How We Make Decisions

...It is often thought that big decisions need big process to support them. This is not necessarily so. Sometimes speed of decision is more important than the comprehensiveness of a "big process". Let us be clear though, a process (formal / informal, structured / unstructured, instinctive / thoughtful) exists for all decisions, whether you realize it or not.

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Hey CIO, How Are Your HR/OD Skills?

Organizations morph. Sometimes the change is slow over time, sometimes rapid as part of a merger. What was effective structurally at one point inevitable deconstructs as the organization it supports changes. As people move in and out of the organization personalities change the roles and by association how the work gets done. Informal structures emerge and at some point the formal organization becomes a hinderance as opposed to a means to facilitate and support successful results.

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Physics of IT - Mass (of Capabilities)

While certainly not as straight forward as inventorying people or assets, the capabilities of the IT organization provide is another form of mass. Capabilities add process processes to the people and the technology (Vaughan Merlyn has a great post on differentiating capabilities from processes) and in so doing provide a business perspective of the scope of value provided by the IT organization. By cataloguing the capabilities of an IT organization it is possible to assess the mass this set of capabilities provides.

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How to Organize for Success

There are four building blocks to the model. Each of which should be followed at a high level to understand the bigger picture and in doing so define the parameters to work within. Once this has been performed at a high level, an additional level of detail should be produced to provide additional specificity to each of the four building blocks of the template.

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