About

About this blog

“crossderry” is an Irish term for “across from the woods” or “the crossroads at the woods” — I never can get a single answer from my Kerry kin. It is a real place though, see the Crossderry google map

However, the term fits some of what we’re talking about here — seeing the forest for the trees, taking the correct fork before heading into the woods, making sure you understand what terms mean.

About me

View Paul Ritchie's profile on LinkedIn

First, the views, ideas, notions, and other synonyms for content are mine, and not my employer’s.

Second, as you might guess, I used to work for SAP and now work for a SAP customer. I play a regional Chief Information Officer role reporting to my CEO and the Global CIO. My team includes five direct reports and a total 19 staff, who cover business relationship management, application services (ERP, CRM, eBusiness, production, R&D), and infrastructure operations, including data center, network, and telecom.

I used to lead the global program management groups and led multiple >$100MM programs for a global CPG/food company and SAP. I also represented SAP to PMI’s Global Corporate Council and served as the Council’s Chairman.

I’ve also been part of a pre-IPO logistics software start-up (acquisition being the liquidity event) and co-founded a multimedia start-up (liquidation being the illiquidity event).

I have BAs in Econ and History from George Mason University and a MBA from Babson College.

The details are in my CV (Word here, PDF here).

20 Responses

  2. The Benefit of the Intangible | IC Knowledge Center, on August 27, 2008 at 12:30 pm said:

    […] to Paul Ritchie at Crossderry for pointing out the recent report by the Project Management Institute called […]

    Reply
  3. Ken, on September 30, 2008 at 6:45 pm said:

    Hello Paul:

    Would you be open to a “link” exchange between your blog and mine? I really have enjoyed you blog and would like to put it on my Blogroll.
    Please advise,
    Best regards,
    Ken

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Anderson, on March 16, 2009 at 8:31 pm said:

    Will you be writing more about Change Management or BI? I am looking for bloggers and analysts articles in the ERP and/or BI space for free exposure wihtin our newsletter publication.

    Please reach me for more info: janderson@imninc.com

    Cheers – Jennifer

    Reply
  5. Top 25 Project Management Blogs | Freelancing and Outsourcing Tips, Commentary, Analysis, and News from oDesk, on May 13, 2009 at 10:55 pm said:

    […] Coming from experienced project manager Paul Ritchie, the beauty of this blog is typically found in it’s simplicity. No long rants or lectures […]

    Reply
  6. Scrum Methodology, on July 28, 2009 at 5:06 pm said:

    Would you be interested in exchanging links?

    Reply
  7. Paul Ritchie, on July 28, 2009 at 5:59 pm said:

    Thanks for the comment…I’ll check out your blog and see if there’s anything link-worthy.

    Reply
  8. Amy@ppmcommunity.com, on March 17, 2010 at 3:51 pm said:

    Hi there

    Your blog is one of our favourites and we’ve added it to the PPMcommunity.com website, it’s a website which profiles all the programme and project management blogs which are available. Please get in touch if you would like to be profiled

    Many thanks
    Amy

    Reply
  9. Scott Wood, on April 1, 2010 at 6:14 pm said:

    Paul,

    You probably do not remember me but I interviewed with you about 4 months ago in Evansville. For one reason or another I was not a good fit for that job but I wanted to let you know that you have been instrumental in my life. I am sure you are unaware of this impact. When researching your background prior to the interview I noticed you had the cross derry blog. Well I decided to create my own blog. http://plates55.com. More on the technical side of the house than PM based. Also due to you and your blog I have decided to pursue my PHD in Informatics from IUPUI. I have just been accepted into their program.
    So thank you Paul.

    Regards

    Scott Wood

    Reply
    • Paul Ritchie, on April 3, 2010 at 1:38 pm said:

      Hi Scott,
      I absolutely remember you…it is gratifying to hear that Crossderry had such an impact! The informatics program sounds like a good move, congrats. Also, I like Plates55.com…nice meaty content.

      Best,
      Paul

      Reply
  10. Eric, on July 29, 2010 at 2:21 pm said:

    We’re interested in links exchange… We own the website http://www.mymanagementguide.com

    Please let us know if you’r interested in links exchange.

    Thanks

    elocman@gmail.com

    Reply
  11. Top 20 Project Management Blogs | nedelcov.name, on September 6, 2010 at 1:39 pm said:

    […] from experienced project manager Paul Ritchie, the beauty of this blog is typically found in it’s simplicity. No long rants or lectures here, […]

    Reply
  12. Paul, on November 29, 2010 at 4:48 pm said:

    Hi Paul,

    We are creating an innovative online community around the topic of Leadership and Management (it will look almost identical to http://www.socialmediainformer.com and http://www.frugalfocus.com, but around L&M), and we would like to invite you to include your blog in this new site. We already have many great bloggers on board, including those from Harvard Business Review, Leadership Now, Michael Lee Stallard, and Weekly Leader, among others – and we would love for you to join also.

    The site will aggregate content from the best leadership/management bloggers on the internet (similar to but more efficient than http://www.alltop.com), and make it easy for readers to browse all this content by keywords. It will only show links to the posts of participating bloggers, not the content itself (so we will create referral traffic for you, as opposed to taking it away). We have around a dozen sites around different topics running already, and they have all proven to be very beneficial to the participating bloggers (as they get new readers and social proof by being displayed next to a range of other great sources).

    Participation is simple (and free) – we ask that you add into your sidebar a small widget that helps promote the site and collects some social signal data to identify your best content, and we also ask that you announce your participation once things are set up. This way, more people will be able to find the site, and more people will eventually click through to your blog as a result of that.

    Please let me know if you’d like to be a part of this endeavor (or if you have any questions), and I will set up your blog right away.

    Have a great day,
    Paul

    Reply
  13. Paul, on January 28, 2011 at 2:21 am said:

    Hey Paul,

    I’m following up on our invitation to include your blog on http://www.LeadershipDigital.com – we already have a range of great bloggers on board (Marshall Goldsmith, Dan McCarthy, Michael Lee Stallard, and many others), and would love to add you also. It is very easy to join (only thing we ask is that you add a small badge), and you will get a range of benefits – including referral traffic and reputation by association with other influential bloggers in the space.

    The three badge images you can choose from can be seen/added at this link: http://www.leadershipdigital.com/build-widget/&blog-group-id=57

    Please let me know if you’d like to be a part of this, and I’ll set your blog up right away (you can easily withdraw at any time in the future, should you desire so).

    Cheers,
    Paul

    Reply
  14. Paul Ritchie, on January 29, 2011 at 2:17 am said:

    Hi Paul,
    Excellent timing…I’ve been swamped lately and just getting back to posting. Let me know what else you need from me!

    Best,
    Paul

    Reply
  15. Alvin, on March 27, 2011 at 8:15 pm said:

    Hi Paul,

    For years I have been wanting to put a blog together around project management and finally got around to it. Would appreciate any type of link exchange and I (of course) have linked your site.

    Thanks!
    Alvin
    http://www.pmfiles.com

    Reply
  16. Top 25 Project Management Blogs « Danielle Sauerman, on April 24, 2012 at 3:55 am said:

    […] from experienced project manager Paul Ritchie, the beauty of this blog is typically found in it’s simplicity. No long rants or lectures here, […]

    Reply
  17. Lauren, on July 24, 2012 at 8:29 pm said:

    Hello,

    I work for PhD in Management.org, a website that covers a variety of topics about the management field. We also strive to make our website a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in pursuing a PhD in management. To that end, through our own research, evaluating factors such as peer recommendations, web presence, and content quality, we’re developing a list of useful websites for managers entitled Top 100 Web Resources for Managers.

    We are pleased to inform you that we have nominated CrossDerry for inclusion on our list!

    Should you be featured on the final list, we’ll provide you with a badge to display on your website and to promote your inclusion on your social media accounts.

    Once the list is published, we’ll be reaching out to other management bloggers and websites to ensure maximum recognition for your site.

    Additionally, if you wish to nominate another management blog or website that you feel is worthy of a spot on our list, please let us know. We’re still in the review and nomination stage.

    Best,
    Lauren

    Reply
  18. Lauren, on July 31, 2012 at 7:34 pm said:

    Hello,

    I’m following up with you regarding the list PhD in Management.org published entitled 100 Best Resources for Web Managers.

    We emailed you last week to inform you of your nomination. We are now pleased to let you know that you have made the final list! You can view the entire list here: http://www.phdinmanagement.org/management-resources.html

    To promote your recognition on your website and social media accounts, you can use the provided embed code below, or we can email you the physical badge we created:

    We hope this collection of top management blogs and websites will prove to be a valuable resource for you, as well as other business professionals.

    Congratulations, and if you have any questions about how to incorporate the badge onto your site, please let me know – I’m happy to help!

    Thank You,
    Lauren

    Reply
  19. Marina, on January 10, 2013 at 12:18 pm said:

    Hi Paul,

    Thanks for some great thoughts listed in your blog, always pleasure to read through them. Is there an email I can contact you on? Would be great to talk to you!

    Cheers,
    Marina

    Reply

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