Tag: Adrian Reed

Fresh Links Sundae – July 21, 2013 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or whose ideas resonate with me. I hope you will find them at least thought-provoking or something of value.

Many of today ultra-competitive businesses seem to be run by mercenary leaders, who focus almost exclusively on maximizing shareholder value, with people considered after the fact or not at all. Susan Cramm tells us what “Border Guard” leaders are and why we should have more of those leaders. Would You Want Your Child To Work For You? (Startegy+Business)

It is human nature to have some elements of pre-conceived notion and prejudice involved when we make decisions about people or situations. Jarod Greene advocates that we should always challenge our assumptions or preconceived notions when dealing with situations or when interacting with individuals. Hoodie IT (Gartner Group)

Technology advances are changing the operating nature and the role of many IT organizations. Julie Montgomery talks about four forces that are shaping IT and how we in IT interact with our constituents. 4 Ways IT Is Changing…For The Better (Plexent Blog)

Is IT something that can be fully managed from a box on the organizational chart without the help from the rest of the organization? Maybe not! Donald Marchand and Joe Peppard remind us that decisions about IT today actually have little to do with technology. IT Cannot Be Only the CIO’s Responsibility (Harvard Business Review)

During the requirement elicitation phase of a project, the participation of the stakeholders is crucial. What can a BA do when some of the needed stakeholders are not available? Adrian Reed suggests three things a BA can do while waiting for the stakeholders to become available. 3 Elicitation Techniques You Can Do Without Stakeholder Access (Bridging the Gap)

Effective leadership must be anchored and guided by a set of moral principles. Jim Taggart gives two examples of how leadership without a functioning moral compass can be wasteful or even destructive. Your Moral Compass: The Key to Leadership (ChangingWinds)

We sometimes encounter the difficulty of writing things down and expressing what’s on our mind. Mitch Joel suggests 5 tips for overcoming the obstacles that stand in the way. The End Of Writer’s Block (Six Pixels of Separation)

With changes and potential troubles lurking around every corner, Rosabeth Kanter explains how we deal with those uncertainties is what matters the most. Surprises Are the New Normal; Resilience Is the New Skill (Harvard Business Review)

As a coach, Marshall Goldsmith has learned to work only with dedicated leaders who are committed to improvement. He explains how he arrived at that conclusion. If They Don’t Care, Don’t Waste Your Time (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

At times, we work hard trying to convince the skeptics that our work has merit. Seth Godin believes that there is another way of using that time better and more productively. Proving the skeptics wrong (Seth’s Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – June 9, 2013 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. They maybe ITSM related or not quite. Often they are from the people whose work resonates with me, and I hope you will find them at least thought-provoking or something of value.

In order to manage IT services even more effectively, Jon Hall advocates that asset management must integrate more effectively with each other. He suggests ways where asset management can contribute to ITSM. How ITAM can influence the CIO (The ITAM Review)

There are many discussions surrounding how IT should be designed to support its user base. Melanie Karunaratne explains why it’s also crucial to understand that different users have different user requirements. User Oriented IT: It’s about Diversity, Context, and Interactions (LANDesk Blog)

Drawing from the discussion with Aaron McDaniel, Don Tennant outlines some approaches that younger managers can use to work with their older directs. Tips for Millennials on Overcoming the Awkwardness of Managing Baby Boomers (From Under the Rug)

With the recent news from the White House, Patrick Gray outlines what leadership lessons IT can learn from the recent events. Leadership lessons for IT from the White House (TechRepublic)

Drawing parallels using a movie analogy, Adrian Reed explains why the solutions can come only after the requirements are explored by the business analysts. The Set Comes After the Script and the Solution Comes After the Business Need (Bridging the Gap)

When people rely on each other without thoroughly knowing each other, sometimes an information vacuum can create with invalid assumptions or misperceptions. James Eblin explains what some effective leaders do to minimize those information vacuums. Three Steps for Leaders Who Want to Work Better with Their Peers (Eblin Group)

In today’s competitive landscape, changes are constant and can be daunting to face. Tom Asacker suggests that there is a way to confront the changes you need to face. One way out. (Tom Asacker)

Some leaders manage their people the way they would want to be managed. Marshall Goldsmith points out that such approach is not always effective. When the Golden Rule Doesn’t Work (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Most of us understand the importance of picking the right measurements. Seth Godin gives some examples of measuring the wrong things which lead to unintended results. Measuring without measuring (Seth’s Blog)

Here is one last post for your inspiration from Ted Rubin. “Your Value Doesn’t Decrease Based On Someone’s Inability To See Your Worth”… (Ted Rubin)

Fresh Links Sundae – January 20, 2013 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. They maybe ITSM related or not entirely. Often they are from the people whose work resonates with me, and I hope you will find them at least thought-provoking or something of value.

While some may hold the belief that DevOps and ITIL are in conflict with each other, Robert Stroud explains why that is not the case and why proper application of the DevOps concept can further strengthen an organization’s IT capability. Does the emergence of DevOps mean the end of ITIL? (CA Technologies)

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend was a hot technology topic in 2012. Bob Lewis discusses the trend and its suitability to organization in terms of the organizational players involved, the degree of affordability, and the disruption to the enterprise. The realist’s guide to BYOD and why it’s a long-term trend (InfoWorld)

By leveraging four key consideration elements, Roman Jouravlev suggests a model that can make an IT initiative clearer and easier to assess. ITSM ORBIT or How to help a tail to wag the dog (ITSM Portal)

With a two-part series, Matthew Selheimer describes a four-level model of social IT maturity and discusses how to avoid the most common pitfalls. The part-two of the post is available here. Getting Started with Social IT (The ITSM Review)

Although the concept of the ITIL problem management may be straight forward, few people fully understand it or appreciate its importance. Ian Aitchison defines what Problem Management process is, describes its value, and gives pointers on how to get started. Problem Management: The Teenager of the ITSM Household (LANDesk Blog)

Questioning some of the recent criticism on consultants and their contribution to the ITSM community, James Finister discusses the operating parameters consultants must work with and how the parameters differ from those of ITSM practitioners. Them and us – again (Core ITSM)

Building on the premise that people who have positive influence on us is that they also have real presence when they communicate. Mark Goulston examines the three essential elements that make up the presence. Real Presence, the Foreplay to Real Influence (Usable Insight)

By using a drinking water example, Anna Farmery talks about why brands should focus their effort on filtering and distributing the ocean of data to their intended audience. How to Quench the Thirst of Your Customer (The Engaging Brand)

After observing a magician performing his card tricks on a train, Adrian Reed draws a parallel with his BA work and explains the lesson he took away. Avoiding Elitism in Your Business Analysis Templates and Techniques (Bridging the Gap)

Peter Drucker was once quoted to have said, “Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.” Marshall Goldsmith outlines 20 interpersonal behavior challenges that leaders can work on to correct. Bad Behavior (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – October 14, 2012 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. They maybe ITSM related or not entirely. Often they are from the people whose work resonates with me, and I hope you will find something of value.

In a two-part post, Bob Lewis talks about how the combination of Release Management, scrum, Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints can be leveraged to manage IT work and achieve more consistent results. The best way to manage IT projects is to eliminate them (Advice Line)

Using New Zealand’s healthcare experience as a reference, Kirstie Magowan talks about the difference between IT users and IT customers, as well as the implications to providing IT services. This user vs. customer differentiation is tough! (Common Sense and Service Management)

If you are working on engineering a service management solution for your organization, Alicia Choo posted a sample operating procedure document and a few other support documents that may help in your endeavor. My take on ITSM and IT Governance: Service Engineering Management (Choofca’s Brain Dump)

Rather than simply “managing” knowledge, Aprill Allen advocates that Knowledge Management is more about “enabling.” It’s not really about knowledge management (Knowledge Bird)

Reflecting from recent experience with a successful client project, Barclay Rae outlines some lessons learned from developing and implementing SLM and a service catalog. Service Catalog – real life secrets of success (BarclayRae Website)

When it comes to standard CMM methodology, the typical flow is to define, control, manage, and improve. Rob England argues that improvement should come first, then manage and measure, and finally standardize and make it repeatable. Improve first (The IT Skeptic)

Although switching from one industry to another can be daunting, Adrian Reed suggests five ways a business analyst can use to get up to speed when joining a new industry. Starting in a new domain? Don’t Panic! (Bridging the Gap)

Using an analogy from the movie Moneyball, Michael Mauboussin describes what qualities that useful statistics should have and the sequence of choosing the right statistics. Four Steps to Measuring What Matters (Harvard Business Review)

While many organizations place great emphasis on leaders to develop their employees, Michael Schrage suggests that perhaps those same organizations should also pay attention to how their best people and performers can improve the managers whom those employees report to. Do Your Employees Make You a Better Manager? (Harvard Business Review)

When it comes to dealing with iterations of problem, Seth Godin suggests how to overcome them by doing something different, or in his words, initiating a new “up cycle.” Cycle worse, cycle better (Seth’s Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – May 13, 2012 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates some pieces of information I have come across during the past week. They maybe ITSM related or not entirely. Often they are from the people whose work resonates with me, and I hope you will find something of value.

Johna Johnson discussed the movement from the Information Technology era to the Enterprise Technology era and how IT professionals can prepare themselves for this transition. From IT to ET: Cloud, consumerization, and the next wave of IT transformation (Network World)

Jeffrey Rayport discussed the requirements and approaches that could encourage more innovative behaviors from an organization’s frontline workers. Free Your Frontline Workers to Innovate (Harvard Business Review)

Joshua Simon suggested four important areas to automate as part of the email support structure. Help Desk 101 – 4 Essential Automations for Email Support (ITSM Lens)

James Finister shared his thoughts on the mobile computing, the BYOD trend, and how to take advantage of trend. The Lure of Shiny New Toys (Core ITSM)

Ellen Messmer talked to the IT organizations in two companies and got their (rather opposite) viewpoints on the BYOD mobile computing trend. BYOD battle: A tale of two opposing IT viewpoints (Network World)

Rob England gave his opinions of comparing two sources for good IT practices: ITIL and COBIT. Why COBIT wins in a showdown with ITIL (The IT Skeptic)

Rob England used a railway example to describe what a service catalog is and can do for the organization. What is a Service Catalogue? (The ITSM Review)

Troy DuMoulin describes an ITSM transforming approach used by Pink Elephant to help its clients bring results. Pink Elephant’s ITSM Transformation Methodology (Troy’s Blog)

Anna Farmery suggested that one approach of managing people should be from the value-creation perspective, like managing a balance sheet in business. The People Balance Sheet (The Engaging Brand)

Adrian Reed talked about the pitfalls to avoid and to remedy when conducting workshops. How to avoid 7 common workshop pitfalls (Bridging the Gap)