February 2009
Intermediate to advanced
208 pages
2h 55m
English
book
The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology
by Adam Kolawa
Content preview from The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
2.7. Never a Dull Moment
Ron Rose, the longtime chief information officer (CIO) of Priceline.com, estimates that at any given moment in time the company is evaluating, specifying, scheduling, planning, and executing several hundred IT projects.
To cope with that workload, Priceline.com has developed its own project management disciplines for planning product and system enhancements related to specific business goals several quarters in advance.
From Rose's perspective, a primary function of top management is helping IT prioritize its portfolio of assignments. "The CEO is responsible for driving strategy," says Rose. "I'm responsible for providing the CEO with timely and cost effective alternatives."
Specifically, says Rose, IT is responsible for providing general management with accurate, comprehensive project road maps that efficiently utilize the available resources, and for creating workable processes for achieving the tactical goals within the strategy.
"What we're really talking about is a portfolio management exercise," says Rose. "In my experience, the overwhelming majority of problems encountered by knowledge-driven organizations begins with IT portfolio management and resource allocation issues."
When targets are well defined and IT resources are allocated appropriately, the business advances. When targets are poorly defined and IT resources are not made available, the business suffers.
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.