Metrics, metrics who has the right metrics – well we have some data and five observations. In the 2012 Gartner Executive Programs CIO survey we asked CIOs several questions about the metrics they use, how effective the metrics were and how effective they were at demonstrating the business value of IT. We shared the data with CIOs over the past year and some interesting insights came up that are the subject of this post. Now, with 2013 planning underway it may help to review the metrics that CIOs see as the most effective in helping to set your metrics for 2013. We asked CIOs which types of metrics they use most often and how effective their metrics were at demonstrating the business value of IT. The chart below summarizes this information by looking at the percentage of IT organizations always using or making each type of metrics mandatory in their organization. Anyone can measure something once, but the chart looks at the metrics that sit at the core of IT. Here are some observations and supporting discussion based on a summary graphic that bring this into perspective.
Take typing lessons, test your typing speed and practice typing for free! This is keybr.com, a web application that will help you teach touch typing. Touch typing is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys. A person possessing touch typing skills will know their location on the keyboard through muscle memory. It can improve any individual's typing speed and accuracy dramatically. This is a short tutorial that will explain how does this application work. You can use the left and right arrow keys to navigate through these slides. This tutorial is based on these few principles: No boring, repetitive exercises. Initially it starts generating words from a small subset of the most frequent letters of the alphabet. When you are typing these words, keybr measures time to type a key for every letter in that subset. Once you familiarize yourself with the current subset of letters, the algorithm expands it, including more and more letters to it. So at any time, you will by typing the letters you are least familiar with. This is the text board. ? ? ? ? ?
Vertical Is The New Horizontal: How The Cloud Makes Domain Expertise More Valuable In The Enterprise Editor’s note: Gordon Ritter is a founder and general partner at Emergence Capital, focused on cloud companies. In the days before the cloud, on-premise software providers that focused on selling into a vertical market were considered second-class citizens to the “big guns” selling into the broader horizontal marketplace. The real “win”—in market share, wallet share and ultimately, profits—was the broadest approach. However, with the advent of the SaaS model, the tables have turned. The Obvious Benefits Some of the drivers are fairly obvious. Going vertical also enables you to capture a larger market share more quickly. Case in point: In just four years, Veeva Systems has eclipsed Oracle as U.S. market share leader for life sciences CRM platforms, simply by specializing in the life sciences industry. New Benefits Emerging While lower cost and larger market share might be “old hat,” new benefits of going vertical are emerging that may be even more powerful. Delivering Layers of Value
Five Skills for Effective Directors - - Knowledgebase: Leadership - Compass Partnership Your Location: «Home «Knowledge «Leadership «Five Skills for Effective Directors Knowledge Five Skills for Divisional Directors Large nonprofit organisations are organised into Divisions that are led by a Divisional Director. Take an organisation-wide perspective Directors have to learn to see situations from an organisation-wide perspective.
Five questions for finding the right boss Hi Lois, I love your Foghound website and specifically your concept of rebels in the organization. Guess what, I identify with this and am the rebel. It has not always been with a positive outcome. Finding the right boss is crucial for corporate rebels. Here are some job interview suggestions to help you figure out whether the person would be a good boss: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Lastly, look around the work environment. Ask your potential boss good questions, and find time to walk around.
Better Way to Coach Employees Coaching is the process of preparing your employees to succeed. Good coaches can create the mental resources, emotional resilience, business skills, and career development that employees need to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, while coaching is a well-established part of the sports world, it's a neglected art in the world of business. There's a better way to handle business coaching. 1. Ask the employee's opinion of a recent event (e.g. meeting, interaction, project) in which the employee was involved. 2. Start with honest praise for the employee's strengths and your perspective on how those strengths were an asset during the event in question. 3. Resolve any differences between your understanding of the event and the employee's perception of the event. 4. Ask the employee to identify the obstacle that he or she feels is keeping him or her from better performance. 5. For each obstacle that's identified, establish an action step with a time frame for follow-up.
Recruiting: 8 Qualities Your Best Employees Should Have Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers... they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities. A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance. Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees: 1. When a key customer's project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there's a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it's not their job. 2. People who aren't afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas. 3. Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. 4. 5. 6. An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. 7. 8. Great employees follow processes. Forget good to great.