Mar
17
2011
business processes

Using internal rate of return to evaluate technology projects

One of the most basic and most important functions of technology management is to evaluate projects to determine whether your organization should invest time and resources in them. As fundamental as this function is, too many people do it the wrong way. I initially wrote a draft version of this post that outlined a variety of wrong ways to evaluate projects, but I gave up on it because it was too depressing. Instead of that, let's get right to it. The best practical way to evaluate technology projects is to calculate the proposed project's internal rate of return. In the rest of this post, I'll explain what the internal rate of return (IRR) is, show how to calculate it, point out a few technical caveats, discuss some real-world considerations and offer a sample spreadsheet that you can use for your own projects.

More...

Continue Reading »
An article by Lucas Alexander No Comments
May
17
2010
e-commerce // Project Paperweight // business processes // website development // communication

You can't always get what you want

I was going to kick off my new blog with an inspiring post about who I am and what I believe and why you should care about what I have to say. Then I realized that was lame. You'll decide whether you want to be here based on the utility and/or entertainment value of what I share, not some rambling manifesto. So, without further adieu, let's jump right into things . . .

As a young, and admittedly brash, Web developer, I found myself working on a project that went through several distinct iterations, all but one of which were considered failures by the majority of the stakeholders. This project was my company's first foray into the exciting world of e-commerce, and during the heady days of late 2000 to mid-2001, it seemed complicated, wonderful, scary and exhilarating all at once. I can't name names, but let's call it Project Paperweight - anyone who knows what I'm talking about will understand.
Continue Reading »
An article by Lucas Alexander No Comments

About the author

I work with information systems, mainly Microsoft Dynamics CRM, C# development and SQL Server. Technology is OK, but using it to run a business better is even more interesting.

Month List