Welcome to this edition of  Practical IT Manager Tips Newsletter.

This week's article
Bottlenecks
Identifying and eliminating project bottlenecks is a key factor in completing a project successfully. A Project Manager should constantly look for potential bottlenecks in a project and to take immediate action to reduce their impact or eliminate them altogether. Eliminating bottlenecks can help you improve the completion of a project and reduce cost. Gaining a "sixth sense" in being able to identify bottlenecks can make a huge difference in your success.

Read the article below.

MDE News

Win-Win for IT managers
A primary objective of mine has been to provide tools and insights that help IT managers succeed. In fact, it's my company mission. We are taking this objective to a new level.

Announcing new services - MDE's Win-Win for IT managers
As I discover products and services that are guaranteed to help an IT manager achieve more success, I'll announce them in my newsletter. We will also be developing a web site that lists all products and services that we provide.

If I put the MDE name on a product or service you can be assured it is of the highest value because we guarantee all of our products and services. In the weeks and months to come, you will see several new announcements of MDE products and services that we will promote to help IT managers achieve more, many of which will be to help you reduce expenses in your company - hero material to be sure.

MDE Cellular Optimization Services  -  a Win-Win service
If your company manages 50 or more cell phones, you can probably save money in your cell phone expenses. MDE has partnered with Cellular Optimization to help IT managers attack their cell phone management challenge. Brett Thompson is an expert in this field and we offer an ironclad guarantee that can't be beat  -  no risk and lots of possible savings.

Interested?  Learn more or contact me at mike@mde.net .

Mike Sisco joins Cutter Consortium's Senior Consultant team
Over the past year, I've written several reports and articles for Cutter Consortium and was recently invited to become part of their Senior Consultant Advisory Team. Cutter Consortium is a unique IT advisory firm, comprising a group of more than 150 internationally recognized experts who have come together to offer research, consulting, and training.     
Learn more

ARUBA and Slovenia Institutes rescheduled for 4th quarter
Due to a scheduling conflict, we have moved the IT Manager Institute planned for Slovenia to Nov. 27-Dec. 1 and ARUBA to the week of December 4-8, 2006. We held two Institutes in the Caribbean in 2005 and look forward to going to Aruba again. The Slovenia Institute will be our first in Europe and we are very excited about this one.

IT Financial Management Association (ITFMA) Conference Presentation
Disney World is always a great place to visit and The Grand Floridian Hotel was very nice. My topic was the 11 Key Traits of Successful IT Managers, and I approached it from three main points:
    -  The IT-Business Disconnect
    -  IT Manager Work Behavior
    -  11 Key Traits of Successful IT Managers

In this presentation I establish the industry wide problem we face in technology management that's often referred to as the IT-Business disconnect. Much of why this problem occurs relates to our work behavior tendencies so I explain what this is, how common it is for IT managers and majority of IT employees, and why it contributes to the disconnect issue. Believe it or not, our work behavior tendencies also contributes to the 70% failure rate we have with IT projects around the world. Finally, I walk through the eleven key traits necessary to succeed in an IT manager role and explain why certain traits are difficult for us to achieve due to our work behavior tendencies.

This is powerful insight to understand and can make a big difference for any IT employee or manager. The presentation includes an exercise that you can use to determine if your work behavior tendencies are similar to over 70% of the IT employees and managers and will give you insight on where to focus to improve your credibility and success as an IT manager.

This presentation will be available in August 2006

Special offer - IT Management Models

Get IT Management Models free. That's right, for a limited time all new subscribers to the recently launched 20 Minute IT Manager weekly mentoring sessions receive a free copy of IT Management Models ebook plus a free copy of Tom Mochal's TenStep Project Management ebook.

Monthly and annual subscriptions (see below) are available.


Learn more

20 Minute IT Manager News

20 Minute IT Manager - back issues now available

Two great options:
1.  Select individual sessions at http://www.20minuteitmanager.com/detail/library.html   
     $14.95 each

2.  Purchase the first 13 sessions at a great price  -  $95.00 (that's only $7.30 per session)
      Click here to order.

         Includes:
               1.  The IT-Business Disconnect
               2.  Risk Management Overview
               3.  11 Key Traits for IT Managers
               4.  Quality Management Overview
               5.  Fast Start for an IT Manager
               6.  The Value of Project Management
               7.  Quick Tips to Motivate Your Employees
               8.  Take Responsibility for Developing Your Career
               9.  IT Management Process
             10.  Fundamental Status Reporting
             11.  Understanding IT Employee Work Behavior
             12.  Project Estimating Techniques
             13.  IT Due Diligence Overview

20 Minute IT Manager - annual subscriptions now available
Many of our subscribers have asked for an annual subscription option for our highly successful 20 Minute IT Manager series. Well, Tom Mochal and I are making it available at a great price of $255.00. This is the very best price per session you can get at a rate of $4.90 per session.  Unbelievable price for a quality training product.

If you expense this educational product to your company like most of our subscribers do, this makes it much simpler. Expense it one time a year and receive excellent insight and management tools on a weekly basis that will be available for review for years to come.

One new tip or insight can be worth thousands of dollars to you and your company. This is one of the best values for IT managers and project managers in the industry.

Receive a new 20-minute session every Wednesday plus a bonus session, The IT-Business Disconnect, within minutes of placing your subscription.

All new subscribers receive two additional bonus items valued at over $130.00.
    -  Mike Sisco's IT Management Models ebooks
    -  Tom Mochal's TenStep Project Management ebook

Click here for additional information on the 20 Minute IT Manager.

Bottlenecks  (excerpted from IT Management Models)

Bottlenecks are the limiting constraints of a project. In any project there will be one or more bottlenecks that can prevent you from completing the project successfully. It might be getting the resource you need, it may be failing to complete a critical task on time, or any number of other issues.

One of the important responsibilities of a project manager is to identify the bottlenecks of the project and to figure out how to eliminate them or minimize their impact.

Bottlenecks are the "breakers" of projects - Bottlenecks exist in every project and are just waiting to spoil your successful completion of the project.

A key focus for any Project Manager is to identify and eliminate bottlenecks - A strong project manager understands the relevance that bottlenecks have in regard to project success. Because of that, successful project managers work diligently to determine where the bottlenecks are and how to address them early on.

Eliminating a bottleneck can create more bottlenecks - When you eliminate a bottleneck it may create one or more new bottlenecks, usually further down the project timeline. Be aware of this fact because you will need to "seek and destroy" any new bottlenecks that occur.

Eliminating a bottleneck can have big benefits - When you eliminate a bottleneck, it often frees up time within your project and can actually build in time buffer for other tasks of your project. Keeping your project on time or possibly improving the time schedule can reduce the cost of the project and positions the company to reap the benefits of the project sooner.

When I build a project plan, I schedule the tasks conservatively to help insure we can complete them on time. Finding the bottleneck that positions us to complete the project ahead of schedule is a huge benefit when it occurs.

Anticipate and look for project and business bottlenecks - Make it your mission to find the bottlenecks in your projects or business environment. Anticipate where they can occur and do what you can to detect them early and to eliminate them once discovered.

Example:
When you have a project to open or relocate a remote office that uses frame relay for connectivity to your network, one of the primary bottlenecks is to establish connectivity in the new office. The specific bottleneck that you have very little control over is with the local telecom company in getting the local connection up and running. This issue can be frustrating and can hurt your credibility with the clients who plan to move into the new office and need systems connectivity to work.

One of the things I used to do was to estimate 60 days to get the connection established in certain parts of the US because our experience with telecom companies in these regions often took that long. It should only take 30 to 45 days at most but some organizations are simply slower than others.

If you plan for the optimum time it should take, it's pretty much a certain way to fail in the project. I always try to put a conservative timeframe into these type of plans.

Estimate conservatively and begin focusing your resources on pushing the connectivity as soon as possible. As a CIO, I told my technical resources that I wanted connectivity as soon as possible although we built into the plan for it to be there in 60 days from the start of the project. I would rather pay a couple of months of the telecom costs even though we aren't using it than to miss the date by a week. Office openings have several events planned that require scheduling and that affect many people such as training, moving furniture and equipment, etc. It's much cheaper to pay two months of unused telecom charges than what it costs when we can't open the office as planned.

Minimizing the downtime is key, so getting the connectivity in place ahead of time actually gives us more flexibility in coordinating the office opening. It's a great relief when we know we have eliminated one of the primary stumbling blocks, or bottlenecks, in this type of project.

Summary
In any project, one of the best things you can do to help insure you deliver the project on time is to find the bottlenecks and do what you can to eliminate or minimize their impact on the project. Be proactive and hunt the bottlenecks down and start working on them and you'll find yourself achieving more success.

Best of success,
Mike Sisco, ITBMC

A personal note
Many of you have seen my son's story on his web site at
www.eddiesisco.com and have been very supportive in your feedback.

We may have the possibility of getting Eddie back on the golf course in a big way. We still have some hurdled to overcome but the possibility is real and we are excited about making it happen in 2007.

A few weeks ago, Dorine and I took Eddie to see his favorite golfer, Arnold Palmer, in a local exhibition. An old friend of mine was there and caught the photo you see to the right. I didn't see Buzz at the event but he saw us and gave us several photos.

It's not every day when your son has his picture taken with his hero. Eddie is in the yellow cap and that's Dorine kneeled down beside him.

Eddie is actually my hero and amazes us every day with what he is able to do with such tremendous challenges. He is the most positive person I know.

Eddie starts a new school next week and again we are excited about his prospects. They are excited to have him because he lights up everyone he comes in contact with. Everyone should have such challenges.

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Best of success,

Mike Sisco, ITBMC Founder
MDE Enterprises, Inc.
3300 Stillcorn Ridge Road
Columbia, TN 38401
mike@mde.net
931-490-6932
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