Recommended Resources
I try to read a variety of books and other materials recommended to me from many sources. I've written a brief synopsis of the better ones, and offer them for your consideration below. -- Ron Kraemer
What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Joe Hall and Sue Hammond
http://www.thinbook.com/docs/doc-whatisai.pdf
Posted on: 8/12/2008
If you assume that there is some good in your organization, and that by focusing on what you already do well you can help make progress, then "appreciative inquiry" may work for you. We can all find problems and issues and challenges. It is easy to point out where we fall short. To balance the negative it is often helpful to take stock of the the things we do well and attempt to make improvements on the positive components. This brief article describes the basics of "appreciative inquiry" and provides a brief case study that you may find interesting.
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Beyond the False Dichotomy of Centralized and Decentralized IT Deployment
Jim Davis, CIO, UCLA
Posted on: 7/17/2008
This is an excellent article on IT delivery strategy. Davis points out that longstanding IT delivery models that are characterized by centralized or decentralized services are breaking down. He asserts that future service delivery models will be more successful if we embrace new accountability, responsibility, governance and funding structures that go beyond traditional organizational models. I must tell you; I agree.
http://www.oit.ucla.edu/strategicPrinciples.htm
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Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations
John M. Bryson
Posted on: 5/21/2008
Here is a timely book given that we find ourselves in the midst of a strategic planning process for information technology service. Over the past several months, I have studied strategic plans from many major universities and have found neither consistency nor a model that fits well with our campus operation and culture (though there are many well done IT strategic plans). This book provides a nice structure for consideration of many issues we face in this process. It does not cover all the challenges we face, but it does do a nice job of establishing the discussion in a social sector framework.
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Colleges shake their reputation as late adopters
Lorna Collier
Posted on: 5/16/2008
This article, in Education Upgrade, is a good overview of the potential to enhance student education through the use of smartphones. You can
view it on the Microsoft Encarta Web site.
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Good To Great and the Social Sectors
Jim Collins
Posted on: 1/17/2008
When Collins wrote “Good to Great” he received some criticism that the book was solely focused on “for profit” organizations. In this short monograph, Collins approaches “good to great” from the perspective of non-profits. This is a must read. I would either read “Good to Great” first or have both and use this as a companion (it follows the general structure of Good to Great).
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Death March: The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving "Mission Impossible" Projects
Edward Yourdan
Posted on: 1/8/2008
In this book, a “death march project” is a software development project in which extremely dedicated individuals give everything they have in an attempt to achieve a goal that is most likely impossible to achieve. The important point is that even our most complex projects need not be “death marches”. We have the ability to be successful in even the most difficult situations if we approach the challenge appropriately. This book helps us understand how to be successful in these very high risk projects.
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The Mythical Man-Month
Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
Posted on: 12/14/2007
This book is an all-time classic. This book was first released in the mid-1970s and many of the lessons covered continue to be re-learned everyday as we work on challenging, large-scale IT projects. One of my favorite take-aways is Brooks Law: “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later”.
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The Google Story
David A. Vise
Posted on: 12/3/2007
This is a very nice book if you are interested in a brief history of Google from its beginnings at Stanford to the work now being performed in virtual library projects.
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IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results
Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross
Posted on: 11/12/2007
In this book, the authors argue that formal systems for guiding and monitoring IT decisions are critical to an organization’s success. Their research shows that organizations with explicit IT governance systems are run more effectively, have greater profit and more consistent success.
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The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management
Tom DeMarco
Posted on: 10/29/2007
Although a bit dated now, if you manage large software development efforts, many things in this story will resonate with you. It is fiction, but at times does not seem so far-fetched. This is a fun read [project management fun?] and you can learn some interesting things.
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Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
Posted on: 10/11/2007
I first read this book a few years ago when I realized that the teams I was a part of seldom explicitly dealt with risk assessment. As one person said, “it is not that we do risk analysis badly, it is that it we usually do not do it at all”. The takeaway from this book is that risk analysis needs to be an integral part of every effort we undertake. I don’t think this is the consummate book on risk management, but it is worthwhile.
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Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution
Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David C. Robertson
Posted on: 9/26/2007
This is the latest book from Weill and Ross. It is an excellent primer for those who are open to the thought that “architecture” is a fundamental component of effective information technology service. The book focuses on enterprise architecture as the focal point for business process integration and business process standardization. It successfully describes enterprise architecture not as an IT issue, but rather a business issue.
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The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
Posted on: 9/26/2007
This is an excellent book for people in large organizations that have both central and distributed services. I did not like the constant references to “central vs distributed” when the real focus should be on how to capitalize on the features of each that can bring the greatest value to the organization as a whole. At first, you will get the impression that the book is about “central vs distributed”, if you hang in there, you will grow to understand that it is really more about “central and distributed”.
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Our Iceberg is Melting
John Kotter
Posted on: 9/26/2007
This book has a simple, yet powerful message concerning how we behave in situations that cause us to face change. In this book, Kotter presents a concept and framework in the form of a simple and interesting story of a colony of penguins residing on an iceberg oblivious of the fact that their home is actually melting beneath them. If they do nothing about it, their sweet and comfortable home for decades could soon break into pieces and all of them would be easy prey for their predators in the icy waters of Antarctica. I always like to reflect on the things I am comfortable with that might actually be my iceberg.
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Leading Change
John Kotter
Posted on: 9/26/2007
In this book, Kotter explores an eight-step process in dealing with change. He effectively describes “change management” as a leadership, not a management challenge. The book is remarkably clear and concise and a surprisingly fun read. There is a Harvard Business Review article by Dr. Kotter that covers the same material in a much shorter form. You might want to check that out first before buying the book.
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You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader
Mark Sanborn
Posted on: 9/26/2007
A simple, powerful book on leadership (and the source for my “pony” story). The subtitle of this book is, “how anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference”. This book requires a small investment of time that pays great dividends.
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Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology
Peter Weill and Marianne Broadbent
Posted on: 9/26/2007
This is an excellent book that describes the importance of information technology infrastructure in today’s organizations. I especially liked the ideas that help explore how technology can be leveraged in organizations. The authors explore several ways of looking at infrastructure and the importance of infrastructure to the long term bottom line.
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Good To Great
Jim Collins
Posted on: 9/26/2007
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Although not a formula for “greatness”, this books uses stories, hard data, and concepts to help us understand how we can work to transform our organizations. I view the book as an essential read when building a roadmap to transformation.
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Leading Geeks
Paul Glen
Posted on: 9/25/2007
A nice book that helps us understand why we might take some special care as we manage technical staff.
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