Getting Things Done

As a system administrator, there are always way more tasks than time and priorities change hourly if I'm lucky. At some point a fellow techie recommended David Allen's "Getting Things Done" and initially I didn't recognize the value of the book. Earlier this year I re-read the book, then I bought it on Audible and listened to it again, then I read it again; slowly David Allen has taken over my brain. In fits and starts I tried to implement his ideas and now I really feel like I'm getting the hang of it.

It's all about the tools, as a geek I wanted a fully electronic, preferrably web-based system for implementing GTD. However experience has driven me to a more blended approach using Outlook and a set of tickler folders for the paper; plus a few web tools like Zoho Notebook. But the sense of control you get from GTD is worth every second spend on implementation and now I'm becoming an organization snob with others. Of course I have to temper my critcism because I've misplaced one of my tickler folders in transit and misfiled several in haste, created a few moments of panic.

If you look at Getting Things Done, here's a few tips from my experience:
-Buy the labeler, it's really worth it. In fact my wife and kids keep stealing mine so we may have to invest in a second one.
-Take the time to do the initial collection "blitz", I've found things I missed and had to attack those areas piecemeal and wasted a bit of time doing it.
-Don't be afraid to change your system, I went from 100% Outlook, to a spreadsheet, to a Outlook/paper hybrid and I'm sure I'll change again.
-Read the book, listen to the book, re-read the book, seek out GTD articles on the web. Lots of different types of people are using GTD and there are tons of folks blogging on it as well. Start with 43Folders.com.

Projects, programs and PMO's

As a humble IT staffer and amateur project manager (I openly admit that all my skills are by the seat of my pants), Enterprise Project Management (or Program Management these days) is a dirty word. We have a brand-spanking new Project Management Office (PMO, put it in your glossary) and so far it's been nothing but a headache for the rank and file. I've worked in organizations with PMO's before and my general experience is that it creates an ivory tower of project managers (PM's) that only work on "important" (read high profile) projects. Our new PMO has both PM's and Business Analysts(BA's) taken from ITS, all under a new assistant director (don't get me started on manager to associate ratios) who was a consultant advising us on project management lifecycles (another dirty word).

The first thing that happened upon the formation of the PMO was that the PM that specialized in the business area that I support came to me and bailed on my project. A major vendor has been upgrading our LoB app from mainframe green screens to a nice web app, we've gotten two major modules in two years and are gearing up for number three. Each release requires quality assurance testing, user acceptance testing and general project management of communication and issues. The new assistant director decided that this project was undeserving of a PM and that I could run it fine on my own. Never mind that I'm already at task overload with other projects and my normal duties, I needed one more thing to get me to jump off the parking garage.

The icing on the cake was in a staff meeting we lowly IT pions (we work directly with the business, so therefore we're pariahs) would have to strengthen our business analysis skills because the BA's of the PMO (alphabet soup, anyone?) were too busy. I don't mind new skills, unfortunately I'm already learning a whole new business application that was dumped on my plate and trying to bring it from the brink of neglect to the point where the server does require a daily restart.

Needless to say, I'm in love with the whole Enterprise Project Management concept, since it looks great on paper and centralizes resources as far away from where they're needed as possible. I personally believe that IBM, HP and all the other IT consulting heavyweights have a conference each year and come up with the "next big thing". Be it ITIL, SOA, or Web 2.0, I think it's all a conspiracy to drive the IT rank and file insane so we can be more easily offshored. Personally I believe in ITIL, I just haven't seen anyone implement it any further than lip service and mountains of procedures that are ignored.

Program management is a whole other post.

IT Outsider

Just a quick comment on the name of the blog. I've been in Information Technology for quite a while now, and my wife will attest that I'm 100% geek; however, I've never really identified with the whole IT mindset, I'm more of a business guy and I often see things from a business point of view. I don't believe technology can fix every business problem, usually a good swift kick in the pants works better. I do believe that technology can often improve business processes, but you have to understand the business before you can improve the process; otherwise you're headed for failure.

I work in a mid-sized company, we are far from cutting-edge, but we do some things well and some things horribly. I'm far from perfect, but I consider myself ahead of the IT crowd because my business users tell me so; even after I drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I see behaviors in both business and IT circles every day that most people recognize as stupid, but often won't take on; I'm not one for letting stupid decisions slide and anyone will tell you I'm not shy with my opinions. So I started this blog in the hopes of sharing some of what I learn day to day, and some of what I screw up so others can avoid it.