We are completing a project to re-assess our strategy for 2009 in light of the worldwide economic slowdown and its impact on IT outsourcing.  Since a major focus for us is the USA it also includes an awareness of the incoming administration’s attitude towards outsourcing.   Our primary focus is the financial services industry and we anticipate a much more difficult environment in 2009, especially with respect to starting new relationships.  So we will focus on our current relationships and ensuring that they remain healthy.  In general we are taking a cautious view to the ...

SaaS PM/PPM ROI for a CIO of a Mid Market Company

You promised yourself you wouldn't do it.  You wouldn't look at your Blackberry during the Monday morning project update and prioritization meetings.  You just can't help yourself and decide to do a quick check of the company's stock price.  Ouch, down another 7%.  That will teach you for breaking your promise.

It isn't that you don't care what your directors are telling you, it is just that you can't DO anything with the information.

Every week it is the same thing.  Every project is "OK" everyone is "working hard", and every new initiative is "high priority".

You have questions in your head that you don't dare speak because you know that nobody has the answers.

How many projects are in Yellow or Red status?

I've received a few requests for information about how to find a PM job in China.

http://china.recruit.net/

http://www.newchinacareer.com

http://jobs.china.hudson.com/

www.theladders.com

And linkedin.com seems to have a few listings.  I can't vouch for any of these but you can try them.

Recently a potential partner arrived in China for detailed discussion and negotiation about a long term partnership.  The Chinese are great hosts with extravagant welcoming banquets and small (or not) gifts like Hangzhou's famous Longjin green tea or locally produced silk items.  Understanding this tradition our guests came prepared with several mementos.  One of these was a green (their company color) hat complete with logos and special messages.  Well, there was great reluctance to accept such gifts but our guests persisted in forcing acceptance.  Of course they did not realize that in China "green hats" or Lu Maozi have a special significance.  One is said to have a green hat when your wife has been cheating on you.  And in fact foreigners wearing green hats in public will receive more than their fair share of strange looks and stares.

It ...

Looking for good PMs. I was reviewing various lists of reasons why information technology projects fail and found it interesting how seldom communication problems are mentioned.  In our off ...