Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for TypePad

2008-08-28T07:31:07-05:00

Last Saturday I mentioned that I had done some search engine optimization (SEO) changes on my blog. I also promised, time permitting, to explain how I did this since some of you may find yourself in the same situation. Here it is.

Fair warning - this won't be my typical conversation or whatever you care to call it. Rather it is a more instructional article on how to add code to your TypePad blog for search engine optimization (SEO). If this is of interest, read on.

TypePad provides the ability to add "keywords". You won't see where to enter these on the default post page. A help article states "On the Post Page, click on the "Customize the display of this page" link. Under the Post Screen Configuration section, select "Custom" and then enable Keywords to include the field on the page."

You may suspect that "keywords" is used for search engines as this is the common use of the term. However, closer reading of that help article indicates "The most common use for keywords is to search for posts within the application." Take a look at source for your main blog page or an individual post (in Internet Explorer use menu options View/Source, in Firefox it is View/Page Source) you will see that the only keywords that show are the ones you entered Publicity/Configure page when you set up your weblog. So all those keywords you've been dutifully entering don't help with SEO.

Fortunately, David Weiss at TypePad Hacks came up with a solution in his post A Creative TypePad SEO Hack. In this post he show how to re-purpose this field so that the keywords you enter actually show as keywords for SEO. What a fantastic solution.

David's approach is a simple one line change meta names line in the head-common module. You'll need advance templates to change this. You'll also need to added this modified module to head-individual module and subsequently add that modified module to the Individual Archives module. David's post and comments describe this in more detail so I won't try to repeat it and suggest that you refer to his article.

I applied a different wrinkle to this by a different approach to the meta name change. After reading David's post I was about to add keywords by copying the Technorati tags in the the keyword field and re-publishing every post. Time consuming to say the least.

I was going to use the Technorati tags since they are in effect keywords for Technorati so my keywords for search engines would be the same.

Before adding any new code to your templates I strongly recommend creating a copy that you can revert to in case of problems. I'd also suggest you set up a test blog to see how your code changes will work before going live on your real blog.

Being the lazy type I decided that instead of re-purposing some code it would be easier to multi-purpose some instead by reusing the Technorti-tag module code. The Technorati tags would work the same as before plus be used as keywords.

In the head-common module I changed the line of code to:

< meta name="keywords" content=" < MTEntryTags glue=", " > < $ MTTagLabel $ > < /MTEntryTags >" / >

[spaces added before the greater and lesser than symbols so it will show in the post]

This worked very well as I now in a few seconds have all the keywords I've wanted on my post.

I know there is some debate about how important keyword meta tags are in SEO and it would appear that they are not as significant as they used to be. However, in the past few days that I've been using them it seems based solely on anecdotal observation that they have helped in how my posts show up in Google searches. Maybe this observation is only a placebo effect, who knows. On the other hand since this is so easy to do why not do it?

Give a try, and again many thanks to David Weiss for this tip.

Installing Outbrain "Star" Rating on TypePad Blogs using Advanced Templates

2008-08-26T07:03:00-05:00

Last Saturday I mentioned that I had added a way for you, the reader, to rate my articles and give me some feedback. There are a number of these services available but I chose to use Outbrain as I liked their features. I did mention that although they made it easy to install if you used basic templates in TypePad it was not quite so easy if you are using advanced templates. I also promised, time permitting, to explain how I did this since some of you may find yourself in the same situation. Here it is.

Fair warning - this won't be my typical conversation or whatever you care to call it. Rather it is a more instructional article on how to add code to your TypePad blog to include the Outbrain rating system. If this is of interest, read on.

The Outbrain rating system is setup to be easily added to your blog via a widget. If you are using TypePad's basic templates adding the Outbrain widget is straightforward and easy. Simply add it via the instructions on their website.

If you are using TypePad advance templates as I do, you can't add the widget directly. You have to get the code and add it to your templates. The problem is that when you"claim your blog" and indicate that it is a TypePad blog you cannot find the code you need. When you go to the support function you may find a response to a query about how to add it to advanced templates that basically states working with advanced templates is complex and please email the support group for more assistance.

I emailed support (twice) and got no response so I posted another question on their support forum and did get a response. "Kate" was very friendly and tried to be helpful and took a look at my code but I'm not sure she was fully familiar with the process. Being the impatient type I continued to search and found clues that allowed me to figure out how to get the code. I'm sure Kate would have gotten back to me with the solution if I had waited but adding their widget should not be an individual exercise every time. Other "add-ins" make it easy to find the code, I'm not sure why Outbrain doesn't. Once you get the code adding it isn't hard and you can be set in just a few minutes.

The trick to getting the code is that when you claim your blog indicate "Other" rather than "Typepad".

When you click the continue button you go to another page select your language and click continue again. At this point you see 2 snippets of code.

The first code snippet will look like:

You can follow the instructions but I would offer 2 suggestions. First, I would go to the Design page and "Create a new template module" and copy the code into it. You can then include this where you want it using the following include statement.

< $MTInclude module="puttemplatenamehere"$ > (remove the spaces before and after the dollar signs - I added them to make sure the command would appear in this article)

Second rather than entering the URL each time use the MTEntryPermalink tag:

var OutbrainPermaLink='<$MTEntryPermalink$>';

This will automatically enter the permalink for you with every new post.

Scrolling down on the Outbrain page reveals the second code snippet.

Install this as instructed. I added this to the Main Index Template as follows:

When you've completed this publish the changes in TypePad. Once it has been published return to Outbrain and go to the "Manage Blogs" via the link in the left column. Scroll down the Manage Blogs page to the section of "Pending Blog Claims". Find your pending blog claim and select the "Check Now" link. This may take a few minutes and you may have to retry waiting for your changes at TypePad to take effect. Once this completes you are all set and your rating widget should appear.

Once your blog claim has been accepted you should see the widget appear on your blog. If you don't see it you may want to try placing it in a different part of your code.

Good luck - I hope this helps.

Surfing the Internet At 30,000 Feet - Airlines Providing Wireless Access

2008-08-25T04:30:00-05:00

Last week American Airlines (AA) launched mobile broadband service, Gogo™ provided by Aircell on certain select flights - " . . . customers traveling on American’s Boeing 767-200 aircraft can access complete coast-to-coast coverage on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami." Delta and Virgin Atlantic have also signed with Aircell and will be offering service soon.

AA announced "Aircell will charge $12.95 on flights more than three hours, which include American’s Boeing 767-200 flights. Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services are not available. "

As an IT guy I guess I should be happy about this but the truth is that while I accept this as an inevitable event I actually have mixed feelings about this. I fully admit there have been times in the past when I really would have liked to have had access especially on long overseas flights. However, since Aircell use ground towers to transmit their signal we still won't have it on overseas flights.

The reason for my mixed feelings? Over the past few years air travel has become much less pleasant. It's more like flying the "unfriendly skies" to paraphrase and mix airline metaphors. I'm sure we've all seen the stories chronicling assaults on the cabin crew and assaults by the cabin crew. Recently the hot news in Houston was the trial of a co-pastor of a local mega-church being sued by a flight attendant for allegedly assaulting her over a spilled drink in her first-class seat (the jury found no assault took place).

While most of us have probably never seen things as extreme as this I'd be willing to bet most would agree that both passengers and crew have become less civil and sometimes down right rude. The economics of the airline industry have, I believe, had a role in late flights, lost luggage, low (or reduce) pay for employees, layoffs and increased fees for things we use to take for granted. All of this has really made air travel less appealing.

Charging for Internet access is clearly being done for revenue generation purposes but will I'm afraid, make the travel experience even less enjoyable. It will be interesting to see how the airlines handle situations like:

somebody will be surfing porn sites (you just know this is going to happen)
someone will object because the consider the site their seat mate is viewing (e.g. Sports Illustrated swimsuit) to be porn
someone will pay the $12.95 only to have the person in front of them put their seat in to full recline making it virtually impossible for them to use their laptop
since a lot of laptop users don't regularly use earphones I'm sure someone will object to having to listen YouTube videos
someone will pay the $12.95 and then the service will go down and they'll be upset when told they'll have to contact Aircell when they land, the airline won't assume any responsibility for service delivery.

Aircell has a video on their website dealing with "Inflight Etiquette" but I doubt how many people will actually view it much less take it to heart. As Rodney King said so eloquently:

"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?...It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out.^"

Sometimes the best part about a flight is that you cannot work easily. It can be a refreshing time to relax, think or perhaps just read a book. The idea of even more people clicking away on their laptops and having to listen to what they listen to is not that appealing. My fear is that cell phones on flights won't be that far away once the airlines get a taste of this potential revenue stream. The problem is that although I don't have to participate I'm captive in the environment with those that do. No doubt some perceptive marketing person at the airlines will figure out we can charge people more to sit in a no internet and no cell phone area while at the same time charging others to use internet and cell phone. A fare increase without increasing fares. I'm sure they can hardly wait.

A little over a year ago I made "Some Technology Suggestions for Airline Customer Service" It may be a personal preference but I'd rather see the airlines apply technology to those types of things instead of Internet access.

How do you feel about Internet access on planes? If you've been on a recent AA flight and used Gogo I'd love to hear your opinion of it.

"looks like an ad, no?" photo by Magitisa

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

Blog Update

2008-08-23T11:18:23-05:00

This past week or so I've been busy making some changes to this blog. Some are cosmetic, some are new features and some are just "behind the scenes" kind of changes. I hope you like them and I welcome any comments. Listed below are the more significant changes.

Back on August 12th in an effort to make things easier for you to read the articles I've set it up so that you can now easily see my articles on your cell phone or mobile device. The folks at Mofuse made this a very simple process for both of us. Simply click on the Mobile badge and enter your phone number or browse to http://BBLandA.mofuse.mobi/ Give it a try.

I've also added a way for you to give me feedback via a quick 5 star rating system. But please don't hestitate to also leave comments. The rating sytem is from Outbrain. Once in place is very simple to us, just click on the rating you choose. Installing it however was a different manner. Outbrain provides widget for your blog if you use the standard formats. However, if you use "advanced templates" on Typepad it gets very tricky. Unfortunately, Outbrain doesn't provide a lot of guidance on how to adapt advanced templates. I did contact the support staff and they did provide some help but ultimately I had to figure it out on my own. Time permitting I'll write a separate article on how to do this.

I've joined MyBlogLog and have added a widget showing recent visitors to stay connected with MyBlogLog visitors.

In an effort to improve readability I've changed the format and theme. This include a new look and shifting the sidebars to the right side with the content on the left. There were also a few other cosmetic changes.

The final change was a "behind the scenes" one. I modified my blog to use the Technorati tags as keywords for search engine optimization (SEO). For those of you that have your own Typepad blogs you may be aware the the "keywords" section of your post doesn't really have anything to do with SEO. However, thanks to David Weiss over at TypePad Hacks I found a way to add SEO keywords. Check out "A Creative SEO TypePad Hack" for more information. Time permitting I'll also post more details on this for those of you that are interested.

As always I'd love to hear your comments on ways to improve. Thanks for reading.

Using Widgets To Compete - Companies must use Web 2.0 technologies to stay ahead of rivals.

2008-08-18T05:15:00-05:00

Your best customers don't want to come to your Web site.

If this isn't true now, it will likely be true in the future. This especially applies in the business-to-business arena, but is also true, perhaps to a lesser extent, in the business-to-consumer arena. Upsetting, isn't it? And you probably think I'm crazy too.

Here you've spent all that time and effort developing your site and I'm telling you that your best customers don't want to come see it. You put extra effort into making it look good and easy to navigate. You've probably loaded it with all kinds of goodies--up-to-date information, order tracking services and perhaps even some useful applications. What's not to like?

To be sure, you've probably made all the right moves and really do have a good Web site. The thing is, competitors have good Web sites too. Having a site is no longer unique and competing companies' sites often have many of the same features.

The frustrating thing about technology is that it is very difficult--some would say impossible--to maintain a technological competitive advantage. The competition can do the same things you did. And if you were the trailblazer, rivals might be able to learn from what you did and accomplish it more quickly and less expensively. Sad to say, life just isn't fair.

The good news in all of this is that customers want all of that information--they want those cool applications--they just don't want to come to your Web site to get it. They want you to deliver it to their Web sites or intranets.

Like it or not, our customers deal with lots of suppliers. Some are our competitors and some are in completely unrelated fields; all of these suppliers have Web sites with lots of useful tools and information. As much as we'd like our customers to come to our sites, allowing us to capture all the good marketing data, we have to keep in mind ours isn't the only site they will go to.

If we were the only ones out there, it wouldn't be a big deal. But when they have to go from vendor site to vendor site to collect all of the information they need, it can become a real burden.

What customers prefer is for us to deliver the information directly to them. EDI and trade-partner arrangements have done this in some of the more routine, data-intensive areas, such as purchase orders and advance-shipping notices. But what about looking up a drawing or a manual or the current status of their orders?

This is where some of those Web 2.0 technologies can help. What if you used an RSS feed to update an order status? Or how about a widget for your intranet that allows you to check your inventory status while you're on the phone with the customer? Perhaps a widget to look up spare parts for a certain model number? A few weeks ago I talked about these types of applications in "Why Companies Need Web 2.0." The possibilities are endless.

Sure, you can coast along and wait until someone else does it first or your customer asks for it, but do you really want "me too" to be your strategy? The downside is that our customers only want to allot a limited amount of real estate on their intranets for vendor-supplied information. If customers are already getting information they need from your competitor, what incentive do they have to add your information?

In "Why Companies Need Web 2.0," I suggested that you need to consider using Web 2.0 to meet employee and customer expectations. Now I'm suggesting that you'll need Web 2.0 to remain competitive. Is this reason enough?

This article is also posted on Forbes.com. Feel free to join in the discussion either on this site or at Forbes.com

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

Going Mobile

2008-08-12T19:56:12-05:00

Like The Who in the classic rock song, I'm Going Mobile! In an effort to make things easier I've set it up so that you can now easily see my postings on your cell phone or mobile device. Simply click on the Mobile badge and enter your phone number or browse to http://BBLandA.mofuse.mobi/ Give it a try.

Business Analyst Job Description

2008-08-11T01:40:00-05:00

Far and away my most popular post is Let's Get Down to Business. Even though it was written about a year and a half ago, 20+% of my recent site visits are to this article coming in either through Google searches or Jonathon Babcock's review of this post. Why is this so popular? I think it is because it contains a great business analyst (BA) job description that gets to the heart of what a business analyst really does. This job description doesn't just cover the skills they need but focuses more on the competencies that will make them successful.

Having just gone through the process reviewing a fair number of BA resumes I'd like to add one more item to the list.

Be able to describe and communicate the value of a project in terms of both its benefits and costs in terms used by the business community that will effectively obtain leadership understanding, support and approval of the project.

In other words the BA has to be able to "sell" the project. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the business owner or sponsor to sell the project, however, the BA has to be able to play a critical support role in selling the project. As I did in the original post I highlighted this competency in blue to convey convey the essence of what distinguishes a good business analyst from a good applications person.

The reason I've added this is that after reading a number of resumes it was apparent that many claiming to be BA's are missing this critical competency too. (Perhaps I should have used a different colors since it may not be all that common with BA's either.) How could I tell?

Their resumes would contain a lot of phrases such as:

Led the finance team during the SAP upgrade project
Directed the implementation of the new general ledger system
Responsible for a team of 12 analysts during the SAP conversion

My response to these types of statements is "So What?" While I give them credit for reading all those resume preparation book chapters that stress using action verbs what I really want to know is what actions did you take and what were the results. I'm more interested in what you accomplished than I am in what you did. It's important to remember that activity isn't the same as accomplishment.

I see similar statements in regard to the way people describe projects. For example, the project is about implementing a new module and cleaning up the data. Again, so what?

A key to a powerful resume is to use STAR or SOAR statements:

STAR - Situation/Task, Action, Results
SOAR - Situation, Opportunity or Obstacle, Action, Results

These simple statements can tell a very effective story in selling your product whether your product is yourself or a project. Some examples:

For a resume - Directed a team of analysts during a major software conversion where restructured the team into functional units which resulted in increased focus on business objectives and our completing the project 1 month ahead of schedule.
For a project - Our Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) has grown but by implementing the new module and cleaning up the data you will be able to process receivables without manual intervention and to reduce the DSO by 2 days.

This get back to the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) principle that every decision maker instinctively applies to any sales request. Let's not make them guess.

What methods have you found to be effective in selling projects?

"camiseta_CV2" illustration by jlori

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

An Unexpected Obstacle to Forming a Business Analysis Group
Let's Get Down to Business
Let's Get Strategic!
Or the posts in the Business Analysts / Analysis category

The Paperless Workplace

2008-08-04T07:01:00-05:00

One of the great unfulfilled promises of technology is the paperless office. Computers were to rid us of all that clutter and paper shuffling. To be sure we have seen a significant reduction in paper but it is certainly not the nirvana we were led to expect.

When was the last time you got a real inter-office memo on paper? It's been a long time hasn't it? Email has made the inter-office memo extinct. However there are days when I look at the number of emails in my inbox and can't help but wonder if this is a good thing or not.

A recent post by tech consultant Vinnie Mirchandani, outlining about his attempts to go paperless, illustrates that going paperless is certainly not easy--nor is it for the faint-hearted. As Mirchandani illustrates, there are just some situations when having paper is the right solution.

The biggest advantage paper has is the usability factor. I can quickly scan the entire page, add notes to it, highlight important sections, hand it across the table and say "take a look at this", or fold it and put in my pocket and take it with me. Oh I know there are technological answers to all of these but now of them are as easy as the old methods.

The reality is that although technology promised a paperless world most of the technology effort was directed elsewhere. Technology just wasn't that focused on usability.

We have a monitor tethered to a computer and interface via a keyboard and mouse and we've had that arrangement for a long time. Voice recognition and touch screens have continued to evolve and improve but these alone aren't enough to solve the paperless usability issue.

Instead of usability the emphasis in computer technology has been in two areas. First, the focus was on efficiently and inexpensively increasing computer power and that has been done very successfully.

The second area of emphasis is in improving the capability of computer applications and again we've very successful. We now have the ability to do utterly amazing things with computers and we can do them quickly and inexpensively.

There are however some signs that give me hope as I now see more emphasis being placed on usability.

the iPhone's multi-touch interface is an interesting departure from the traditional approach of physical keyboards and may change the way we think about interfacing with technology. It shows that users will accept this and that it can be deployed in a commercially viable way.
Not too long ago Amazon.com has launched the Kindle as a "reading device" which goes a long way toward improving usability (a good overview on video). It offers portability, readability and the ability to annotate documents but you cannot see more than one document at a time and it is currently only usable for purchased content .
the Wii game system offer a innovative technology interface as it interprets your body movements as inputs to the system. It demonstrates the commercial viability of the underlying technology but still has yet to find an application beyond the game system.
Microsoft's Center for Information Work (video) and surface computing (video) offer new ways to interface with your computer and offer a full digital view of your desktop that allows you to move and view virtual documents similar to the way you handle physical documents. Portability beyond the desktop is still an issue however and these are not yet commercially viable products.

The key item in all of these is more about how we interact with the technology, i.e. usability, rather than the data or application we use. None of these technologies alone will make us more paperless but they do offer new and exciting possibilities.

They are in various stages of their lifecycle and application. The great thing about technology is that it continually evolves and adapts. Technology morphs and combines with other technologies in ways that were never imagined when first developed.

It will be interesting to see to whether or not their evolutionary paths lead to even more reduction in the use of paper in the workplace.

I'm not naive enough to believe that we will ever be absolutely paperless but further reductions just might be possible. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

[Update August 4, 2008 "Windwalker" posted a comment on Forbes.com with a correction to my statement regarding Kindle only being able to be used for purchased content. His comment and my response are posted in the comment section below.]

"paperless office" photo by thaths

This article is also posted on Forbes.com. Feel free to join in the discussion either on this site or at Forbes.com

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

Another New Wrinkle In User Interfaces
The Real Significance of the iPhone
Realizing the Impact of Technology
Or the posts in the "PCs & Email" category

Update on Web 2.0 and the Enterprise - ExxonMobil on Twitter?

2008-08-03T12:00:33-05:00

I recently wrote about about "Why Companies Need Web 2.0" and it now appears that the we have a real life example of how this can be used. I say appears because the company in question, ExxonMobil, denies that they are using it.

The Houston Chronicle reports "Exxon Mobil says it's not behind Twitter account". It seems that someone named "Janet" claiming to be from ExxonMobil in Irving, Texas has been using Twitter to communicate the company's message by pointing out the company's philanthropic efforts, explaining polices and answering questions. Up to this point there does not appear to be any effort by "Janet" to discredit ExxonMobil.

However, ExxonMobil says this is not being done by anyone there and wasn't even aware of it until the Chronicle called and asked about.

Perhaps this is a well executed hoax or maybe as so often happens in large companies the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Regardless of whether or not this is legitimate it does illustrate how technologies like Twitter can be used in the corporate world. If it is a hoax maybe it will have the side benefit of stirring the corporate world to take a look at the possibilities that these technologies offer. I'm sure that someone will point out the dangers of Web 2.0 and how difficult it is to control etc. While security issues are important they should be viewed not as a roadblocks but an obstacles to be addressed and overcome.

How are you using Web 2.0?

"pegasus" photo by orionoir

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

Why Companies Need Web 2.0
James P. MacLennan on Finally! Relevant Applications for YouTube and Twitter in the Enterprise!
Houston Chronicle TechBlog article On the Internet, nobody knows you're not Exxon Mobil
Or the posts in the "Strategy & Management" category.

Antikythera Mechanism - An Update

2008-07-31T19:59:08-05:00

Back at the end of 2006 I wrote about the Antikythera Mechanism, a astronomical calculator from more than 2,000 years ago. Recent reports indicate that this wasn't just an all purpose astronomical calculate but had a specific purpose. It was used to keep track of when the next Olympics would take place as described in this Scientific American article.

It is rather interesting that this was the purpose. When you think about the resources of time, effort and probably money needed to do this it is truly amazing. Two thousand years ago doing something like this wasn't something you do lightly. It really indicates the importance of the Olympics back then.

"Antikythera Mechanism" photo by drobnikm

An IT Question: What Do You Expect From The Project Sponsor?

2008-07-28T02:51:00-05:00

Occasionally I turn the tables and ask you the readers for you input and since it has been awhile since I've done that this seems like a good time. Here's the scenario--

A major IT project for the Sales department is about to kick-off. You stop by to talk with the with the VP, Sales about it and the dialog goes something like this.

VP, Sales - My team has told me they are excited to finally get this project going. We've been wanting it for a long time. We really expect to see a lot of benefit from this.

You - I'm glad to hear that. As you're the Project Sponsor we really appreciate your help in getting this done.

VP, Sales - I'm behind this a 1,000%! You can count on me. Make sure to let me know when it is done I'd like to host a congratulatory dinner for everyone on the team.

You - Well I truly appreciate your support but we need more than that. Your active participation is required if we want this to be successful.

VP, Sales - Oh. (significant pause) What exactly is it you want me to do?

You - . . .

How do you respond? What do you expect your executive project sponsors to do? What is their responsibility?

"Help" photo by Cobber99

Got a question you'd like me to post for future discussion? Email it to me using the "Email Mike" link in the left hand column.

If this topic was of interest, you might also like the other posts in the IT Question category.

When IT's Success Is A Flop

2008-07-21T19:20:06-05:00

Have you ever worked on a project where the information technology department did everything right yet the project was considered a failure?

What IT may consider a triumph may be a disaster according to, say, human resources. It all depends on perspective.

The world constantly presents IT with opportunities--new technologies, problems to solve and different ways to look at things. Of course, talk to the folks in human resources, sales, manufacturing and accounting, and they'll tell you their world is constantly changing too.

Even when faced with the same opportunities and challenges, each department's experiences and needs nudge them toward different outcomes or solutions. For example:

IT sees the need for process and data.
HR sees the need for training and change management.
Accounting sees the "bottom line" and payback.
Manufacturing sees the need for a variety of tools to help manage operations.
Sales sees the need for analytics to provide information on customers, markets and sales trends.

Our different perspectives also influence how we judge a project's success. We in IT may think that the project was a success if we got the process and data right; HR may think the project is successful if the department had a good training program; and so on.

That means that a project in which IT does everything right--from IT's perspective--can nonetheless flop when measured along different axes. As with the five blind men in the old South Asian parable, we only get the true understanding of the elephant if we consider all perspectives.

A successful project depends on more than just programming and process design. We have to get all of the elements right: the training and change management, the usability, the reports--all of them.

Though this may seem obvious, we consistently see projects implemented without clear commitment to training and change management, without a clear definition of what the objective is, without clear understanding of what the next steps are.

Too often we fall prey to the "just get it done now" syndrome. The urgency of doing something overtakes the concept of doing it right. Shame on IT for allowing this to happen. I'm not suggesting "analysis paralysis," but, rather, that we encourage other departments to share ownership of the project and actively work with us in making it successful.

Sometimes we in IT exacerbate the problem by overestimating our understanding of the business, thinking we can do it better without the involvement of the business process owners. Giving a project to IT and walking away until it's completed just doesn't work. Sometimes it is better to not do a project than to implement one destined to fail.

If we engage with business owners and work with them in a true partnership, we can get the combined perspective to see the whole elephant. This goes beyond traditional requirements and represents a change for both IT and the business. To do this we need to try such things as:

including other departments' resources and tasks in the project plan;
having a business process owner as co-project manager along with the IT project manager;
using metrics to measure how well business objectives are being achieved;
and judging the project's success by the achievement of business objectives rather than by just whether it meets the go-live date.

What do you do to make sure that you view your projects from all perspectives?

This article is also posted on Forbes.com. Feel free to join in the discussion either on this site or at Forbes.com

"The blinds are touching the elephant" photo by homo_sapiens

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

Let's Hang Up The Gloves
Are We Too Smart For Our Own Good?
Why It's Time to Lose the Snide IT Attitude
Or the posts in the "Strategy & Management" category.