Vol. 2 Issue 2
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In this issue...
-- Show Me The Money!
-- But What About K12 Schools?
-- Streamlining Strategic Planning
-- Funny, but true.
-- You can quote me on that......
-- Forget Google
-- Coming Next Issue. . .

Dear A.J.,

Welcome to another issue of The Value Manager. We're excited that you have forwarded previous issues onto your employees and peers and we look forward to providing them, as well as you, with information and how-to's of business processes, project management, news and views.

Show Me The Money!
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As a consultant, I'm constantly being asked by my clients to justify those big-budget project expenditures with more than fuzzy platitudes about increased productivity and enhanced communications. Variables relating to the success of our solutions--such as the client's readiness for change and willingness to act on my recommendations--make committing to a quantifiable financial benefit risky. There are many different techniques to measure the financial attractiveness (ROI) of any large endeavor such as business process reengineering or an IT project.

The vast majority of companies use one or more approaches to make their "go or no-go" investment decisions.

Read the complete whitepaper (PDF)...

But What About K12 Schools?
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In the corporate world, improved productivity and personnel reductions can finance large IT projects and show a positive ROI. But in grade school you can't reduce the number of pupils with the use of computers. Nor can you graduate any faster. So how do our kids get technology at their fingertips?

An essay...

Streamlining Strategic Planning
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Virtual CEO dramatically reduces the time it normally takes to go through a strategic planning process-- identifying needs, developing solutions, planning actions and supporting execution.

This unique, web-based assessment tool uses a dynamic model to assess performance across 3 "core drivers" critical to running a healthy, well-rounded organization: strategy, design and culture. The assessment is conducted by asking the CEO, executive team and staff members to evaluate the organization against 189 "best practice" statements tied to 41 business disciplines. The process has been used by government, education and non-profit agencies, as well as thousands of private and public companies.

More Info...

Funny, but true.
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A few things in IT remain true, despite the best efforts of marketing hype, vendor salespeople, and trade rag pundits trying to make everyone believe otherwise.

More truisms. . .

You can quote me on that......
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"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
--Thomas Jefferson

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."
--Lou Holtz

Forget Google
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If you want to read management articles on topics of pressing interest, you can skip the general search engine and go straight to the Business Publications Search Engine. Here's the link to their Management Science section: http://www.bpubs.com/Management_Science/

The Business Publications Search Engine