As you go through my site, you will find once in a while references to feedback loops. I came across a very good posting about feedback loops in a wider context written by Julia Evans:

Lengthening the Feedback Loop: A History of Feedback Within the Context of Systems Theory.

Edward Tufte is the authority on the use of graphics as a source of information. On his site there is this discussion going on for some years now on why Gantt Charts suck (duh… think about 300 page charts :() and what the alternatives might be.

Click here. It is a long read, but quite entertaining and interesting.

Sometimes I tend to focus too much on the project itself; how to handle things, how to plan and deal with everyday interruption. I look and an interruption I think: where the heck that it came from? Well, the answer my friend is: from the outside.

After running a certain project for a long while project managers can get a fixation with just there project: ¦meanwhile back here in the asylum¦

My good new years wake up is a discussion from IT people from some financial institutions. They talked about their IT maturity as an integral entity: projects, support, customers, etc. It is actually the ole Capability Maturity Model CMM) of the SEI. You now: 5 levels of maturity, ranging from completely undefined to totally in control, proactive IT. Doesnt that simply sound good?

Of course I know about the CMM and other quality models¦ but like I said, one just simply forgets once in a while. However, in the article they mention that people in the highest maturity level

¦spent 18 percent less and utilized 36 percent fewer resources than the other 90 percent - all the time contributing higher service levels to their organization.

Wow.

I guess I just have to start reading up on this again and get it to use.

BTW the biggest unsolved problem …

..was rationalizing IT services offered to the business units. Service rationalization gives companies insight into the total cost of offering services to help them make better investment decisions.

Seems sometimes like a luxury problem to me.