Tag: Kirstie Magowan

Fresh Links Sundae – December 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.

Reflecting back on a similar blog post from 2012, Stephen Mann outlines what we learned from practicing ITSM in 2012 and what to look forward to in 2013. The Top 10 IT Service Management Challenges For 2013 – But What Did You Achieve In 2012? (Forrester Blogs)

Sometimes having too much of something can create similar problems as not having enough. Bob Lewis suggests that happiness often comes down to knowing what you have and how it compares with others. A holiday card to the IT industry, 2012 (InfoWorld)

As a follow-up to his recent article on problem management, Rob England talks about that root cause analysis is much more than just finding that “one” cause that resulted in the failure of the system. Root Cause – Railways don’t like derailments (The ITSM Review)

Although the financial and productivity analysis for BYOD programs has been mixed, Jon Hall advocates that organization should still consider BYOD programs and have some level of trust of their employees to find the best tools for themselves. Of course there is value in BYOD, and users know where to find it. (Evolving ITSM)

Many organizations use social media technologies to enhance their brands, but not everyone practice social media with the same, high level of skills and awareness. Kirstie Magowan outlines several suggestions on how to mitigate or repair the damages when something goes horribly wrong. A new disaster recovery specialty (Common Sense and Service Management)

Significant time and money are spent recreating and managing documents around and outside most organizations. Patrick Gray believes we already have the tools and can make a better use of them. Tools for mitigating time and money lost to poor document management (TechRepublic)

Finding a job or a career that blends and balances the talent, passion, and market considerations is not easy for most people. Gianpiero Petriglieri explains what questions we should be asking of ourselves and what factors to consider. Finding the Job of Your Life (Harvard Business Review)

Drawing from his past experience as a student, Marshall Goldsmith explains why it is often easy to stay self-centered and to see our problems reflected in others than it is to see them in ourselves. Seeing Ourselves as Others Do (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Hiring is easily one of the most critical tasks a manager does for his organization. Jeff Haden outlines six reasons why bad hiring happens and what can be done to mitigate such risks. 6 Reasons Why You Hire the Wrong People (Inc.com)

Because robots have no feelings and can be programmed to be objective and compliant, Scott Adams suggests that robots will likely replace the middle management sooner than with the skilled labor. The Future of Middle Management (Scott Adams Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – December 9, 2012 Edition

Working with Paul Wilkinson of GamingWorks, Stephen Mann describes some of the customer-oriented issues that IT is still facing and what can IT do to improve the situation. How Gremlins And Vanilla Ice Can Help Us Deliver Better IT Services (Forrester Blogs)

Because the new value IT delivers comes in the form of the new and enhanced applications needed to enable business changes, Bob Lewis outlines six suggestions where an IT organization can speed up the IT side of business change projects. 6 tips to break app dev bottlenecks (InfoWorld)

Responding to a recent discussion on Twitter and Back2ITSM about the service catalog, James Finister explains what myths have surrounded the service catalog concept and what we can do with service catalog to extra real value. We Need to Talk About the Service Catalogue (Core ITSM)

Making the observations that there are many under-utilized or abandoned IT systems and processes, Rob England discusses the reasons why those systems eventually turn into ruins and fossils in the land of IT. IT archaeology (The IT Skeptic)

The complex business workflows today often cross many organization silos. Alex Honor discusses where some of the pain points in handoffs are and how to fix them. Improving Flow: Fix the Handoffs to Remove Your Worst Bottlenecks (dev2ops)

Dealing with two potential camps of constituents who require different sets of information from the ITIL framework, Stuart Rance suggests that perhaps another set of publications that focusing on the leading edge practices maybe an answer. Is it time for a two-speed ITIL? (The ITSM Review)

Many of us are increasingly tied to our electronic devices and find it difficult to disconnect because of our fear or dislike for boredom. Kirstie Magowan explains why we need to disconnect from time to time and treat boredom as an opportunity. When was the last time you were bored? (Common Sense and Service Management)

Believing in that we are on the cusp of what he calls “The Human Age,” Umair Haque proposes what we all can do to help fix the world in which we live in. How to Fix Your Soul (Harvard Business Review)

When delivering custom work, Seth Godin talks about why helping a client envision what they want before they see it is a worthy endeavor. Avoiding “I’ll know it when I see it” (Seth’s Blog)

Finishing presentations on-time is an important speaking skill. Andrew Dlugan outlines five suggestions that speakers can use to better control their presentation timing. Presentation Timing: 5 Tips to Stay On Time and Avoid Audience Wrath (Six Minutes)

Fresh Links Sundae – December 2, 2012 Edition

While many organizations may view ITSM as a simple exercise of implementing the processes in the ITIL books, Kirstie Magowan explains why “implementing” ITIL is missing the point and how not to lose the big picture. Repeat after me: “I am not IMPLEMENTING ITIL®” (The ITSM Review)

It is human nature to seek out the quick and simple solutions to business problem, and ITSM is no different. David Ratcliffe explains why IT Service Management is all about the challenge of leading and managing people. My 1, 2, 3 of ITSM: Or, What Is IT Service Management REALLY All About? (Pink Elephant)

Many organizations would like to get a much better handle on the tracking and utilization of their IT asset. Jon Hall talks about why he thinks IT Asset Management has an image problem and what we can do to address and improve the situation. Let’s work together to fix ITAM’s image problem (Evolving ITSM)

Partly spurred by Jon Hall’s insights on IT Asset Management, Stephen Mann talks about the current state of Software Asset Management effort in many organizations and presents a quick analysis. The Rise, Fall, And Rise Of Software Asset Management: It’s More Than Just A “Good Thing To Do” (Forrester Blogs)

We all had our fair share of working with ineffective managers or bosses. Bob Lewis gives two suggestions on what can leaders do to prevent or to minimize the negative effects of having ineffective managers in their organizations. An ounce of bad-boss prevention (IS Survivor Publishing)

Gamification has been a popular topic in the IT service management space lately. Martin Grobisen shares his opinion on why such reward and recognition mechanism may not be as effective as some would like to believe. Service Desk Gamification – Not the Priority (ITSM Lens)

Compelled by a recent debate on the need for service catalog, Rob England outlines his view of why service catalog is a critical foundation to any IT service provider organization. Service catalogue and service request catalogue (The IT Skeptic)

Responding to a recent LinkedIn discussion where someone advocates that incident priority should never be changed once determined, Gregory Tucker expresses his view on why the incident prioritization is much more dynamic. Changing Incident Priority and Incident Prioritization in Detail (ITSMinfo.com)

It is almost the end of 2012. Bob Sutton updates his reading list and shares them with his blog readers. 11 Books Every Leader Should Read: Updated for 2012 (Bob Sutton)

Being a parent can be a fulfilling life experience, but you don’t need to be a parent to appreciate what Rachel Martin has written for all of us to think about. 43 Life Lessons that Kids Teach Us. (finding joy)

Fresh Links Sundae – November 25, 2012 Edition

The inability to reach workable decisions often contributes to the perception or reality that IT is a bottleneck to the business. Bob Lewis explains how playing the game of bridge can offer a lesson in business decision making. Next-gen IT trump card: Trust (InfoWorld)

While preparing for her upcoming presentation at TFT12, Kirstie Magowan shares her thoughts on what impact social technologies and events like TFT12 will have on professional association membership in general. The future is now…be part of it (Common Sense and Service Management)

Working with his ITSM colleagues, Tobias Nyberg discusses what he had to do in order to overcome an organizational inertia of getting other members in the organization to adopt the use of the ITSM tool. Not invented here (The ITSM Review)

As an IT manager, I believe hiring technical professionals can always benefit from a consistent, structural approach that is fair and thorough. Chris Foot outlines the approach that his organization uses to recruit and screen DBA candidates. The Art of the Interview (Remote DBA Experts)

During a recent interview with Oleg Skrynnik of Cleverics, David Ratcliffe shares his views on the Pink Elephant conference and the future prospect of ITSM. Talking About The Past, Present & Future Of Pink & ITSM (Pink Elephant)

Reacting to a recent research report on IT customer service impact to the business, Rob England gives his interpretation of the report, and why he does not quite accept the premise that there is a causal link between high levels of service and productivity. How interpretation of statistics can distort any picture (The IT Skeptic)

We often find ourselves selling and promoting many products or idea. Mark Goulston suggests four tactics to use to get people to take notice and tune in to your messages. How Do You Grab People’s Attention? (Usable Insight)

We often choose to follow someone as a role model based on how much similarities we see between us and the role model persons. Jeff Haden advises why such approach can be problematic and how we can look at this differently. Role Models: Why You Might Need a New One (Inc.com)

Using a camping example, Seth Godin talks about how setting up a camp fire can also apply to how we market and promote. Wasted kindling (Seth’s Blog)

Communication breakdowns in organizations can hinder or adversely affect their operations. Marshall Goldsmith discusses why these lapses happen and how they can be avoided. Sharing is Caring (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – November 18, 2012 Edition

From his article at the recent ITSM 12 conference, Robert Stroud explains why the Service Manager needs to be more versed in the business and less in technology, a transition from a purely operational role to a more business oriented one. Delivering ‘Innovative Business’ – The Next Challenge for Service Managers (Service Management – CA Technologies)

Using a railroads operation example, Rob England discusses what a Problem Management process is and how it differs from Incident Management. Problem Management Defined (The ITSM Review)

When measuring the effectiveness of your knowledge management effort, Simon Morris talks about the use of metrics and how to improve them to yield a more meaningful measurement. Tracking user behaviour with Cohort Analytics (ServiceNow Community)

Referring to the recent NY Times columnist Nate Silver’s work on the presidential election, Bob Lewis talks about why hard evidence and careful analysis really should be the cornerstones of business decision-making. The cloud of intellectual relativism has a Silver lining (IS Survivor Publishing)

Although nature disasters tend to grab our attention as prominent threats to the business, the human risk factors should not be overlooked. Kirstie Magowan outlines the approaches we can take to minimize the human risk factors in order to protect the business from avoidable threats. Take care of your human risk factors first (Common Sense and Service Management)

Although there are many poorly implemented SLAs and some people are calling for its abolishment, Barclay Rae advocates that there are better ways to arrive at a solid SLA that is valuable to ITs customers. SLAs (Barclay Rae)

Attracting great people who can fit well into an organization is a common challenge for many hiring managers. Nick Corcodilos explains why hiring great people should be based on common interests, not common desperation. Yada, Yada, Yada: Desperate hiring (Ask The Headhunter)

Talking with Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Jeff Haden discusses why a popular career management belief might not be practical and require a second thought. Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Terrible Advice [] (Inc.com)

I just finished the mentoring program with my Ascend USC student mentees, and I am going to miss working with them. To learn more about what else you can do bless the young ones you love, check out what Rachel Martin has suggested. 51 Things You Can Do That Will Bless Your Kids (finding joy)

While you are working hard to bless and empower your young ones, don’t stop there. Check out what Toni Birdsong has suggested you can do in their online worlds. Catch Your Kids Being Awesome Online (InternetSafety.com Blog)