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Synaptic: Summing up the Internet in a single word

Over-simplifying complex constructions is often very dangerous. But it never stops us trying, even when we immediately recognise that we know better than to try.

Nevertheless, abstraction of complex concepts can help understanding. Abstraction can also lead to interesting conversations.

So when @jobsworth (aka J.P. Rangaswami, Chief Scientist at Salesforce.com) recently invited the Twitterati to sum up the internet in one word (hashtag: #iiow) my response was both instinctive and instantaneous.

In my view the Internet can best be described (if we really had to do it in a single word) as Synaptic.

:mrgreen: Just like brain synapses, the Internet contributes to consciousness by facilitating the connections between ideas, people and places.

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BYOD? No thanks! I’ll Use My Own (UMO)

Consumerisation is one of the ugliest words in the IT vocabulary. But it is becoming an accepted term to describe the practice of workers using their privately owned equipment and web services at work. Which is why, in some cases, an even uglier acronym is used: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), which is all well and good if we are simply talking about physical pieces of kit.

But BYOD hardly covers the use of privately-owned non-device items, such as social media and webmail accounts.

And yet for some people BYOD may well be the lesser of two evils, when compared with the plug-ugly word, consumerisation.

There is another problem, though, that is more fundamental than the relative mellifluousness of the words used.

The phrase Bring Your Own Device seems to imply the granting of permission [or even an instruction] for a worker to use their own kit. Gee thanks, most gracious of you, Boss.

We are living in a perpetually connected world and the boundaries between working lives and personal lives are increasingly blurred so we need to realise that well-motivated, net savvy workers will look to maximise their personal technology assets, regardless of context.

But, notwithstanding appropriate policies and safeguards to protect the workplace, we must remember that it is always the owner-user’s final decision to make, whether or not to use their private equipment and services at work.

:mrgreen: So perhaps a better description of consumerisation [than BYOD] would be UMO (Use My Own) – this is not only device/ service neutral but also a better reflection of where the decision really lies.

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Panic and carry on

The recent, self-induced, fuel shortage is a clear example of an emergent system. Although the effects are similar to the UK fuel crisis of 2000, the dynamics are very different.

Panic buying is a classic Systems archetype, usually described as The Tragedy of the Commons, whereby the actions of individuals compromise each other and the general whole.

For the past few years I have given a short presentation on the Y2K System failure that almost crippled the UK, nothing to do with IT infrastructure but all about the behavioural/ social systems at play and the diverse agents active during the fuel crisis. That situation was perfect for a Systems-based analysis. The recent situation is probably more suited to psychoanalysis.

:mrgreen: It’s a great pity, but no surprise, that so many of our elected politicians seem incapable of joined-up-thinking.

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New media needs new mindsets

New media needs new mindsets. It’s absolutely important that we stop trying to shoe-horn our old ways of business thinking into the connected world – especially in terms of communication and marketing. We have moved into the era of engagement, which is probably why broadcasters are struggling to keep pace

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Time to disintermediate IT recruitment?

I am very sceptical when I see yet another article presaging an “IT skills crisis” because I have long held the view that the UK is more than self-sufficient in technology skills.

The so-called ‘skills gap’ is generally to be found between supply and demand, i.e. the disconnect between skills holders and those who need the skills.

In days gone by this gap was undoubtedly the basis for a very vibrant contract market. Since then, however, the skills base has grown substantially – therefore increasing the pool of available and highly-skilled people.

However, despite legislation, there is also recognition that the IT talent pool is continuously drained by vigorously applied recruitment practices that still reinforce widespread perceptions of ageism.

The paradox is that we often hear of a skills gap, in parallel with tales of highly-skilled people leaving the industry.

I have also heard many ‘leavers’ cite frustration with the recruitment processes, feeling poorly served by agencies who don’t have the skills themselves to assess candidates properly.

Generally speaking the agencies, in defence of their short-listing processes, cite overwhelming responses to advertised posts. Which seems to re-inforce my perception that the UK does not have an IT skills gap.

My challenge to the IT recruitment process (employers and intermediaries) is to devise ways of working (particularly selection) that genuinely serve both clients and candidates.

Despite the broad application of IT to disintermediation of other business processes, we don’t yet seem to have come up with an effective application in the area of IT recruitment. :mrgreen:

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Every CIO’s Guide to Managing Risk

This seminar takes an objective look at the risks associated with IT applications and software projects, and offers practical guidance on how you can reduce risks and maximise your chances of delivering business benefits.

It will provide you with an essential guide to the core principles of good risk mitigation for IT transformation programmes.
18 April 2012, 2pm – 4:30pm Central London – British Library Conference Centre
Free to attend, but spaces are limited please email info@thehubevents.com to reserve your place

Good risk “habits” will allow your business to respond rapidly and confidently to change. You’ll see how some organisations are able to deliver the business benefits from transformation programmes and software systems more than four times faster than average.

Case study examples will show how market leaders:
maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of application portfolios
manage the risk of legacy IT systems
reliably deliver the desired business outcome from software projects
ensure value for money from software development budgets
realise the benefits of adopting an agile approach to enhancing and developing software
Practical sessions will illustrate how these principles can be applied in your organisation. You’ll go away equipped with the know-how to address the key risks to IT systems performance and dramatically improve the value IT delivers to your organisation.

Introduction and Welcome, Colin Beveridge
Part 1: Every CIO’s Guide to Pro-Active Risk Management – What is IT Risk Management?, John Bowen, CAI
Are you managing risk or reacting to the resulting problems?

In this first of two presentations, we identify information technology risks that jeopardize your ability to meet your commitments to your company. You will receive a recommended approach to risk assessment, risk monitoring and risk control. Through successful risk management your IT department will be positioned to add greater business value to your organization.

Our expert practitioners will address:
Identifying “Commitment to Deliver” (services, applications, SLA’s, business goals, budget)
Establishing the “Ability to Deliver” (processes, staff, knowledge, infrastructure)
Ensuring you meet or exceed the commitment to deliver
Identifying and mitigating threats to delivery
Visibility of services, costs, benefits and value
Governance and control (schedules, processes)
Optimization. How to transform IT to deliver what the business needs, when it needs it, in less time, at less cost.

Part 2: Every CIO’s Guide to Pro-Active Risk Management – IT Risk Management Revealed, Nick Spanos, CAI
This second of two presentations provides examples of risk control practices and tools through actual case studies. Practical examples allow participants to gain a good understanding of how these principles can be applied in their own organization. Attendees will leave this event equipped with the know-how to address the key risks to IT performance and visibly improve the value IT delivers to their organization.

Using business case studies of best practice in action, we show how market leaders:
Maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of application portfolios
Manage the risks of legacy systems
Reliably deliver the desired business outcome from software projects
Ensure value for money from IT budgets

Making the Change – The Management Context – Sue Rule and Phil Standing, SMS Exemplar
Changing behaviour is key to effective IT risk management. The challenge for management is to change your organisational culture from a ‘fire-fighting’ approach to a pro-active capability to solve problems and learn from experience. That means engaging your people in real change – not simply compliance. This presentation draws on case history to show how you can:
set business objectives from stakeholder’s goals
make an objective evaluation of your current state; ie identify problems, how requirements are developed from the objects, how well are issues defined, how visible are they, how well is IT aligned to the business?
identify root causes, possible counter measures and actions
“Stop the line” until major problems are fixed
ensure your organisation’s culture supports new initiatives
put in place an objective set of measures which tell you where you are, how well you are doing, what further improvements need to be made
break changes down into incremental steps, each low risk/cost, makes the change initiative steerable, measurable, understandable and visible
Attendance is free, but places are limited. Please request your place by emailing info@thehubevents.com or calling 0161 484 5002.

Speaker Biographies

Colin Beveridge is a highly-regarded IT management troubleshooter, author, and Interim CIO/ IT Director. He has worked with many world-leading clients, delivering complex change in the private, public and third sectors; often in challenging and sensitive situations. Colin is passionate about helping IT leaders find effective ways to make things better than they are. As an influential, award nominated IT management columnist and blogger, Colin is committed to using his online profile to share his own experiences, and help others learn and share best practice with each other.

Colin has recently completed The Finance Director’s guide to managing IT (pub. ICAEW 2011); he is also the author of Aligning IT with Business Strategy – a Best Practice Guide for decision makers in IT (pub. National Computing Centre 2004). He holds an MSc in Information Systems from the Open University and is a Chartered Fellow, Trustee and Vice Chair of Council at BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. He is also a Fellow of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

John Bowen is Director of International Operations for Computer Aid, Inc., responsible for managing CAI’s global IT solution centers and for expanding CAI’s international presence. John served for nearly ten years as CIO of PPL Global, the international division of PPL Corporation. In that role, John was responsible for IT management and operations in eight companies in five countries in Latin America and Europe and lived for several years in Argentina and Chile. John has more than 35 years of IT experience including executive leadership, project management, scientific and business application development and operating systems programming. John authored an acclaimed project management methodology and established PMOs in multiple companies in the US and Latin America. He developed and delivered project management training to more than 300 IT professionals in five countries in Spanish and English. You undoubtedly see John’s work every month; he invented the algorithm for the first electricity customer bill usage bar graph, code still used by nearly every electricity distribution company in the world. John is a magna cum laude graduate of DePauw University with degrees in mathematics, computer science and symbolic logic. John has taught international business, information engineering and project management for MBA programs at eight universities.

Sue Rule, Managing Director, SMS Exemplar Ltd has been working alongside a leading thinker on Lean and Quantitative Methods, P. Grant Rule, since 1996. As well as collaborating with Grant on presentations and papers, Sue has applied Lean thinking to SMS’ own business processes and gained a good understanding of the principles in practice. As Marketing Director for SMS, she worked to promote the insights into effectiveness in software-intensive systems presented by the Rightshifting Network.

Nick Spanos is a senior manager and management consultant with twenty-five years of experience in the Information Technology industry. Mr. Spanos analyzes IT organizations and processes and identifies issues that impact the effectiveness and productivity of IT service delivery teams. He develops solution strategies and manages the transformation of IT organizations that include IT process reengineering and the implementation of tools and metrics.

Philip Standing, Managing Partner, SMS Exemplar Ltd is currently working with executive teams in the public and private sector to develop Lean and Quantitative approaches to software development and support. He has a particular interest in developing effective approaches to managing the Lean procurement of software with the emphasis on quality and productivity. Philip is a very experienced computer products and services professional with a thorough understanding of the role of technology in a Lean value stream. He has successfully overseen major product introductions and business change programmes. He has worked in a number of industry sectors including telecomms, data networking and web based companies. His business experience covers both US and European marketplaces in roles including Managing Director, General Manager, Project Director, Product Marketing Manager and Product Development Manager.

Computer Aid Inc (CAI)
This event is free to attend because of the generous sponsorship of Computer Aid Inc. Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI) is a global Information Technology (IT) application management and outsourcing firm focused on helping clients gain a competitive advantage through the effective use of IT. CAI’s methodologies, metrics, and tools improve management control of the IT function, providing the foundation for continuous process and quality improvement. CAI’s methodologies are aligned with standard industry models like ITIL, CMMI and Six Sigma and were honed through learned best practices. Commitment to process enables us to consistently guarantee quality deliverables. CAI has proven to be reliable, predictable, and dependable.
Clients partner with CAI to achieve:
A value based, defined and measurable solution – not just billable hours
Improved IT productivity. As a result clients can do more with less
Management control which includes service level and scope management to ensure consistent, high quality outcomes
High business user satisfaction through increased visibility and quantifiable results
These achievements mean savings, improved effectiveness, increased credibility, reduced risk and better utilization of IT resources!

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