Follow up

On the heels of change....following up from the last post so to speak.

I'll share some of my thoughts and/or priorities for my work the next several months as it relates to quite a number of my past Blogs. I currently have on my white board in my office a list of at least 17 points of interest that I want to look more closely at within our group. My intent to try to flush out areas we can improve Productivity and Efficiency. I'll be asking numerous questions of staff and challenging all of you to be creative in our problem solving.

My questions and interests are based currently upon five areas (criteria) for evaluation:
1) Costs
2) Time/Labor
3) Value/ROI (to MDC)
4) Productivity
5) Efficiency

My first intent here is to "Seek First to Understand." I want to know more about the HOW of what we are doing, then move in the WHY's, then into what if's....during these discussions, I believe we can identify opportunities for improvements. The seventeen areas I'm interested in at first are: Patching, AntiVirus, Altiris, Ordering Process, Drop Ship, WAN, Technologies, Telework, Maintenance, Active Directory, FCS's, Development, Customers, Email Admin, Staffing, TelCom, Research/Development. Yes, some may overlap, but each major area has some specific info I'm looking to evaluate.

One critique all groups in the IT Section are often criticized for is our response times...to whatever our output may be. I will be looking for ways to improve that response time by staying on budget and being on time. I'm interested in this group becoming less REACTIVE and more PROACTIVE...anywhere we can. Obviously we cannot do that everywhere, but I honestly feel we can do much better...with the right planning, right processes, etc.

Perhaps the goal for us could be summed up in two words: "Re-invent IT" I want us to be much more dynamic/agile in who we are and what we do for Conservation. We need to be more nimble....quicker to react and to provide relevant solutions. I'm looking to automate any processes that we can. I want to streamline work flow where ever possible. I want us to fully investigate and utilize full features of existing software and/or hardware. I want each of us to be better at Prioritizing work....we need to see and understand the big picture of MDC. .....all of us.

I want staff to be more creative in problem solving. Give more thought as to how we can bring technology to bear for Conservation....how can we move Conservation forward from a technology perspective. I want staff to be an active component and contributor to improving all we do. If you are looking for Management to provide ALL the answers, you probably aren't the type of person I think is going to help us make the necessary improvements. Most of you are front-line, in the trenches type of people....you know your job better than anyone....HOW can we change it to make you more efficient? How can it be changed to free up some of your time for other projects? Are you doing the right things at the right time? What else do you need to do your job better?

Many more questions will be asked and I'm anxiously looking forward to hearing from each of you. I can't wait to hear the innovation, the thought processes, the excitement from each of you on how we can be a better IT group. It's oft been said, "Change is inevitable"...indeed it is, so why not be a driver of the change and help direct it towards our success.....rather than wait in the wings and have to accept something less than desirable...

I look forward to visiting with all of you and hearing your thoughts. No doubt more change is coming....

TAFN