David Cotgreave
Written Articles
Are you familiar with the TV show “It’ll Be Alright In The Night?” It’s a TV bloopers show, presented nowadays by Griff Rhys Jones, where the mistakes of the great and the good of the acting and television world are broadcast for a laugh. This last few weeks alone I’ve come across so many IT […]
Originally published on PMToday.co.uk I took a train to London recently. Train journeys are like being given the gift of time. Once settled, I like to work, read the newspaper, take in the latest blogs from CIO.com or chew over the latest insight from the PMI. Then, other times, I like to just close my […]
I just witnessed an IT Project team undergo a massive positive transformation … all thanks to a video camera and an innovative CIO. The team was going through one of phases. You ever have these? Nothing was wrong … but nothing felt right. They were delivering IT Projects on time but not feeling proud of […]
It makes sense doesn’t it? Which exercise DVD are you going to buy? The one that features 50 different gruelling exercises or the one that promises you’ll drop a dress size in a week? Harvard Business School professor, Theodore Levitt, once put this beautifully, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a […]
Originally published on CIO.com When I asked associates, acquaintances and clients (who had all recently recruited for IT roles) how many had used personality type or psychometric testing, 7 out of 10 said that they had. I recall the response from a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management to this question was around […]
I have come to a conclusion this week … most IT Project challenges are not solved by theoretical, intelligent design. Now, I make a living delivering project success through proper planning, processes, governance, etc. … in other words theoretical, intelligent design – so let me explain what I mean. After I’d written my blog for CIO.com […]
Thanks to a reader of my CIO.com column, Gareth, who wrote to me with an idea for an IT Project Management blog. “Hi David,” he writes, “Have you ever written a blog along the lines of ‘you’re only ever as strong as your weakest link.’” Gareth was inspired to get in touch after a train journey home […]
Can certain words cast a negative shadow on Project Management thinking? Originally published on CIO.com I walked into a Project Management Office recently, and on the wall, in large letters above the Project Leader’s desk was the phrase ‘No “Ifs”, “Buts” Or “Maybes”‘. At first, it looked like one of those platitudes that you often […]
Interesting perspective this week from my friend and fellow IT Project Leader Malc. Malc emailed to tell me that he had recently reframed his team’s thinking on post-project delivery analysis. What he has done is pretty interesting and he says it is adding demonstrable value to the process. “We always used to look back at […]
Originally published on CIO.com A very novel way for CIOs to increase effectiveness A poster of Lord Alan Sugar just appeared on the wall of a CIO I know. As it does every year, in fact. Lord Sugar is the central figure in the UK’s version of TV show “The Apprentice”. Of course, had my […]