Tag: Alicia Choo

Fresh Links Sundae – November 4, 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.

Citing the recent news and the survey results from the ITSM tools space, Stephan Mann advocates that ITSM Tools vendors should focus more helping their customers on solving business problems and improving customer experience while using the tools. More ITSM Tool Bells And Whistles, And Where The Real Focus Of Vendor Attention Should Be (Forrester Blogs)

The notion of management support has been preached by many as the pre-requisite to ITSM initiative success. Kirstie Magowan describes what management support for an ITSM effort should look like and the ways to obtain such commitment from senior management. Are your managers just going along for the ride? (Common Sense and Service Management)

While many knowledge management (KM) efforts focus on the reusability of knowledge captured, Adam Krob points out another metric that a support organization can use to improve its KM practice and effort. The Teeter-Totter of Knowledge Management: A Close-Up View of the New-vs.-Known Lever (HDIConnect)

While there are many who advocate the new and improved monitoring approaches, Jonathan Ginter explains why infrastructure monitoring is still a very much relevant component in your end-to-end monitoring solution. Monitoring 101 Myth – Infrastructure Monitoring is Old Hat (BMC Communities Blog)

Reflecting from her recent technology upgrade experience, Susan Cramm describes the roadblocks she ran into when upgrading her smart phone technology and how the lessons learned can be applied to other technology upgrade endeavors as well. 72 Hours of Technology Hell (Valuedance)

In IT we are often taught to prioritize process design over tool implementation, instead of the other way around. Gregory Tucker explains why the improvement of service and process often goes hand-in-hand with the implementation of the tools through automation. Process Before Tool (right)? (ITSMinfo)

Reflecting upon a recent office move project, Alicia Choo describes how IT and Facilities teams leveraged technologies and collaborated effectively in making the office move more seamless and less chaotic. The collaborative potential of WhatsApps and GoogleDocs (Choofca’s Brain Dump)

Relating to his personal experience, Marshall Goldsmith explains why the quality of information flow within an organization often is a good indicator of the quality of the organization. Failure to Communicate (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Thinking back to his high school days, Bret Simmons talks about how one teacher’s action affected how he views personal responsibility and professional conducts. Mr. Owen’s Lesson: The Irresponsibility Tax (Positive Organizational Behavior)

Seth Godin discusses his thoughts on how consumers have become more willing to work with technology changes. The similar mindset shift could have similar impact on how we support our IT constituents. The bell curve is moving (mass geekery) (Seth’s 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 – October 7, 2012 Edition

I started out my career as a systems administrator, and I believe the really good sys admins/DBAs tend to be both paranoid and lazy at the same time. While the laziness aspect has to do with automation, Chris Foot discusses the paranoid aspect of the behaviors with a two-part blog. The Art of Being a Successful DBA – Paranoid DBA Best Practices, Part I (Remote DBA Experts)

Although technical qualification maybe an important consideration when hiring good service desk staff, Kirstie Magowan explains that life skills and personality attributes are just as important to consider as ever. Who is your next hire for the service desk? (Common Sense and Service Management)

If you are working on putting together a Relationship Management process 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: Relationship Management (Choofca’s Brain Dump)

Business and application development teams sometimes blame IT operations for so many frustrations, Martin Perlin outlines why IT operations cannot seem to catch a break and what can be done to reverse the trend. IT Operations Suffers from An Undeserved Bad Reputation (Evolven Blog)

Trying to assess what are some of the causes for failure behind ITSM implementations, Larry Cooper argues that instituting ITSM practice solely for the sake of implementing ITIL is a wrong approach and what to do about it. The problem with ITSM is ITIL (ITSM Portal)

Using an example analysis though a CFO’s perspective, Perry Rotella suggests what CIOs can do to make their contributions more easily understood and relevant to his C-level colleagues. Think Like a CFO to Gain C-Suite Credibility (Forbes)

In this blog entry, Laura Brandenburg explains how business analysts approach requirements specifications, what a hiring manager is looking for, and finally how can a BA determine what her real capabilities in creating requirements specifications. How to Present Yourself as Capable of Doing Requirements Specifications (Bridging the Gap)

Leveraging from a recent training class taught by Marieke McCloskey, Andrew Dlugan outlines Marieke’s tips for designing and delivering training courses. 28 Tips for Designing Training Courses: Case Study (Six Minutes)

Seeing the trading of meaning for money as a toxic trade-off, Umair Haque encourages us to enrich ourselves more with meaning in life rather than purely with simple monetary wealth. Making the Choice Between Money and Meaning (Harvard Business Review)

After watching the most recent broadcast of the Ryder Cup, Mark Horstman discusses his impression of the sportsmanship displayed (or lack of) during the recent golf match. Ryder Cup Disappointment (Manager Tools)

Fresh Links Sundae – September 30, 2012 Edition

Estimating projects accurately and keeping project execution on track can present major challenges for many organizations. Bob Lewis makes several suggestions on how to effectively manage your project portfolio. The ins and outs of IT project portfolio management (Advice Line)

If you are working on putting together a Supplier Management process 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: Supplier Management (Choofca’s Brain Dump)

The word “warranty” can carry different meanings for different organizations when working with the service providers. Benjamin Whitehead talks about the essential elements to consider when defining warranty with service providers. What can be considered ‘warranty’ for a managed IT service? (ITSM Portal)

Considering the critical role intellectual property (IP) plays in an organization’s competitive advantage, Perry Rotella advocates that CIOs should step up and lead the protection of the organization’s IP. What Good is Innovation if It’s Not Protected? (Forbes)

After publishing his weekly career management newsletter for the last 10 years, Nick Corcodilos lists four top Q&As his readers have cited among their favorites from the past editions. 10th Anniversary Special: 4 Top Answers from The Archive (Ask The Headhunter)

Referring to an article on The New York Times, Bob Sutton reflects his viewpoints of how leaders can leverage hierarchy and respect to enhance performance and well-being among the people he leads. Rare Wisdom from Citrix CEO Mark Templeton about Hierarchy and Respect (Work Matters)

Drawing parallels between Texas Hold’em and job searches, Laura Brandenburg provides suggestions on how to stay in the game long enough so you will eventually find a winning hand. Agonizing Over Your Resume? Go All In! (Bridging the Gap)

When it comes to identifying interpersonal challenges in successful people, Marshall Goldsmith explains why the higher you go, the more your problems are behavioral. People Skills (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

While it is important for organizations to develop, disseminate, and support codes of conduct, Bret Simmons advocates that it is just as wise to design systems that attract, retain, and promote those people who live and work above the code. Above The Code (Positive Organizational Behavior)

When it comes to managing our own careers, Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor at INSEAD, explains in this video what we can all learn from artists. The Art of Career Development (Harvard Business Review)

Fresh Links Sundae – September 9, 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.

Because people are often the most critical factor for ITSM success, Stephen Mann relays some people-oriented guidance from his colleague, Eveline Oehrlich, and his own on how to put together the best roles and skill sets in place. Staffing For IT Service Delivery Success: Think Employee, Think Customer, Then Repeat (Forrester Blogs)

Many organizations try to minimize the presence of shadow IT because they can present unmanaged risks. Instead of trying eliminating shadow IT, Bob Lewis suggests how embracing shadow IT might help improving outcomes from the revenue and costs perspectives. Stop stomping out shadow IT (IS Survivor Publishing)

Finding competitive advantage through continuous innovation is already an established idea, and IT can be a major contributor to that movement. Damon Edwards explains how the DevOps concept can enable the IT organization to be better leveraged by the business. Use DevOps to Turn IT into a Strategic Weapon (dev2ops)

One key benefit of the problem management process is to enable organizational learning. Barclay Rae suggests one important thing to do in order to get the most out of a problem management exercise. Problem Management Success – Start Using Causal Closing Codes (BarclayRae Website)

If you are working on putting together a Release Management process for your organization, Alicia Choo posted a sample operating procedure document that may help in your endeavor. My take on ITSM and IT Governance: Release Management (Choofca’s Brain Dump)

Referencing to several government-published resources on the BYOD movement, Martin Grobisen talks about the importance of formulating and putting a policy in place to address BYOD. Time to Implement a BYOD Policy (ITSM Lens)

With social media being one of the many options for building a brand, Anna Farmery outlines five steps to leverage social media for marketing. Five-Step Social Media Marketing Plan (The Engaging Brand)

Hiring consultants can be expensive and sometimes without the desired results, Patrick Gray outlines several ways to avoid wasting money and get the most benefits out of the consult’s help. How to win friends and waste money on consultants (TechRepublic)

Although effectiveness leadership can encompass different things to different people, Jeff Haden talks about the personal lessons he learned about leadership and suggests five ways he has used to improve his own effectiveness. 5 Leadership Lessons You Won’t Learn in B-School (Inc.com)

Because the IT organization is often entrusted by its company with access to many vital assets, Don Tennant suggests that trustworthiness is the most important, foundational characteristic for people in an IT organization. Don also outlines a few ideas for detecting deception when a breach has occurred. Tips on Detecting Deception in Your IT Organization (From Under The Rug)