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Delivering Business Value Through Technology

Welcome to a site focused on increasing business value through the effective use of technology.  I’m an IT professional based in Houston, Texas with more than 25 years of experience in the management and architecture of large scale technology solutions across a variety of industries.  Although my experience and focus has been on technology, my educational background is in Economics and Business and I have degrees and certifications on both sides of the business and technology continuum.

One of my primary interests is in increasing the throughput between business ideas and succesful technology implementations. I draw upon a range of practical industry standard approaches such as Agile, Lean, and the Unified Process as well as years of experience applying these techniques in a wide variety of settings.

One of the things I enjoy most about the IT industry is the rapid pace of change and its inexorable movement towards increasing throughput.  I see Information Technology moving into a new phase of its evolution.  The days of having one centralized IT organization responsible for supporting business development initiatives AND maintaining and supporting existing systems and their infrastructure are over.  A more effective model finely tuned for a dynamic business environment operating in a flat world of globally interconnected markets and people will focus on a more responsive and adaptive model.  Organizations with IT organizations managing classic ‘feeds and speeds’ will increasingly turn to the services of outsourced service providers and leverage applications and computing capacity through a cloud of web based solutions that can increase or decrease capacity  based on need.  A new business technology organizationfocused on business outcomes embedded within business units will emerge overseen by a Chief Business Acceleration Officer with visibility across all of an organizations’ value chain.  Interested… read more on my sponsored blog at ITToolbox and explore the articles and templates available on my site.

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The Office of the (Near) Future: Remote-First

Leaders have been surprised at how productive employees have been working from home, many are considering how to accelerate a transition already occurring to a remote-first work environment.

What lessons can we learn from businesses that were intentionally built to be remote-first or are planning a shift to an office culture focused on virtual work?  Read about it here

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How to let Agile thrive in a Virtual Environment

One of the principles of the Agile Manifesto emphasizes the importance of co-located teams collaborating actively.  Collaboration is still as valuable as ever but 2020 is forcing us to revisit how to achieve the benefits of co-location without the co-location.  The good news is that much has changed since the Manifesto was written which has created some answers to how to enable the benefits of being Agile.  Here’s what you can do to allow Agile to Thrive in a Virtual Environment.

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Remote First: Creating Resilient Organizations

One by-product of an increasingly global and interconnected world is the exponential increase speed of change and the feeling of constantly being in a state of crisis.  How can companies thrive during in an environment of continual crisis?  The answer is developing resilience and one important step is developing a Remote First organization structure.  Learn more about this idea by reading:  Remote First:  Creating Resilient Organizations with my co-author Bhavik Modi.

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Which is the Best Agile Certification for you?

In this age of rapid business acceleration, Agile is an answer for organizations struggling with how their traditional methods of Project Management are responding to change. Since, many organizations are looking for agile knowledge and experience to help them adapt their traditional methods, Agile certifications are an important way professionals can enhance their career opportunities so they can be part of this rapidly growing area.  Agile certifications provide career advancement, salary and promotion opportunities so they’re a great way to invest in your future.

There are a lot of Agile certifications available and it’s important to pick the right one so you can get the most for your time and money.  Here is a short overview of the top 3 Agile certifications so you can pick the one that will help you the most.

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