One of the most important tasks of any project is building and maintaining your business case. Unfortunately the business case is so often a single document not covering full life cycle costs and produced to obtain funding approval and never looked at again!
Bad!
In fact your business case needs to document the full cost of the business change you are creating and be monitored for viability on a regular basis.
A business case has many components and will usual vary by organisation and it’s own requirements. However in general a “good” (I use the term to define the scope of a business case not the output) business case will include information on:
Background reasons
Expected Benefits
Anticipated Costs
Known Risks
Timelines
Investment Appraisal and Evaluation
This content will help your organisation ensure that the business cast is justified and that the reason for your project to continue is aligned with overall corporate strategy.
The business case is also a living document. As such you should review and update the contents at regular/various stages in your project, at least when ever something significant happens within or to the project. The project board or steering committee should be reviewing the ongoing viability of the project and if the business case is not longer valid the project should be stopped. Stopping a project is always a political issue however if the benefits no longer outweigh the costs (sunk and future) then it should be stopped.
Best in class organisations also conduct post project reviews including benefit realisation assessments to ensure that the project achieved the expected outcomes.
So does your current technology project have a valid business case?
Over the years I have thought about creating a local HR or Recruiting focused podcast or video podcast, however each time I decide I really do not have the motivation to keep something like that up.
Well today I launched Inspecht TV. So what changed?
Several things did actually. Firstly Inspecht TV is not a regular show, it is not even a podcast, which satisfies my first requirement of not requiring a heap of work to get going.
Secondly I have been playing with video over the last few months as part of the ATC Social Media event (Youtube videos as well) and with the Inspecht webinars. As part of this work I have got myself a new camera, and figured out how to use video editing software (even if I am bad at it), convert to flash and deliver via WordPress.
Yes there will be the occasional Inspecht produced video however the majority of the content will be showcasing other people’s videos. Inspecht TV will bring together a curated list of content for you to consume, you can subscribe to our special RSS feed to receive the latest content.
If you have been following some of the other HR and Recruitment blogs in Australia there has been a bit of talk about using video, even I joined the discussions with a bit of a technology review.
Today I want to highlight a fairly unique use of YouTube Video. (If you are in marketing circles you might have seen this already.)
Ad agency BooneOakley moved their whole web site on to YouTube! Yes you heard it their whole web site onto YouTube.
In those games, leadership is a temporary position. At one point in time, you’re leading, the week after you’re following another leader. Reasons vary: too much pressure, less availability, someone else better suited for the job at hand, …
Unfortunately they highlighted that in traditional business leadership is virtually never temporary. Over the last couple of years the growth in this idea around temporary leadership in the way many small business collaboratively work together, especially when it comes to businesses based around the web. I would say that this is in part due to the fact that people in small business are very engaged in what they do, otherwise they would go out of business. Engagement is a key attribute required for temporary leadership to work.
Temporary leadership has many benefits again to quote Collab@Work:
having been a leader makes you a better follower. You understand better what the leader is trying to achieve
being a follower makes you a better leader. Your experience as a follower is still recent
from an organizational perspective, you can “test” more leaders including the ones that wouldn’t have been considered. That can dramatically increase your leadership bench, and see who are the best leaders rather than the best leader potentials.
A lot of work will be done by global teams—partly composed of people from outside the institution, over whom a leader has no formal authority—that are assembled for a single project and then disbanded. Collaboration within these geographically diverse groups will, by necessity, occur mainly through digital rather than face-to-face interaction.
Sounds like an MMORPG to me. For example it makes sense that people who can successfully execute a 6 hour raid with 50 guild members based in 10 countries is developing the right skills needed for business in the future. They are also learning how to effectively leverage all of the social technologies we have available.
So as both articles say do not necessarily dismiss the hours spent by your children or friends on these games, they may in fact be learning the critical skills to be the next world leaders.
Yesterday afternoon I sat in to listen Bill Boorman‘s Downunder Recruiting show where the discussion was on video, an interesting topic. I am very interested in video within a talent acquisition strategy as this has been a topic for many many years and I am glad to see people are starting to move away from the “Video Resume” as quite frankly that is probably the worse use case for video.
Before we go too much further we need to see video as just another form of content, it just happens to have audio and moving images. This is the key as I see people get stuck with video as just a method for having a talking head, video today can be far more than that.
However for all it’s benefits there is still a low take up of video, especially in Australia. One reason I believe we have not seen a broader take up of video is it is still a fairly hard technology to master both functionally and technically.
Another barrier I see is performance. This is a big issue in Australia, where we are ranked about 42nd on performance for brandband downloads and 72nd for uploads. This can mean it will take hours to upload a large video to your hosting provider and when people are watching your carefully crafted message it keeps stopping due to caching issues.
Technical Mastery
The first challenge is you need to produce good quality audio and images. Many people are uncomfortable with having their voice recorded, let alone appearing on video. Once these hurdles are overcome, a good quality script and plan needs to be prepared. One aspect often over looked is the location needs to be right, lighting, background images and noise are all aspects to consider.
Then there are the technical aspects, starting with video capture, while webcams are very popular they generally do not produce good quality video, and they are also difficult to move around. But webcams are a great tools for interactive video, such as Skype. Don’t forget you still need to think about composition aspects, what will the other person see in the background of your image?
If you are producing a video for others to watch at a later time your jobs just got a lot harder.
After the captured of the video editing can be a challenge. You need software, which under Windows is a problem (yes Mac OS X users have a much better time here), yes there are open source products but to get that truely polished look you need to purchase software. Then actually rendering of any video beyond 3 – 5 minutes takes a lot of CPU processing power. A high quality video also takes up disk space, think 100MB per minute at standard definition with even more when you go high definition.
Once you have produced your video where do you host it? There are many public services for example is YouTube right you can only host 10 minutes and you have limited controls over security. Vimeo is another service that allows hosting, and for a fee you can control exactly who has access to the video, however the terms of service limit commercial usage. If you want your video to be viewable on mobile phones then things become even more complex as flash, the typical delivery method, has limited penetration on mobile devices.
Internal communications also need an environment to deliver the video, do not underestimate this otherwise your IT team will not be happy with you. These tools need to be set up before you can begin to use video.
Ok with the negative aspects is video still worth getting involved in? Yes!
Potential Video Usage
Below is a short listing of where you can use video within your HR processes.
Employer branding
Attraction
Training
Employee communications
Job advertisement
Job interviews, with Skype or similar
Candidate videos
Anywhere where audio and images would enhance the message
Video Examples
Job Advertising
A recent job advert video from Australian company Noble Samurai looking for a new Agile Development Lead. During this 4 minute 40 seconds production you get to understand what the roles is about, who you would be working with, the working environment and culture.
The video starts with an interview with the CEO covering some of the things they are looking for. Followed by quick review of the office and some introduction to some of the team. While there are a couple of composition issues but generally the quality is very good.
Branding/Attraction/Employee Communications
Another good example is actually a excellent example on the use of social media in general, ASDA’s The Green Room. The site integrates all sorts of content, but the item I want to highlight is a recent message from the CEO to their employees.
Good practices in using video
Like all of this social media “stuff” quality content is critical. You need to add value to viewers otherwise they will turn off. If you are using video as part of your attraction process, make it real, keep things honest but professional. Keep the video focused, engaging and overall fun. Here are my top 10 production tips:
Spend time planning up front
Tell a story
Have a good microphone
Think about lighting and background composition
Plan your delivery methods
When capturing the video try not to pan too much or too fast
While we are still in the first few weeks of the new year I through it would be good to look at come of the things you should focus on during 2010 to.
In no particular order here is my list of 10 things to do in 2010:
Have an HR/Talent Management/Recruiting application blueprint
The IT environment in many organisations is complex and needs constant management, even in the smallest of organisations. To help with managing the complexity ensure you have a strategy/roadmap/blueprint to follow.
Learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It seems finally organisations are starting to take note of the value that can be achieved from a decent career’s web site. While content and design are critical understanding a bit about SEO can help your jobs appear in the elusive number 1 spot of search results. Even if you do not have a career’s web site having your personal brand appear in search results can be a great thing.
Implement a workforce planning program, with a foundation around competencies
The recent CedarCrestone HR Technology survey found that organisations who were using workforce planning and competency management tools had significantly higher sales growth than those that did not. While they say they are not suggesting causality but over the last few years there has been stronger linkage between sales growth and these areas.
Think beyond Facebook and Twitter when looking at social media
With so much talk about Facebook and Twitter I feel people have forgotten that social media is more than just these two sites. Remember social media is about user generated content, including blogs, images, video, audio, ratings, reviews etc.
Focus on high quality hires, never settle for less
This should always be the best line of your hiring decisions. Period.
Ensure your HR/Recruiting function is metrics driven
Related to workforce planning is being metrics driven and I am not talking just about lists of headcount either. Gaining a deep understanding of your business and it’s drivers is critical to success. Do you know the best performing source of talent? What about the performance of your succession plans? But do not create an environment where you have an over reliance on benchmark based data as this basically turns the measures in to commodities by assuming what works for one organisation will work for yours.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
This one is for the Australian’s out there, experiment and fail!! As a population we tend to be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid. Organisations that experiment and fail regularly then to succeed.
Learn about Web Squared
You might be asking web what? Web Squared is the next evolution of the whole Web 2.0 idea. Web Squared builds on the idea that everything and everyone in the world cast “information shadows” or data. This data when leveraged provides extraordinary opportunities to organisations.
Begin to think how you can bring real time into your operations
The first part of web squared that you can bring into your organisation today is leveraging real time data. Look at real time data as key signals that form part of your business processes.
Never ever forget about change management
One of the biggest reasons for projects, of any sort, to fail is a lack of acceptance in the final outcomes being sort by the project. This can be alleviated through an effective change management program.
On 5 January 2010 Authoria and Peopleclick combined to form the largest privately owned company in the Talent Management marketplace. The new company, Peopleclick Authoria, claims to serve almost 60% of the Fortune 100 organisations. The new CEO will be Charles S. Jones, Managing Partner of Bedford Funding, the private equity firm undertaking the deal.
Some of my initial thoughts:
The merger will form the largest privately owned company in the Talent Management marketplace.
Both existing solutions will continue to be sold for the foreseeable future, with the addition of a combine suite offering.
The newly formed company leverages the best attributes of both vendors, Peopleclick’s recruitment offering and Authoria’s deep talent management features.
Technically both solutions are similar and offered as multi-tenant SaaS solutions, although Authoria’s use of single tenant for select larger clients may cause some integration issues.
Update: There is some debate around if Peopleclick have moved fully from their .NET platform to J2EE
As separate organisations both appeared in the recent Gartner eRecruitment 2009 Magic Quadrant report, with Peopleclick placed in the leaders category.
The combined organisation has the potential to move further into the leaders quadrant to provide a challenge to Taleo as the market leader.
I was forwarded an interesting Facebook event invitation today, someone seeking a job!
Here is the deal, our hero today is Paul a recent uni graduate in Engineering majoring in Robotics and Mechatronics and minoring in Mechanical Design Engineering with 18 months professional experience. Paul is having issues getting a job, so he put a call out to his Facebook friends to see who might be able to help him get a job. I like the idea.
I have just graduated from university with a Bachelors Degree in Engineering majoring in Robotics and Mechatronics and minoring in Mechanical Design Engineering. Along with this, I earned Class 2 Div A (Distinction) Honours.
I have also had over 18 months professional engineering experience with 14 months of that being employed at Bosch Australia.
The only problem is that I am finding it EXTREMELY difficult to find a job in this current global financial climate.
As you are all aware, in any industry it’s all about WHO you know and not WHAT you know.
So, I’m appealing to you to see if ANYONE has any contacts in the engineering world that could help me in getting my engineering career started!
I’m not too fussy with what position I’m looking for but I would prefer it to be in a capital city with a medium to large sized company with good career prospects in the automation/robotics/mechanical/engineering consultation areas.
There will also be prizes for the person who helps me land my first job 🙂
I have cover letters and resumes available upon demand.
Thanks heaps guys, any help will be greatly appreciated!
Paul.
Oh and if you happen to know someone looking for a graduate engineer you might want to drop him a line.
I sit here typing this post during the first week of the second decade in the 21st century however some many organisation’s HR strategies are still stuck in the 20th century.
Let me explain.
Today most organisational HR strategy is based on a asynchronous model where the organisation does something and at a later time employees react. For example a new performance management policy is released, at a later point in time employees execute the performance review process. From an alternate direction an employee’s productivity begins to drop over time this becomes an issue so the organisation executes the performance improvement process.
Many organisations are aiming to move to a more synchronous environment, or real time. Here we have live chats on the career pages, real time updates on recruitment processes and continuous learning and performance management. In practical terms this can be thought of as HR dashboards and score cards that are updated live during the business day.
Real time is only part of the story the real value comes from understanding intentions. For example knowing that employees with 3 years service in the marketing department who have not changed roles in 6 months are your greatest risk of leaving and therefore Mary needs a role change. Or where a senior top performer plans to travel to a different office location your talent management system automatically suggests potential employees who could benefit from a mentoring session. Another example is where an employee is attending a conference the systems identify other employees, based on internal content, who would benefit from either also attending or receiving a briefing their return.
Intention based HR builds on the idea of predictive analytics but takes things further. Yes this is a long way off but leading organisations will start to experiment with these ideas over the next year or two. For example what could you do with these ideas; people who are looking for work in real time, or who hate their job?
There are lots and lots of different HR and Payroll systems in use across Australia and New Zealand, a fact that makes choosing a system very confusing. This process is made even more confusing by the lack of good quality information in the marketplace about what each solution offers.
During the years I have selected and implemented many different systems and now help clients select the right option for their business. But the process is never as simple as it should be. During 2010 I am hoping to provide more detailed coverage of the local marketplace.
To kick things off I have created a short (9 questions) survey that looks at the systems used for Payroll, HR and general Talent Management.
One of the most important tasks of any project is building and maintaining your business case. Unfortunately the business case is so often a single document not covering full life cycle costs and produced to obtain funding approval and never looked at again!
A couple of years ago the Collab@Work blog wrote a very interesting article on how 
Michael Specht 