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How is project management viewed in your organization?

"Cost of doing business." "Optional." These are common responses. But how about this one, "The fastest and most cost effective way to increase sales effectiveness and delivery team productivity."? That kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

The truth is that there is a strong business and financial case for employing effective project management as part of your delivery methodology. In practice, however, we typically see one of the two approaches implied above: it's just not done deliberately (translation: it's handled by the sales and/or delivery team) or it's done in an "institutional" manner, meaning that there is a deliberate practice, but the approach is bureaucratic and plodding.

An interesting article was recently posted on eWeek's Channel Insider. It discussed how some innovative VARs are using social networking sites in their marketing efforts. The results are anecdotal at best, but intriguing nonetheless. There is no doubt that "Web 2.0" and its social aspects are affecting business of all types. There's no reason to believe that the channel will be immune. Still, it can be difficult to visualize how this might come about. I built my Facebook profile a few weeks ago. But I'm still not sure what to do with it. Perhaps the most poignant line in the article was "a 24-year-old newcomer to the channel would approach the business very differently from channel executives who've been around for years."

Isn't that the truth? This article is worth a read, if for no other reason than to get your mind thinking differently and exploring new ways that you might approach your business, prepare to fight off new competitors and seize on new opportunities. Read the article here.