Essential Guide
Project management strategies that transform businesses: A CIO guide
Learn how new project and portfolio management strategies can keep your business on the cutting edge.
Introduction
There are some best practices around project and portfolio management (PPM) that every IT organization -- from well-established enterprise to fledgling startup -- should observe. But the increasing IT emphasis on strategic innovation and digitization means that organizations with effective project management strategies can no longer simply sit on their laurels. It's vital that IT organizations, and the CIOs overseeing them, take a fresh look at project and portfolio management, ensuring that fresh priorities bubble to the top and receive adequate resources, while past-their-prime initiatives are put out to pasture.
In this CIO guide to project management strategies and portfolios turned upside down by digitization, learn how modern IT organizations are pushing forward with the latest technologies in order to quantify the value of technology, clean up their project pipelines, transform business processes and, especially in the case of startups, get great ideas off the ground.
This Essential Guide on managing information security is part of the CIO Briefings series, which is designed to give IT leaders strategic management and decision-making advice on timely topics.
1Establish the basics-
Project management best practices
Project and portfolio management starts with knowing what your IT organization -- and really, your business as a whole -- needs to get out of its technology investments. With the help of these SearchCIO pieces, determine how CIOs can place a value on the work of IT, find out where executives are focusing IT efforts in 2015, learn how to prioritize projects in the IT pipeline, and consult our collection of free templates around the Web to aid in PPM efforts.
Survey reveals top IT priorities for 2015
What are IT executives' project areas of note in 2015? TechTarget's IT Salary and Careers Survey reveals where enterprises are focusing their technology efforts. Continue Reading
How technology executives can prove IT's value
It can be difficult to quantify the value of IT, but in this installment of CIO Voices series, two IT leaders explain why doing so is a necessary part of their job -- and how they do it. Continue Reading
The role of IT in planning the project pipeline
Bill Bolton, and IT executive at HoneyBaked Ham, spells out six handy steps for prioritizing the project pipeline and building strong relationships between IT and marketing departments. Continue Reading
Free project management templates for the CIO
IT project success depends on a CIO's ability to guide initiatives from start to finish. These templates from around the Web -- proof-of-concept, project scope, PICK charts and more -- can help. Continue Reading
More best practices in project management
SearchCIO gathered top project management advice from our sister sites to guide CIOs in transforming project management chaos into clarity. Continue Reading
2Videos-
Project management in practice
In these videos, established enterprises and startup companies alike share their strategies for prioritizing technology projects and investments to grow the organization.
The cancer patient comes first for CTCA CIO when setting IT strategy
At the 2014 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, SearchCIO's Associate Site Editor Emily McLaughlin asked Kristin Darby, newly appointed CIO at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, how she prioritizes all the demands of a CIO.
Hopper: Crunching big data, making travel easier
SearchCIO recently caught up with Hopper's Chief Data Scientist Patrick Surry to inquire about the big data technology that fuels Hopper's business model.
Inside the PayPal Start Tank incubator
In this Startup Spotlight video, PayPal COO David Chang talks to Features Writer Kristen Lee about how a new incubation program -- Start Tank -- benefits startups and benefits PayPal as well.
3Support business needs-
Transformative project management strategies
In the era of digitization, project and portfolio management is a lot more than organizing and examining a slate of IT initiatives and sorting out what gets completed when. With a strategic approach, PPM can transform the business and create new revenue opportunities and reinvent organizational structures. In the following pieces, learn how to manage projects and priorities in order to refresh business processes, achieve business agility and support digital initiatives coming down the pipe.
Five principles that can spark an organizational transformation
How do you make business transformation happen? A CIO at a nationwide voluntary health organization tells us how he turned a well-researched PowerPoint into a bona fide IT and business strategy. Continue Reading
Operation: Business agility
Is your business striving to achieve business agility? In this tip, project management strategy expert Joseph Flahiff lays out four practices that can help get you there. Continue Reading
Technology-driven business strategies: The heat is on
Aligning technology with business strategies has long been on the CIO radar, but a shift is happening: Now, business strategies are often contingent on technology trends. Continue Reading
When it comes to digital initiatives, be bold
Who is ultimately responsible for an organization's digital initiatives, and how can they transform an enterprise? In this report from the 2014 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, IT leaders share their perspectives. Continue Reading
Top priorities around agile project management and development
Is your organization inclined to go agile? Our SearchCIO readers respond to our recent coverage with their own takes on the pros and cons of agility in IT. Continue Reading
4Glossary-
Project management terms to know
To assess project success, CIOs need to know the lingo. Below are some terms that will help you gauge whether your projects are meeting your company's objectives.
5Managing a startup-
How to get your small business off the ground
Enterprises are wrangling with their own line-up of PPM hang-ups, but startups and other small businesses face unique challenges not only in managing projects and portfolios, but also in getting myriad business problems right: securing financing, acing investor pitches and selecting the technologies that will propel the organization forward, rather than weigh it down. These columns and case studies reveal how smaller companies are tackling strategic management challenges.
Prepare yourself for the age of small business
Bryan Barringer was only 7 years old when he inspired his family to open its first business. He's now a serial entrepreneur, and provides this guide to starting your own business. Continue Reading
Four obstacles holding back startups -- can big businesses help?
Startups face a range of challenges, from finding office space to keeping employees happy during the lean early days. Here's how PayPal is helping out. Continue Reading
Here's how to get your investor pitch right
It can be difficult to convince potential investors that they should fork over the funds to support your new business concept. A good initial step is a detailed 'needs inventory.' Continue Reading
Advice for raising capital for your small business
There are avenues for funding your startup today that have never been available before -- some that might even allow you to access capital without ceding potential revenues or ownership of the business. Continue Reading
Brewing a startup-suitable cloud ERP strategy
Two craft brewery businesses realized they could reap tangible rewards by moving from ad hoc processes to cloud ERP. Learn how they judged project success. Continue Reading
Should you build or buy a mobile app?
Creating a mobile application can provide small businesses with a competitive edge. A real estate company explains why commissioning its own app was the right approach for its house hunters. Continue Reading
6Quiz-
IT project management essentials for growing a business
PPM is an essential piece of prioritization that lies at the core of all areas of IT, including business transformation, startup success and enterprise innovation. Ignore PPM at your peril: doing so might put your organization in a position to fall short of its business goals. Review some of our recent coverage and take our quiz to test your knowledge of project management essentials.
What's your PPM IQ?
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