Michelangelo C. Collura

You are absolutely spot-on by saying that people understand data differently. The purpose of language is to communicate ideas in our own heads. Of course, people cannot perfectly understand my thoughts any more than I can understand theirs, and so language bridges this seemingly impossible gap. The same is true for process modeling techniques such…[Read more]

The concept of a data dictionary is a great one. It would provide the business a clear language to communicate the needs for the process or the underlying data, thus saving everyone the trouble of miscommunication and miscategorization. It would act as a foundational tool to avoid unnecessary pitfalls as the process planning begins.

Congratulations on your entrepreneurial mindset! This is a smaller version of a project, but the rules still apply. You made a sound business case for the new product, and the investors liked it enough to approve it. True to your assessment, the product was popular and lucrative, so it was a successful project. Well done!

Project is definitely a necessity in most projects, so it’s not outrageous to pull the plug if this doesn’t occur. However, intangible benefits might make it worthwhile despite the costs. This includes possible increased recruiting power at certain colleges, long-term relationships with particular schools for a powerful partnerships, good PR for…[Read more]

Interesting example, and I’d wonder how the security was handled. Whether security is indeed sufficient, customers need to be reassured and provided evidence to prove the safety of the system. It sounds like that happened here through their training on the new system, so we might safely assume they created a module with simple explanations to…[Read more]

You described a very real risk in projects, as inadequate buy-in or engagement can ruin things. If a project will benefit the organization (based on economic feasibility or business case), then this outcome is negative for the organization. In such a scenario, staff may be punished and productivity may suffer, so efforts should be made to avoid it.

Stakeholder management is very complex for such a large project. One possible method of reducing potential communication issues and bureaucratic chaos would be to address specific project aspects. This would mean certain stakeholders are notified, consulted, etc. based on how they fit into the overall project. This would hopefully also help avoid…[Read more]

I was involved in creating a gamification program to incentivize students to be more engaged in an undergrad program. The stakeholders included departmental leadership, other staff involved in system design and building/maintenance, departmental faculty, students in the program, and prospective students who would use the program. The involvement…[Read more]

You make some great points. I would want to know what exactly my firm considers too valuable to outsource, including business strategy, KPI’s, and whatever sensitive data. Ironclad SLA’s should address this, but a SOC 2 report should also factor in somewhere. If the vendor can’t provide such documentation, it should be considered an unacceptable…[Read more]

This gets into concerns with legacy systems. If a firm outsources a given process, this should address the concern, but what about outsourcing enterprise architecture management? I know last semester we were told that this should never happen, but I bet it does, particularly if a firm doesn’t want to deal with the chaos of replacing some in-house…[Read more]

You get into the concern of governance or oversight in an outsourcing situation, and this is indeed tough. How do you ensure adherence to company policy or culture if you’re not there or directly involved? Who can you trust to report back on the compliance? If disaster strikes – such as in the FoxConn factory story with Apple – who gets the blame,…[Read more]

Culture is certainly important, and a failure to adapt to or blend into a client’s corporate culture would certainly be a problem. This is something that is often forgotten in the rush to handle the technical and legal considerations, but it is just as easily a deal-breaker.