Fresh 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!

A majority of organizations implement only reactive problem management; however, it is the proactive problem management practices that bring even more value. Stephen Mann discusses the barriers we need to overcome and the good practices we should implement for proactive problem management. 6 Barriers To Proactive Problem Management and 6 Problem Management Best Practices (ServiceNow)

A number of organizations are experimenting with predictive analytics and exploring its business value. James Taylor explains how to avoid common mistakes of predictive analytics. The Four Traps of Predictive Analytics (MIT Sloan Management Review)

Working in the field of IT Service Management, vendor management needs to be one of the high competency areas. Morgan Hunter talks about the considerations you should be aware of before signing a contract and recommends a nice checklist. Contract Negotiation Checklist – Don’t forget Your Pre-Nup (Intréis)

Predictive analytics is an increasingly mature technology, but many organizations still are not aware of the opportunities it presents. William Vorhies discusses the paths that a business leader can follow to discover more opportunities from leveraging predictive analytics. From Data Analyst to Predictive Modelers to Data Scientists (Data Science Central)

Many would believe that exercising technology leadership is all about achieving a successful implementation. Bob Lewis believes that the most important goal for technology leadership is to build a reusable organizational capability. Organizing for technology leadership (IS Survivor Publishing)

While the DevOps movement is evolving into a culture for continuous delivery of IT services, many organizations are still trying to find a balance between the human collaboration aspect and the tools/technologies. Mark Burgess uses the Promise Theory to explain how DevOps should work and why having a functional IT is a business imperative. The Promises of DevOps (Mark Burgess Website)

Analysts need to know the business rules which influence their database designs in order to ensure data operations make sense and results can be interpreted correctly. Fabian Pascal advises data analysts on the types of business rules for which they should be familiar with. Data Analysts: Know Your Business Rules (AllAnalytics)

Many believe that you cannot achieve value from your investment in ITSM without a fully functional and integrated CMDB. Oded Moshe explains why that is not necessarily true and recommends a list of advices to implement CMDB. Clearing Up the Myths of CMDB (SysAid Blog)