment and post stories in and around business and talent management. Look for my most recent Digg stories on each page of this website. | |
Showing category "Portfolio Planning" (Show all posts)
To identify where risk is a real part of the investment deal you will commonly hear an equity firm or VC partner claim, we invest in the people . When it comes to costs, human capital usually represents nearly 70% of all operating costs, but most investment firms focus investment decisions and deal valuation no on quantifying the people or human risk, but on quantifying: - market growth,
- market size,
- the expected rate of return, and,
- the expected risk
The decision to invest becomes a decision to a... Continue reading ...
In my last post I presented a case to manage your projects as a business portfolio. The ability to deliver projects on time, on budget, and within scope directly impacts your organization's ability to compete and stay alive and project failure is an organization-wide risk.
In this post I want to introduce Twitter to manage projects. Why Twitter? Twitter is a great communication and community collaboration tool and once a project starts, 90% of a project manager's job is communication. Proj... Continue reading ...
It starts with an executive need: a new market evaluation; improve operating margins; a game-changing technology; your competition is eating your lunch. Whatever the reason, a project is how an organization translates an executive strategy. The ability to scope and deliver a project is a competitive advantage. The best organizations realize project management capability as a strategic differentiator, the lagging organizations only staff project management skills within Information Technol... Continue reading ...
Technology enables information, but why are so many information technology projects failing? - 74% of all projects fail, come in over budget, or run past the original deadline*
- 90% of major Information Technology (IT) project initiatives fail to be completed on time and on budget*
- A survey by the international consulting firm KPMG finds that 56% of IT projects globally fail, but believe that 56% is an underestimation of the scale of the problem
- UK IT Director Forum Certus believes that failure ra...
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First in a series of investigations into the death of the music industry record business.
Background: I went to Berklee College of Music as a conducting and arranging major. I switched my major to music business mid-way when I discovered how lawyers and accountants make the major decisions about the music I heard. I wanted to change that from a performer perspective.
I worked 3 years in the record business and became convinced something was wrong with the record business model (1989-92). ... Continue reading ...
An organization builds a culture of success when it can take a strategy, identify and prioritize the most important projects within the strategy, and consistently deliver projects on time, on budget, and within identified quality standards.
Charting success is not easy. 80% of all projects fail for three main reasons. 1. 80% of projects fail because of change. Change renders strategies and plans irrelevant:
- technology advances,
- new regulations,
- stress on process and performance from growth,
- nim...
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Reposted from Stephen Shapiro's outstanding blogs on innovation: Continue reading ...
What valuation models measure human capital ability to meet financial and strategic business goals? What formulas are used to measure human capital contribution to profits? What are the human capital risk factors you justify when you build your financial statements and projections? Accounting's assignment of assets and liabilities and financial management's current or pro forma valuation both rely on art and interpretation more than any professional standard, science, or law. Organizatio... Continue reading ...
While with the FBI working in the Director's Office of Strategic Planning I began to realize there are many approaches to build a strategic plan. I wanted a plan that could go into operation and provide performance management measures. I also wanted a repeatable process that was understood, committed to, and provided ownership. Over time, and additional insight from organizations and people of great diversity, I have come to rely on the following to build and implement plans in any organiz... Continue reading ...
I recently ran across a statistics book and began to think about similarities to strategic planning. Statistics: a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data. Until this week, I had not thought statistics had as much in common to strategic planning. It became evident there is far more linkage then seemed.
In strategic planning we analyze probabl... Continue reading ...
On March 15th I read an article in Boston's Sunday Globe Ideas section on how goals have a dangerous side. The article called Why Setting Goals Can Backfire jumped-started my thoughts on goals. The past two weeks I have spent time thinking and scribbling notes all over this article. I thought I'd share some. [ the .pdf file is here] In both my personal life and professional life, setting goals seemed a piece of time-honored advice for success. Goals allow me to align my effort to a larger ... Continue reading ...
The valuation of a company usually involves 4 areas:
- physical capital,
- financial capital,
- intellectual capital, and
- human capital
Valuation is a combination of science, art, and straight voodoo (Enron anyone???). Voodoo aside, when I recast these valuations from a new angle, I see each relies, in their entirety, on people:
- physical capital - people are trained to use, maximize, and maintain machines
- financial capital - people manage, buy, sell, and negotiate
- intellectual capital - people research ...
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