Peer to Peer Magazine

48 low or no perceived value for them can make end-users feel that technolo isn't serving their needs but is simply serving the needs of the organization and the IT department. Innovation projects that benefit a few but not everyone can also seem to be a waste of money when people are struggling with outdated or overly complex legacy systems. For the long-term health of any organization both within the IT department and across the broader organization you absolutely need to have a meaningful list of these projects. Typically, they're projects that improve the working environment for almost everyone in the organization. Maybe they help with billing or matter management or document production, but they have broad applicability and they generate time, thinking space, and deliver a better work product day in and day out. They can be one of the most significant things you can do to improve the general health of your organization in front of its clients. Making sure that the people who work for you have the time to do their job properly and the tools to take away the menial and mundane so that the added value they provide is much more apparent to their clients. So what should you do? Prioritization is a very practical and detailed process. You might feel that there are dependencies between projects that mean there is a fixed order irrespective of where they sit in terms of complexity and value. I'd challenge that, we all want to be agile and adaptable and the way to achieve that is to empower your project managers to overcome dependencies between projects. That will improve your organizational ability to execute, and if you're good at execution sometimes it's better to do something and then redo it later in order to get the agility your organization needs now. So rather than engaging in a portfolio analysis or dependency analysis of your projects I strongly suggest that at least once or twice a year you sit down and force rank them into one of these four quadrants and then look at the portfolio and check that it is balanced. Make sure that you know how to execute the projects in the low complexity and low value quadrant without allowing them to drive the rest of the agenda. Make sure that your innovation projects are healthy, that they include skeptics, have small teams, the other resources they need and the space they need to be successful but, also make sure you're killing them before they get too old or turning them into something more substantial when they show promise. Avoid as many of the high complexity low value projects as you can but recognize that external factors may mean some of them must be done. And finally, make sure you have a substantial and healthy list of projects designed to deliver benefit across your organization. Thank you for reading this and I hope it simplifies your life a little. ILTA The late, great Shirley Chisholm said "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." It is with this in mind that ILTA Publications takes aim at boardroom tables everywhere and asks: What seat would you pull up to the table? Our second chair to table guest is Catherine Monte, ILTA Board Treasurer, Women Who Lead advisory member, and, in her copious spare time, the Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer at Fox Rothschild in Philadelphia. Today, Catherine sits down with ILTA Senior Content Manager Beth Anne Stuebe and talks about what chair Catherine would bring to the table, who else is at that table, and so much more. Getting a Seat at the Table L I S T E N T O P O D C A S T

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