Many IT organizations have models for comparing investment opportunities by return, risk and strategic fit, but this investment analysis may be conducted only on new IT requests. If you have your project teams report on early users' experiences with a project, you can make changes to the IT portfolio dynamically and ensure that active projects remain focused on your company's current priorities.

If they're not, you can shift resources to more important new projects. Some CIOs even have a celebration when a project is killed to reinforce that it's OK to stop doing something if a better opportunity comes along-and that the team's performance isn't to blame.

All these techniques should be considered by any CIOs looking to be more innovative with their value-producing practices. (See " " for more on changing the conversation about IT's worth.)

Rick Swanborg is president of ICEX and a professor at Boston University. Read more about innovative IT practices at www.icex.com.