Tag: Peter Saddington

Fresh Links Sundae – November 17, 2013 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!

When tackling a very large initiative, most of us will attempt to divide up the effort into multiple smaller projects to reduce complexity. When large projects get divided into chunks, it’s possible to lose coherence. Bob Lewis suggests ways to keep the projects coherent and focused. When organizing large programs, don’t be incoherent (IS Survivor Publishing)

Deploying and managing IT in the developing countries can be decidedly different from managing technologies in the western world. Bright Simons describes his experience deploying enterprise IT in Africa and the lessons that IT organizations should consider. What’s Different About Enterprise IT in Africa (Harvard Business Review)

Many IT organizations work hard to improve their working relationships with the business. Peter Lijnse outlines four Business Relationship Management activities that IT can leverage to improve its effectiveness when working with business. The Business and IT Love Requires Lubrication (The ITSM Review)

When organizations execute major IT initiatives, conflict or duplication of effort can arise if the PMO and the IT service management team are not in sync. David Cole recommends ways for both organizational functions to work together. A Loving Co-Existence: When ITSM Overlaps With the PMO (Plexent Blog)

IT is one field where the gender gap issue is often discussed. Aprill Allen suggests ways where we can work together to address the imbalance. Redressing the balance: women in IT(Service Management) (Knowledge Bird)

Many experts have opinions and suggestions for supervising, managing, and leading female employees. Jeff Haden would suggest that the first thing a leader should do is to look past the gender differences and focus on the individual employees. Groundbreaking New Way to Lead Female Employees (Inc.com)

Leaders in large companies face a number of side-effects that can come up as a result of the complex structure. Julian Birkinshaw explains what forces are shaping these complex organizations and recommends approaches leaders can take to keep their organizations on track. Managing Complexity Is the Epic Battle Between Emergence and Entropy (Harvard Business Review)

When individuals become exceedingly rigid with their thinking or positions, it can create communication obstacles for the organization. Len Lagestee offers his suggestions on how to overcome the obstacle. Defending Your Position (Illustrated Agile)

When an organization leverages the Agile framework, the product owner plays a crucial role in the successful execution of the development effort. Peter Saddington provides a list answers to the commonly asked questions about the product owner role. FAQ on Most Common Product Owner Questions for Management (Agile ScoutAgile Scout)

Anna Farmery believes happiness and meaning do matter and are crucial to success in life and in business. She offers her tips on creating more of both. An Ocean Rower’s Top Tips for Happiness and Meaning (The Engaging Brand)

Fresh Links Sundae – September 22, 2013 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. More importantly, I picked these articles to help my fellow IT professionals be more successful. 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!

Working in IT organization often involves working with consultants, and conflicting dynamics can emerge between management, consultants, and practitioner employees. Tobias Nyberg provides suggestions on how to deal with those situations when one of those conflicting dynamic surfaces. Practitioners: Do you feel unwelcome in your hometown? (The ITSM Review)

Defining IT services should always be done from a business perspective. Ryan Ogilvie explains what elements are necessary when working with customers in defining and implementing IT services. Baking Up IT Services – Swedish Chef Style (Service Management Journey)

According to Patrick Gray, enterprises are losing their emphasis on the bread and butter of IT, and the need for server technicians and systems administrators seems to be diminishing. He advises how IT professionals can plan around this trend. Make a plan as enterprises hollow out IT (TechRepublic)

As a data scientist, Cathy O’Neil receives lots of attention and emails just for her my job title and Ph.D. in math. While it is flattering, she also points out that some serious headwinds are forming in the sea of big data. The bursting of the big data bubble (mathbabe)

As a new business analyst, it can be a challenge to figure out how to learn everything you need to know to be successful. Laura Brandenburg articulates the type of knowledge you need and how to document and synthesize the information you pull together. How to Learn About a New Business Domain (Bridging the Gap)

There are a number of writings that talk about and define leadership. Peter Saddington presents his definitions of leadership using the Agile perspective and outlines questions that can help you evaluate your leadership strengths and weaknesses. Agile Coach Leadership Traits (Agile Scout)

Andrew Dlugan believes that poor speakers often fail to understand the concept of the ladder of abstraction. He proceeds to define the ladder concept and explains why it is essential for all speakers to know. The Ladder of Abstraction and the Public Speaker (Six Minutes)

We may work with some people who, for one reason or another, choose not to be committed, to their work and also to the full experience and the team that they are a part of. Mitch Joel explains why it is necessary to periodically examine our own perspectives with the question “Why are you doing the work that you’re doing?” Opt In To Your Work (Six Pixels of Separation)

According to Jeff Haden, being stuck on measuring yourself against the entrepreneurial greats like Steve Jobs is only self-defeating. He suggests striving for a much better goal. The Best Kind of Entrepreneur to Be (Inc.com)

Referring to his book Linchpin, Seth Godin talks about what will the quality jobs of tomorrow look like. Q&A: Linchpin: Will they miss you? In another similar discussion, he talks about whether the war for talent is real or merely perceived. The truth about the war for talent (Seth’s Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – September 15, 2013 Edition

With so many data sources available to us, it is easy to analyze the data but still not getting the required results. That can happen when we analyze data without truly understand the business questions behind the analysis. Brian Barnier outlines four potential collaboration opportunities where IT and business can work together. Dangers of big lazy data / opportunities for IT leaders (ISACA Now)

When it comes to initiating an IT service improvement plan, a number of considerations should go into the planning. Over a three-part series, Michelle Major-Goldsmith presents a list of suggested starting points for your service improvement planning effort. A Trilogy – The One-Hour Service Improvement Plan (Part 2) (Part 3) (SHIFT)

With excellent customer service being one of the key goals of IT Service Management, Ryan Ogilvie reminds us that the ability to measure the quality provided is just as essential as the ability to provide services faster and cheaply. Request Fulfillment – How Good Are You? (Service Management Journey)

With today’s quick business pace, businesses are asking their IT organization to be more efficient and agile in providing the technology services the businesses require. Robert Stroud advocates that delivering business values, maybe on a smaller scale but quickly and efficiently, is the way to go. Can DevOps Get You Out of “Technical Debt”? (HDIConnect)

IT organizations manage a number of third party and off-the-shelf software assets on the regular basis. Rory Canavan presents a detailed asset management process model for managing changes to the software owned by an organization. Process of the Month – Software Change Management Process (The ITAM Review)

While teams bring many positive contributions to collaboration, they also can be a significant source of indecision. Patrick Gray makes recommendations on how we can do to stop this reactive behavior from taking hold in our organization. Eradicate a culture of indecision (TechRepublic)

In our lives, we probably know someone who seems to have a solid future ahead but somehow screws up life on a major scale. Susan Cramm explains how we can continually reflect and keep the worst in us from getting the best of us. Keeping the Stupid Out of Your Life (strategy+business)

With today’s globally distributed teams, having clear, timely communication amongst the teams is more crucial than ever. Over a three-part series, Peter Saddington presents his suggestions for managing a distributed Agile-based team. Ideas on Managing Distributed Teams Using Agile [1/3] – Introduction and Ceremonies (Part 2 – The Retrospective) (Part 3 – Review and Conclusion) (Agile Scout)

Some leaders try hard to win all the time, and they inadvertently try to add value to everything his team comes across. The behavior often adds incremental value while substantially diminishes employment involvement and commitment. Marshall Goldsmith advises us on what we can do stop this ineffective behavior. Adding Value — But at What Cost? (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Successes in career are rarely achieved without struggle and rejections along the way. When you have one of those dip/valley moments, Mitch Joel reminds us how we can confront those negative experiences on our own. If You Have Ever Been Rejected… Be Like Bono (Six Pixels of Separation)

Something else you might be interested in…

Jim Taggart has released an updated version of his May 2011 e-book. The e-book begins with a brief overview of the global context within which organizations will operate in the years ahead. He also highlights the key trends that will have noticeable impacts follow. Workforce of the Future: Building Change Adaptability, 2nd Edition – NEW E-BOOK! (ChangingWinds)

Fresh Links Sundae – August 5, 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.

No matter what your job is in IT, Bob Lewis gives examples and suggests why everyone can and should play a part in moving the organization forward. Next-gen IT starts with you (InfoWorld)

In the ITSM context, are incidents and requests same or different? Using an inquiry from a blog reader, Rob England gives his take on that question. Shopping: request vs incident (The IT Skeptic)

Cloud, Integration, Mobile, and Big Data are popular topics of discussion in IT these days. From an application management perspective, Julie Craig explains why these technologies are introducing new challenges and exacerbating existing ones. What do Cloud, Integration, Mobile & Big Data have in common? (EMA Blog Community)

Although the concept of ITSM intuitively makes sense for many, Roman Jouravlev explains, in his views, what ITSM is and why some organizations may not be ready to go to a complete service-based relationship. Inevitably happy: does “IT management” always require “service”? (ITSM Portal)

Taking a new approach, Eveline Oehrlich describes Forrester’s new vision for ITSM and its new Playbook that helps an IT organization discover, plan, act, and optimize. The Future Of ITSM Drops The “IT” And Replaces It With Automation (Forrester Blogs)

As a follow-up to Eveline Oehrlich’s blog post, Robert Stroud shares a different viewpoint of his. Further Evidence that Infrastructure and Operations is Irrelevant? (CA on Service Management)

For some organizations, business analysts are in high demand. Michael Fitzgerald discusses what makes a good analyst and how to leverage the role for your business’ benefits. Tech hot shots: The rise of the IT business analyst (InfoWorld)

Relationship building exercises in a large organization can be daunting, Peter Saddington five roadblocks to positive human relationships and how to overcome them. 5 Tips for Building Relationships at a Client (Agile Scout)

Using recent personal examples, Robin Fisher Roffer articulates how we can become fearless in bad situations and find the chance to learn and to grow. How To Transform From Flustered To Fearless (Simply Hired Blog)

Contrary to common cliché, Peter Weddles advocates the notion of Career Activism and why such notion is important for building a lasting career. There is No Gain in Pain (WorkStrong)