DAN WOODS’ CONSULTING
Dan Woods consults with IT departments at organizations of all sizes about solving problems such as:
- Legacy app migration
- Refactoring and refreshing applications and infrastructure
- Improving alignment of IT strategy and tactics with business goals
- Building data supply chains to support wider and deeper use of data and analytics
- Assessment of current state of IT infrastructure and management processes
Dan’s experience as an IT executive in large organizations, a CTO of two startups, and an analyst of advanced technology has given him with an expansive understanding. Dan has found that the best and most lasting results are achieved by starting with proven practices that have a good cultural fit, implementing projects based on those methods, and then adapting them to the organization’s needs after gaining experience.
Dan’s consulting methods are based on his skills as an analyst, researcher, and author of more than 25 books. He advocates creating a common vision so that everyone knows what to do to achieve business goals. There is no shortcut to such alignment. Dan’s approach involves these broad stages:
Current state
While assessing the current state, Dan gathers ideas from everyone involved. A review of the current state surfaces a lively discussion of what is really happening with current technology. Dan delivers a write-up that offers a common understanding of all perspectives.
Future state
In the design of the future state, an architecture to meet the business goals is proposed, reviewed, and refined. In this stage, the tradeoffs between conflicting points of view about the right solution are brought to the surface and resolved. Everyone doesn’t get their way, but everyone is heard, and all worries about potential problems are recorded.
Implementation
During the implementation stage, plans are made for a phased approach to creating the future state. During this stage, alternative methods of implementation are evaluated, RFPs are created, and execution of the plan begins.