3- Project and Portfolio Management Archives

576: In this interview, Dave gives his perspective on the similarities and differences between the CIO and CDO roles and the way they relate to driving business transformations. In this combined role, he explains the importance of cultivating great relationships with business partners, prioritizing high-value drivers, and learning to be agile in adapting to the rapidly changing technology landscape. Within Merck, Dave speaks to the insights arising from the company’s transition from a project-focused to product-focused model, the advantages from its investment in cloud technology, and the use of data analytics and AI/ML to make decisions and assess risks. Finally, we discuss the risk of companies losing focus and falling into “tech for tech’s sake”, learnings from the pandemic, and industry trends towards quantum computing.

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This episode is sponsored by Tanium.

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476: Unqork CEO Gary Hoberman discusses:

An overview of no code
Why Gary left the CIO rank
Why the metrics that gauge success or lack thereof for IT departments are flawed
How companies need to reward their technologists based on the value they achieve, rather than being on time and on budget
Why Gary believes that you can always improve a big company,
Advice Gary has for others looking to leave large companies and start their own
Some of the groundbreaking things Unqork has done with large enterprises

Among a variety of other topics.

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This episode is sponsored by Zoho.

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In this interview, we discuss

Scott’s purview as CTO
Tyson’s digital transformation and data strategy
How many companies are shifting from a reporting mindset to a predictive mindset
How COVID-19 has changed the way in which we work
The new normal that will be created by COVID-19
Scott’s advice to CIOs who have ambitions to join a board
Scott’s take on big data

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This episode is sponsored by Zoho.

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In this interview, we discuss

Insight from Mik’s book, Project to Product
The IT productivity discrepancies between digitally native organizations and legacy enterprises
The economic impact of technological revolutions,
The value of product orientation over project orientation
Why IT must measure the value they create and not simply if they deliver on time and on budget
The importance and shortcomings of traditional project management
What legacy enterprises can learn from both startups and tech giants
Among other topics

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457: Oshkosh CIO Anupam Khare outlines the company’s five strategic pillars, which are being people-first; running digital technology as a business; modernizing and innovating; building advanced capabilities in analytics and process automation, among other areas; and securing the organization in a way that reduces friction and makes experiences better for its employees, customers, and partners. We also discuss how the company has been able to recruit new employees, how the team has mixed retraining with bringing in new people externally, how the Information Technology function has rebranded to “Digital Technology” to change its perception internally and externally, among other topics.

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In this interview, Metis Strategy Central Region Office Head Mike Bertha interviews Art Hu, Atticus Tysen, and Srini Koushik, the CIOs of Lenovo, Intuit, and Magellan Health respectively who have pioneered the shift from a project orientation to product orientation. These CIOs share the challenges they have encountered during their transitions, such as finding product managers with the necessary skills and how to manage traditional perceptions of IT through culture changes. They also discuss the limits of product-based IT in specific situations where there are static goals, among other topics.

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Nick Colisto discusses how Avery Dennison’s IT team shows its value to other functions by capturing, reporting, and then communicating how IT is contributing value to the company. This process starts by aligning IT’s goals with other functions and influencing how IT can help the company achieve its key strategic pillars over a five-year planning horizon. Moreover, the team has created an IT-value scorecard, which contains metrics regarding health, delivery, outcomes, and agility. Lastly, the team communicates the value it is providing through quarterly business reviews and a well written annual report that communicates the value across the spectrum. We also discuss the three parts of the company’s digital workplace strategy, the education program that the company has put in place, which has sent leaders to UC Berkeley and looks to improve digital literacy throughout the organization, Nick’s take on IoT, AI, and quantum computing, among other topics.

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433: Xerox’s CTO Naresh Shanker discusses the three key elements of a successful digital transformation. Naresh cites bold leadership that has grit as the most exciting ingredient for transformation. Second, he describes the importance of culture in preparing for the future. As the pace of change accelerates, he notes that it is critical to bridge the established culture that sustains companies at scale with the next-generation culture that has the mental muscle of a startup. Lastly, he discusses the need for a team that is passionate, driven, energized, and exceedingly mission-focused. We also discuss the outside-in and inside-out approach Xerox is using to make its digital transformation, how Xerox uses AI and IoT, Naresh’s experience as a board-level CIO, among other topics.

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406: CBRE CDO/CTO Chandra Dhandapani breaks down the process of digital transformation through her experience of modernizing technology and rapidly creating agile teams at CBRE. She explains that technology is at the core of any business model, making it crucial to insource the talent necessary for software development and understand the ecosystem of technology trends. Dhandapani describes how building collaboration between product designers and clients yields entrepreneurial services, such as the new flexible spaces and tenant experience lines at CBRE. We also discuss a powerful WhatsApp group for women leaders in technology, the difference between digital and technology, the value of efficient leadership teams, and various other topics.

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401: Express Scripts CTO emeritus Phil Finucane details Express Scripts’ integration with Cigna. While Cigna has a strong engineering organization, the two companies have different visions for how to execute a successful integration. Because of this, a large part of Phil’s job was to help Cigna understand how Express Scripts operated, to understand how Cigna operated, and to understand how the combined entity would interface with its business partners. From there, Phil looked to build a path that brought together the best of both worlds by bringing complementary strengths together. We also discuss the lessons Phil has pulled from his time in Silicon Valley, Express Scripts’ approach to eliminating technical debt, his take on artificial intelligence, and a variety of other topics.

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