Tools
I've been a Minnesota based freelance (and sometimes not so freelance) consultant type guy since forever. Over the years, I've built a few tools that I find myself using over and over. Here they are, for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to use/share them.
Mike's Pretty Good Project Definition Worksheet -- a series of questions you can answer when you are chartering a project. A good project charter will keep you out of all kinds of trouble.
Mike's Pretty Good Business Planning and Strategy Gizmo -- I don't know how many times I've used this simple Powerpoint deck to help organizations answer the three basic business-planning questions... "Where are we now?", "Where are we going?" and "How will we get there?"
Mike's Pretty Good Instant CIO Checklist Gizmo -- I've been a CIO off and on over the last 30 years (mostly off, I have a pretty short attention span and when things are running smoothly I tend to break things just so I can fix 'em again). This is a one-pager I use when I am asked to come in and give the IS shop a quick once-over-lightly.
Mike's Pretty Good Information Architecture -- my view of how all this evolving info-stuff fits together. 'Did the first version of this at the University of Minnesota in 1991. Not bad, eh? It's still pretty good, but it needs updating in a few areas.
