Tag: Denise Brosseau

Fresh Links Sundae – June 1, 2014 Edition

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-sundae-image13526471Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

Companies across industries are experiencing a looming issue of finding the senior-leadership capacity to manage the huge program of data analytics. The issue stems from the reality that many top-team members are fully engaged with their existing responsibilities. Janaki Akella, Sam Marwaha, and Johnson Sikes believe that CIOs can help by mastering four critical roles. How CIOs can lead their company’s information business (McKinsey & Company)

With today’s fast delivery cycles, Charles Betz argues that the traditional “Plan/Build/Run” model is no longer sufficient. He explains how a “Demand/Supply/Execute” model may help to counteract the tendency to form functional silos and to promote effectiveness. The challenges of “Plan, Build, Run” and Towards “Demand, Supply, Execute” (lean4it)

In business, process maturity and stability are good things to have, but too much is not necessarily better. Bob Lewis advocates that the job of leadership often is defined by the need to maintain an organization in its most unstable state, because in many areas that is where the best results happen. The unstable optimum (IS Survivor Publishing)

In many IT organizations, setting high operating standards and what gets recognized (ad-hoc fire-fighting) can have opposite effects. Dan Kane believes that performance against the standards you set on an individual basis is a key leading indicator of overall organizational performance. Keeping Employees Engaged with ITSM (Hazy ITSM)

Reporting from IT can be challenging when trying to deliver reports that are accurately reflecting the customer experience. Ryan Ogilvie suggests four principals to keep in mind when planning and making service improvements. Service Management Reporting is all about Perspective (Service Management Journey)

Bill Kleyman advocates that one of the best ways to prep your organization for a potential cloud move is to utilize a cloud readiness assessment. Before you migrate a workload into a cloud provider space, he recommends some key infrastructure aspects to consider. Creating a Cloud Readiness Assessment (Data Center Knowledge)

Denise Brosseau had just returned from her summer vacation to Sweden, after a visit to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. She shares the lessons we can all learn from this remarkable, failed warship. What I Learned About Failure on My Summer Vacation (Thought Leadership Lab)

Just about any animal will tend to repeat behavior that is followed by positive reinforcement. As a result, the more successful we become, with more positive reinforcement we get, we become less able to recognize the need to change. Marshall Goldsmith cautions us not to let over-confidence overshadow our humility and the ability to change. The Success Delusion (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – March 16, 2014 Edition

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image9076544Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

Bob Lewis believes that initiatives like Cloud, Shadow IT, and the digital enterprise are trends CIOs cannot do much to affect, but still have to respond to. Through a 3-part series, he suggests the actions that IT should consider taking. Storming around (Part 3) More storm warnings (Part 2) An imperfect storm (Part 1) (IS Survivor Publishing)

IT is well positioned to make positive contributions to many aspects of the business operations. Michael Hugos suggests how a CIO can collaborate effective with the COO through supporting business agility. The CIO & COO Relationship (Enterprise Efficiency) Michael Hugos

Some IT organizations believe that providing quality services has to equate to higher costs. Using a recent personal experience, Stuart Rance explains how quality services can still be provided without needing to cost more. Excellent service doesn’t have to cost more (The ITSM Review)

Automating a process can sometimes create tricky ownership issues. Ryan Ogilvie reminds us that some level of oversight and accountability are still required even after a process had been automated. Process Automation – Enter the Numbers and Push the Button (Service Management Journey)

Many leaders find it difficult transitioning into a new organization due to the pressure to act quickly and deliver rapid results. Lon Zanetta outlines the keys to success in transitioning into a new leadership role. Leadership Transitions: Focus on the Human Touch (CIO Leadership Council)

The Snowden/NSA incident highlighted the reality that no amount of security can truly deter disgruntled personnel or whistle blowers. To strengthen the security in your own environment, Peter Brooks recommends a list of action items which include governance and investment in people and open source technologies. Security after Snowdon – what do I need to do? (The ITSM Review)

Analyzing a business process is a major part of a business analyst’s work. Laura Brandenburg discusses various approaches to analyze a business process effectively. 3 (and only 3) Reasons to Use BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) (Article 1) How to Analyze an “As Is” Business Process (Article 2) How to Analyze a “To Be” Business Process (Article3) (Bridging the Gap)

Some are advocating that estimating is not an essential activity and producing the result is what matters. Glen Alleman explains why estimating is not just nice to have – it is essential for a credit job. Back To The Future (Article 1) Some more answers to the estimating questions (Herding Cats)

Many of us have difficulties in getting an idea or initiative off the ground. Denise Brosseau recommends several easy-to-implement techniques that can help you gain support for your initiatives. 3 Smart Change Agent Techniques to Get Your Business on Track (Salesforce Blog)

Part of leadership practice is to make your supporters feel supported by their leader. Marshall Goldsmith illustrates a single skill that set the great leaders apart from the near great. The Skill That Separates (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)