Tag: Benjamin Whitehead

Fresh Links Sundae – September 30, 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.

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 16, 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.

ITSM SaaS solutions have been gaining popularity with many IT shops. Stephen Mann discusses the selection criteria and the considerations when selecting an ITSM toolset, SaaS or not. SaaS for ITSM: Getting Past The Hype (Forrester Blogs)

While many IT organizations try to avoid dealing with projects that are considered “shadow” and under the radar, Bob Lewis explains why it also makes sense for IT to find and support the “shadow IT” projects. Never mind shadow IT. How about shadow projects? (IS Survivor Publishing)

With a number of discussions and the push for Green IT concept, Rob England shares his feelings about the movement and why he believes the impact of green or sustainable IT will be negligible. Green sustainable IT is a sop to middle class consciences (The IT Skeptic)

Many outsourcing arrangements frequently bundle ITSM tools implementation as part of the deployment. Ros Satar explores ways to improve the effectiveness of the ITSM solution without getting lost in the deployment shuffle. Will it ever be possible to innovate in outsourcing deployments? (The ITSM Review)

Because technologies progress and change quickly, strong problem solving practices have always been an important part of IT. Simon Morris demonstrates a problem solving example using the Kepner Tregoe Problem Analysis process. A structured approach to problem solving (The ITSM Review)

Running a service desk can be a complex and labor-intensive operation. Benjamin Whitehead suggests ten things the service desk should avoid doing for efficiency and effectiveness reasons. 10 Things your IT Service Desk should NOT be doing (ITSM Portal)

The Knowledge Centred Support (KCS) concept has received some attention from the ITSM community lately. Aprill Allen discusses her early impression and the approach of leveraging KCS using forum-based knowledge bases. Adapting the KCS article lifecycle to Zendesk forums (Knowledge Bird)

After years of focusing on costs, many senior leaders are finding that their organizations are not up to the task of searching for and attaining the top line growth. Susan Cramm outlines ways anyone can use to renew her focus, to build better relationships, and to improve results. What Would Your Successor Do? (Valuedance)

Replaying from his person experience, Tobias Nyberg suggests ways to make progress in the ITSM initiatives from a grass root level and without explicit management support. Guerilla ITSM: When management doesn’t care [] (The ITSM Review)

Leveraging ideas from J. Allan McCarthy’s book, “Beyond Genius, Innovation & Luck: The ‘Rocket Science’ of Building High-Performance Corporations,” Don Tennant shares the author’s tips for building a successful, effective team. Best and Brightest, Like Star Players, Need to Be Able to Work as a Team (From Under the Rug)

Fresh Links Sundae – August 19, 2012 Edition

With people being the most critical element for organization changes, Rob England explains how to leverage the people factor via motivation, communication, and development. The People in ITSM (The ITSM Review)

With the success of an organization being dependent on the people within it, Benjamin Whitehead give suggestions on getting the best out of your IT Support team. 10 tips for managing the Human Side of IT (ITSM Portal)

While IT is often known for rapid introduction of new technologies and widgets, retiring old technologies which have outlived their useful lives can be especially difficult. Matt Prigge talks about how to stay ahead of the curve and stay out of trouble caused by old, obsolete technologies. When to cut bait on old IT (InfoWorld)

Leveraging the concept from Matt Prigge’s article, Martin Perlin talks about why it is important to deal with the obsolescence issue for the IT operations tools as well. Cut Bait on Old IT: 4 Areas to Re-examine Current IT Operations Tools (Evolven Blog)

With an increasing emphasis of leveraging automation in IT, Stephen Mann talks about how automation in IT will affect the staffing practices. Prepare Your People For The Future Of IT Service Delivery (Forrester Blogs)

Leveraging the ideas from Stephen Mann’s automation comments, Aprill Allen discusses how knowledge management and IT can achieve a better level of collaboration. Is Forrester the Marriage Counsellor for KM and IT? (Knowledge Bird)

Using NASA’s robot rover Curiosity landing on Mars as an example of automation, Melanie Karunaratne talks about what pitfalls to avoid when designing process automation for ITSM work. Process Automation: Blazing the Trail (LANDesk Blog)

Recalling from her recent itSMF SIG attendance, Ros Satar discusses her classroom experience and the take-aways she took with her. Continual Service Improvement (CSI) (The ITSM Review)

In a two-part series, Jim Taggart gives his take on what separate the term management from the term leadership. Are We There Yet? More on the Leadership-Management Debate (ChangingWinds)

For many of us who utilizes LinkedIn as a professional networking tool, Kristin Lyon explains how the “Pay it Forward” concept can be a powerful tool for managing our LinkedIn connections. Commit to Pay it Forward to Your LinkedIn Connections (Modis)