Tag: Michael Scarborough

Fresh Links Sundae – February 2, 2014 Edition

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!

IT infrastructure managers need to meet a number of challenges in 2014. Björn Münstermann, Brent Smolinski, Kara Sprague describes 11 practices that will help infrastructure managers navigate a challenging, and sometimes conflicting, set of demands. The enterprise IT infrastructure agenda for 2014 (McKinsey & Company)

IT organizations should periodically exam and evaluate the key metrics they measure. For 2014, Andrew Horne suggests seven measurement priorities recently highlighted in a CEB’s research. 7 New Metrics for 2014 (CEB’s IT Blog)

Many non-IT end users probably are not aware of the software asset management (SAM) practice in the organization and what it means to them. David Foxen explains why SAM is important to an organization and how IT can collaborate with its end users and effectively communicate its SAM practice to them. Introducing Software Asset Management to end users (The ITAM Review)

Often people will ignore ineffective governance or unenforceable policies. Michael Scarborough suggests that IT organizations can improve their effectiveness by regularly evaluating whether the existing policies and procedures in place are still making sense. Governance That Makes Sense (Global Knowledge Training Blog)

Big Data, when practiced correctly, can yield a good amount of insights that might not have been possible with human analysis before. Michael Schrage believes those insights can also lead to dilemmas and unwarranted discrimination when improperly used. He further cautions that all Big Data champions and practitioners need to have a better understanding of how they intend to use the insights for making decisions. Big Data’s Dangerous New Era of Discrimination (Harvard Business Review)

With a strong dependence on IT for many businesses, IT organizations have many challenges on their hands to deliver a stable operation while continue to leverage technologies and innovate. Robert Stroud believes IT service delivery managers have many opportunities to add even greater value to the organization in 2014. Long Live Service Delivery! (CA Service Management)

While resolving incidents and putting fires are commendable things to do, Ryan Ogilvie recommends that understanding and addressing the root cause to an incident will be a much more value-added activity. Score a Service Management Touchdown through Incidents (Service Management Journey)

While use cases are an extremely useful requirements tool and one tool that every BA should have handy, Laura Brandenburg suggests that there are situations in which writing use cases would be a big mistake. 3 Signs You Shouldn’t Be Writing a Use Case (Bridging the Gap)

Fostering a successful culture entails hiring employees who buy into the corporate culture, and it also means getting the wrong employees off the organization. Joel Greenwald believes that the best companies use culture as both a sword and a shield, to improve performance and reduce risk. How to Get the Wrong People Off the Bus (strategy+business)

Today’s connected world means many leaders have access to a global mind that represents both opportunities and challenges. Marshall Goldsmith explains the process of e-coaching and how leaders can leverage the process to manage the opportunities and challenges. E-Coaching Roles (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – January 26, 2014 Edition

Some people don’t like culture change because it is slow and can be ugly. Bob Lewis suggests that you do not choose both aspects when implementing culture change, but you will need to pick one. Quick culture change (IS Survivor Publishing)

To some, big data holds the promise of producing output of unique insight on the information that would be almost unimaginable for a human being to uncover and develop. Mitch Joel believes the trick is to leverage all of this data, analytics and performance in a way that machines can’t. What’s Bigger Than Big Data? (Six Pixels of Separation)

Cloud computing has fundamentally changed how we provide and consume computing services. Hank Marquis talks about how cloud technologies are changing the roles within IT organizations. How Cloud is Redefining IT Job Roles (Global Knowledge Training Blog)

Configuration management (CM) process exists in many IT organization, but many organizations struggle with it. Earl Begley explains why the CM can be difficult to practice well and offers tips to improve the odds for success. Why is configuration management so tough? [] (ITSM Review)

Like many aspects of IT, some organizations have chosen to outsource some or all of their software asset management (SAM) practice to a third-party partner. Kylie Fowler gives three suggestions on how to get the most out of your SAM service experience. Implementing a successful 3rd party SAM Service (ITAM Review)

Many enterprise project/program management offices (PMO) get stuck at a lower level of management maturity and struggle to deliver IT projects that meet customers’ expectation. Pearl Zhu discusses the ways a PMO can use to solidify itself and improve project success rate. IT Transformation: How to Build a Solid PMO Roadmap (Future of CIO)

When asked by his students in his ITIL classes, Michael Scarborough believes that he sees more organizations having difficulty with ITIL is the overall governance. He explains why more organizations struggle with that aspect of ITIL more than others. What’s the Most Challenging Aspect of Adopting ITIL Best Practices? (Global Knowledge Training Blog)

Occasionally we are requested to join a team having difficulties and turn things around. Len Lagestee suggests we first assess the situation and identify the gaps that may exist within the team. So, You’ve Just Joined a Struggling Team (Illustrated Agile)

Leaders are expected to create change, but inconsistency between their talk and their walk can create creditability gap. Susan Cramm discusses the crucial leadership lessons we can all learn from the Pope. Leadership Gone Viral (strategy+business)

We can increase our effectiveness by changing elements of our behavior. Marshall Goldsmith outlines six steps you can follow to achieve a positive, measurable, long-term change in your behavior. From Good to Great (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – December 22, 2013 Edition

On the surface the two IT management approaches, DevOps and IT Service Management (ITSM), may seem dualistic in nature. In a recorded podcast, Troy DuMoulin and Chris Dancy discuss how DevOps and ITSM are undoubtedly co-dependent to each other and indivisible. PR 52 – Dev&Ops: Defining Value From Two Sides Of The Same Coin (Troy’s Blog)

Many organizations have global operations these days, and some of them deploy IT service desks with multi-language and multi-geography capability. Stephen Mann discusses some of the technology and process challenges of those global IT service desk operations, as well as good practices to consider. Multi-Geography or Multi-lingual (IT) Service Desk Good Practice – Part 1 Multi-geography or Multi-lingual (IT) Service Desk Good Practice – Part 2 (HDIConnect)

There are a number of ways to implement IT Service Management within your organization. Ryan Ogilvie shows us the approach of taking a closer look at where you are now and determining what gaps you may need to fill to move ahead. Service Management Getting Back to Basics – Part 1 – Your IT Teams Service Management Getting Back to Basics – Part 2 – Increased Number of Incidents with No Driver Service Management Getting Back to Basics – Part 3 – No Failed Changes, Incidents You Say? Service Management Getting Back to Basics – Part 4 – Critical Incidents vs Number of Emergency Changes Service Management Getting Back to Basics – Conclusion – Wrapping it Together (Service Management Journey)

Many IT organizations have developed an extensive set of metrics to track and to measure performance. While measurements are necessary, Michael Scarborough reminds us the importance of structuring the measurements for overall effectiveness. CSFs and KPIs: How Many Does Your Organization Manage? (Global Knowledge Training Blog)

Statistics have shown that the large projects requiring years of implementation or millions of budget fail significantly more often than the regular, smaller projects. Pearl Zhu explains why big project can be more fragile and how to improve overall IT project success rate from the enterprise architecture perspective. Why is Big Project more Fragile (Future of CIO)

As 2013 draws to its conclusion, Andrew Horne summarizes five of CEB’s most popular topics from this year and highlight what they mean for the IT organizations in 2014. Five Lessons from 2013 (And What They Mean for 2014) (CEB’s IT Blog)

As organizations scale up the use of Agile, it can become difficult for teams to establish a shared understanding because everyone can work on multiple products or be geographically disparate. Dennis Stevens believes that you don’t have to sacrifice shared understanding for growth, and he explains how organization can still effectively scale up Agile. How to Achieve Shared Understanding When Scaling Agile (LeadingAgile)

Today’s work reality, with the perceived decline in job security and the erosion of corporate loyalty, can make it difficult for organizations to manage its talent pool. Marshall Goldsmith talks about the trends that have shaped the workplace and suggests seven approaches for an organization to retain its high performers in turbulent times. Retain Your Top Performers (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

We have learned from experience that being present and active engagements are essential in building relationships. When interacting with others in the digital space, the required “presence” can be difficult to achieve. Ted Rubin outlines the techniques we should consider when trying to build an effective relationship without being physically present. How to Look People in the Eye Digitally (Ted Rubin Straight Talk)

Taking a big idea from inception all the way to execution can be a complex process that requires much hard work of planning, adjusting, and, sometimes, retreating and starting over. Nilofer Merchant shares her experience and perspectives on how to strategize approaches for launching a new endeavor. How to Tackle The New Thing (Nilofer Merchant, LLC)