Controlling Office Interruptions

One of the biggest complaints I hear from people is that they can’t work for more than a few minutes without being interrupted. The result? A small project ends up taking all day, or you have to work into the evening because that’s the only time you’re not interrupted. An open-door policy sounds good in theory, but it can produce so many interruptions that it’s hard to get anything done. The other extreme is equally unwise — if you block off interruptions for several hours, a small problem you could have handled might turn into a crisis because you couldn’t be reached. You need a balance between controlling interruptions and staying informed.

Managing IT According to a Hierarchy of Needs

The recent article written by Nicholas Carr in Harvard Business Review, “IT Doesn’t Matter,” spurred a huge debate in the press, with analysts, and particularly in budget planning meetings between the CIO and CXO-level executives. In this article, Mr. Carr asserts that IT is a commodity and as such offers little competitive distinction and therefore no competitive advantage. As a result, Mr. Carr suggests that IT investments be curtailed based on the lack of bottom-line impact which can ultimately be derived from such spending.

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