Jerry Manas, an internationally best-selling author, speaker, and consultant, knows a little bit about technology and the role it can play in helping organizations reach their full potential.
In a recent whitepaper entitled “Charting Your Journey to Success in Today’s Technology Revolution,” he writes about the emerging concept of Work and Resource Management (WRM), which is available here and really hits the mark.
Early on, Manas notes how “most organizations struggle to integrate strategy and execution.” This is compounded, he believes, by the pace of technological change – embodied by Digital Transformation, Product and Technology Convergence, Increased Pace of Innovation, and Fundamental Workforce Changes.
All is not lost, however.
WRM brings together areas, such as project portfolio management, product innovation, strategic planning, enterprise architecture, and work collaboration, so organizations can embrace that technology change, rather than shrink away from it.
The aforementioned components of technological change have met their match in WRM, according to Manas.
“(They) need to be looked at in an integrated fashion; approached with a new mindset, and undertaken in concert with an enterprise architecture blueprint,” he writes. “Collectively, this is what work and resource management is all about.”
Manas then delved a little deeper into WRM and the important role of strategic considerations. “Strategy is at the core of (WRM),” Manas writes. “It is the spine that connects work and resources and ensures the entire organizational ecosystem is operating from the same guiding principles.”
He advocates a holistic approach for those technologists “who are responsible for planning strategies, people, technology, and work” at an organization, asking them to embrace “mental shifts” around:
- Product and service-driven outcomes, not just products;
- Strategic capabilities, not just strategic planning;
- Integrating work and resources of all types; and
- Embracing unstructured work
Ultimately, Manas writes about “Readying Your Own Ship.” It’s instructive he examines how WRM can be used as a powerful tool for EA Directors, PMO Directors, Product Development Directors, Executives, and the C-Level.
“Whatever your role, to get started on the right foot with work and resource management, begin with one simple step at a time to reach your ultimate destination:
- Talk to stakeholders about work and resource management, and ask questions from their perspective. Get a sense of how each of the elements impact their area.
- Find champions in your organization who would be willing to socialize the ideas and pull the right people together to launch an initiative.
- Analyze technology trends in your market, both from the employee and customer perspective, and assess the current gaps and opportunities for improvement.
- Examine how your organization approaches strategic and resource capacity planning. Talk to management about adopting a more continuous approach and incorporating a broader definition of resources.
The bottom line of the whitepaper is a comprehensive treatise, one that could reshape the thought process about the role of technology and the difference WRM can make in helping an organization achieve its business objectives. Download the paper now.
