HP Connections and Learn2Connect

Senior executives at HP sought to improve the time efficiency within their vast global sales organization by making it easier to find experts to assist in sales challenges and learn from other team member best practices. After implementing HP Connections, a social business platform based on Jive Software, HP predicted improved sales efficiency of 20 hours selling time per year, and improved response times to customer inquiries. To achieve these objectives meant aggressively rolling out the platform to sales account teams who would need to adopt the platform and embrace extensive change to their sales process.

Carol’s Learning and Development team came up with a compelling concept, Learn2Connect, a social/collaborative training program that could effectively respond to any resistance to change, support new users as they overcome the challenge of trying something new, and help build confidence in a whole new set of skills and knowledge in the use of HP Connections.

The program followed 3 pillars of design:

1. Learning the Fundamentals: Instructor-led fundamentals classes, intro to Connections webinar briefings, task-specific learning modules.
2. Expanding Capabilities: multilingual, task-specific job aids, blog postings, facilitated discussions
3. Succeeding with Guidance: Personal trainer sessions, daily open conference calls, short training modules available on demand.

Many of the assets for Learn2Connect were housed within the Learning team’s own HP Connections portal. By doing this, the trainers “walked a mile in the shoes” of the sales team to whom they would need to make the platform a part of their work life.

The Learn2Connect space within HP Connections.

You can watch and hear Carol Cohen provide more insight into the project design and some of its innovative components in this Brainshark webinar excerpt:

Hudson Learning & Performance Team Vital to Program Success

With an ambitious, high-profile project on her hands and a tight deadline for delivery, Carol looked to outside partners to help round out the skills necessary to ensure success. She came to me knowing that:

“One of the best things about working with Hudson is the bench strength of the talent available to me. I can count on their Instructional Design, Project Management, eLearning Development and Training skills from any number of high quality resources who have proven experience within my industry.”

-Carol Cohen, Learning Program Manager, HP

Throughout the development of Learn2Connect, we were proud to engage Maryann Glover, Helena Nacinovic, and Todd DeHaven to provide support to Carol’s team. In various roles from personal trainers to blog writers, job aid producers and webinar facilitators, the Hudson team played a key part in the successful execution of the program.

If you would like to download a one page summary of our work on the Learn2Connect program, have a look at our  HP Jive Social Media Intranet Case Study. Congratulations again to Carol, the HP and Hudson team on an outstanding workplace learning and development project! We look forward to much more collaboration in the future.

As leaders strive to inject growth and innovation into their companies in the next few years, information technology managers are no longer faced with the choice of whether or not to embrace the cloud as a critical aspect of their strategy. The cloud has already changed every aspect of our approach and attitude toward business applications and the time to act is now.

The flexibility, scalability and affordability of cloud computing combines Software as a Service (SaaS), virtualization and utility computing in a way that makes it practical for companies of all sizes to utilize. Organizations can edit, share and store as little as an individual document, to billions of transactions in cloud databases. As the cloud has been made available to businesses so, too have consumers been empowered with its ubiquitous availability. The wide adoption of Apple’s iCloud is one example of consumer acceptance of “everywhere computing” paid for by a simple monthly fee. The expectations of the functionality, storage and security of what is available to technology users is therefore increasing everyday

Embracing the cloud does not go without its share of caveats. It is essential for companies migrating to the cloud to focus on understanding how new innovations will further disrupt the market. An IDC Research study claimed the cloud computing industry would reach $73 billion by 2015, bringing with it security, legal and reliability concerns. It is important to recognize that cloud computing should not be bound by a firm execution plan or the traditional stage-gate ideation process, but instead by a plan predicated on learning and discovery. Companies that have not yet begun to embrace the cloud can begin their entrance slowly, starting by moving one or two projects into the cloud to gauge user adoption and IT staff reaction.

As IT organizations rebuild their staff in the economic recovery they should also consider the shift in skills needed to adopt an increasing number of cloud applications. This shift to people who can analyze business, manage vendors, configure apps, and monitor performance, will define the next generation of technology worker.

Hudson IT periodically publishes white papers on current issues facing our technology clients and candidates. For more information on why there is no better time than the present to begin embracing cloud computing, download our whitepaper, 6 Reasons Why You Need To Embrace Cloud Computing Now.

So, it’s no wonder that more and more companies are dedicating significant time, budget and resources to hiring IT professionals with specific skill sets in iOS, Android and Windows mobile development. A 2011 report from tech job board giant, Dice, stated that jobs in the mobile app development space are among their fastest growing hiring requests. Despite this growing need, however, less than one-in-five (17%) of technology professionals have published a mobile app, with only a quarter doing mobile app development full time.

Hudson IT has seen this explosive demand across the nation and has been faced with the challenge of finding the few tech engineers who have made the transition into the mobile app elite. Yet, Hudson has found that just publishing your own app isn’t always enough. Employers also want to make sure that engineers understand the entire mobile app development life cycle. Companies are building out entire teams to plan, build, test and deploy these apps, just as with any other software. The most valuable mobile developers will be the ones who worked as part of a larger team building successful applications. This is the biggest challenge we have as recruiters, finding talent in the mobile space with a record of working in a team environment.

For the IT professionals out there who are interested in adding this skill, it can be a game changer. Not only does it broaden their existing skill set and give them access to more jobs, it also pays as well. According to Dice, a third of developers who have published an iOS app that have made a dollar or more are making significantly higher incomes over all.

So how do you get one of these many great jobs? Go ahead and start developing, even if it is on your own, because employers want to see that you have done it before. Good Web developers with strong backgrounds in Objective C (for iOS) and Java and C++ (for Android and Windows) tend to have an easy transition into the mobile development world. Having a published app is obviously a big selling point, but having a strong background making applications alone can make you significantly more marketable.

Have you made the leap into mobile app development? How are you building your experience. Let us know in the comments.

PMI Chicagoland Knowledge Sharing Event Hosted by Hudson IT Chicago

Last week, Hudson IT Chicago hosted a PMI Chicagoland Knowledge Sharing event facilitated by Scott Stribrny of Group Atlantic Inc. on the topic of risk. It was an insightful and robust dialogue between an industry expert and a room full of talented project managers. The event’s success was due in large part to Cynthia Andersen, PMI Chicagoland’s Knowledge Sharing Chair.

After the event, Cynthia and I had a chance to catch up and learn more about her career, PMI Chicagoland, the Knowledge Sharing events and what PMI Chicagoland members can look forward to in 2012.

Congratulations on a successful event.Looks like we had a great turnout tonight

Absolutely! By my count, there were 40 PMI Chicagoland members in attendance to hear Scott’s best practices and insight on the subject of risk. This chapter has   a lot of experience to share with one another and I am always impressed with the conversations at these events. Plus, they all receive two PDU’s for attending.

Everyone here tonight seems to have an interesting career path, what has been your course thus far?

Well, I progressed from programmer/analyst to a technical lead to a project manager at HSBC. As a result of my career progression, I developed a passion for helping others learn more about project management ideas, methods and techniques which led to volunteering with PMI Chicagoland.

I can imagine you touched many parts of the business and played a major role in the company’s growth?

I held a number of staff and leadership roles from technical lead, where I wrote code, implemented projects, improved business processes and compliance, to IT project manager, where I was the liaison between developers, testers and end users on multiple projects. Managing and leading teams presented its challenges and having a support system like PMI Chicagoland helped me capture ideas from my peers.

What can you tell us about the PMI Chicagoland chapter?

We are PMI’s fifth largest and most active chapter with more than 4,000 members and a dedicated volunteer staff. This strong membership is driven by a mutual desire to learn and share our knowledge and experience.

What can PMI Chicagoland members look forward to in the coming months and early 2012?

I am constantly looking after the best interests of the PMI Chicagoland membership, by bringing together a group of individuals interested in discussing PM ideas and sharing issues and knowledge with their peers. In November, our topic will circle around the cloud and project management. So, stay tuned!

It was a pleasure to listen to Scott Stribrny share his risk management insight with the group. Can you share a little more on his background?

You’re right, he did a tremendous job engaging with the group and helping to spark the exchange of ideas. Scott is president of Group Atlantic, Inc., here in Chicago, and a Senior Consultant with Cutter Consortium’s Enterprise Risk Management & Governance practice. He is an advisor to Global 100 CEOs, CFOs, and program and project managers all over the world; counseling them on the effectiveness, rewards, and risks of their high-tech programs and policies. His current management interests include change management, new paradigms for organizational design, and technology-based competitive strategy.

Scott is a busy project management expert, we are lucky he agreed to help facilitate this event tonight. I think the group learned a lot tonight and can take the ideas back to the office to improve practices a bit.

Well, thanks for taking a couple minutes to speak with me and congratulations on a great event.

Thank you for hosting all of us and providing food and drink.

It was our pleasure. Thank you.

A Simple Process for Project Management

Sometimes we don’t think one person can make a difference, but sometimes that is all it takes. If you think about the ground breaking potential one man with a shovel can make, we can see the earth moving capabilities that one person can have. If you think someone should be doing something about it, remember you are someone!

The trick is the age old adage that the hardest door to open is your own; first thing in the morning. It is the motivational tactics that get you going that will help you work through any issue. Once you have your own juices flowing, it is the cheerleading, coaching mentality that get the rest of the team moving. Once you have a team with forward momentum and defined target, you can set out to conquer the world. A project is just the beginning.

Six Steps to Success

The foundation that I use is the “plain English synopsis”: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How. If you are looking for a template to form your project plan, put these into a project plan and start digging.

1. Who is it for? Who is the sponsor? Who is the stakeholder? Who can do it? Who will be affected?
2. What do they “want” vs. What do they “need”?
3. Why do they need it?
4. Where is it going to get done?
5. When do they need it completed?
6. How do we get it done?

1. Who is it for?

Identify the stakeholders: Who wants something? Who will it affect? Who will pay? Who can do it? Who needs to be communicated with about it? Who will be affected and have we communicated with all of them or better yet had a conversation with them about it?

2. What do they need?

This is the tricky part and plays off of the why do they need it. It should be scalable, but you need to identify what they are trying to do - Develop a checklist of questions and get the answers; then find out “what they need”  – this could make a huge difference in the cost of the project.  I worked with a CIO that stated all he really needed was a little red pick-up truck and they bought him a rocket ship. This defeated the purpose entirely as he just needed to go across the street to the hardware store and he couldn’t even do that without going around the world; he did not have any astronauts; could not afford to hire one and who was going to pay for all of that fuel anyway.

3. Why do they need it?

Identify what it is they really need, not what they think they want. You can grow it from the foundation of what they need to achieve what they need to do. Did you hear that when the space program began, there was a need to be able to write in space – the US spentd millions trying to produce a pen that would write in space without gravity; while the Russians gave their teams pencils.

If people know why and are able to make informed decisions, you get better results then if you just have them fill in templates and they have no background information. Do you want a secretarial pool or a PMO? Set the expectations so you can procure the proper resources (define the scope).

Project management is making informed decisions based upon the knowledge you have uncovered, identified and documented with sign off. Program management is a group of projects and can sometimes be defined as doing a project and developing processes that can be used to supplement “all” of the offices or organizations being rolled out. Problem management, is what I refer to as elbow management – forcing something through and getting out the fire fighting equipment. The team needs to define which way to go – the WHY will help identify what is needed.

4. When do they need it?

This is one third of project management: Cost, Time, Quality. If they need it yesterday, it will make a big difference in all of the other questions. Perhaps they only need part of it yesterday? Maybe you need to bring in a really big team and get it done tomorrow, but this is where the true Project Manager stands out in getting the definitions truly defined and the expectation setting accurate. Get a timeline in place and remember Fire Fighting equipment can be expensive!

5. Where is it needed?

Does everyone need it? A special few? Global implementations? And how does this equate in the entire picture? Where do we find the resources? Where is the bluerint, the design, the architecture,  the expectations, the SOW or the RFP. Let’s architect something. Which brings us to step number 6.

6. How do we get it done?

Once again – all at once, a little at a time, or do they only need a piece of the product for now with another project to upgrade later. Once you have the plan you can start making these decisions. Most people don’t take a job to fail. The failing is in the expectation setting. Teams start a project excited, open and flexible. Once you have trained them and stated the rules they get confused, concerned and frustrated if there is a moving target.  Motivated people with no handbook for delivery is the beginning of chaos and confusion.

Learn and grow together though definitions and expectation setting

A good project manager is a person that can build and mentor the team to define the dimensions of the whole and keep moving forward to build the foundation. The rest is easy as long as you keep talking to each other and measure success. Remember your tool kit: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How. Define and set the expectations; Draw the picture; Implement the project; Measure and celebrate success. It is awfully hard for someone to meet your standards if even you are not sure what they are.

Many (Almost Too Many) IT Certification Choices

There are so many certifications, it is hard to know which ones are important. Project Management Professional (PMP®); Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)^® ; Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)^® ; Program Management Professional (PgMP)^® ; Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)^® ; Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®); Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE®); Cisco Certified Network Engineer (CCNE®) With so many to choose from, which one is right for me and how many do I need? The Project Management Institute web site, PMI.org states, “You need to choose the credential that best fits your knowledge and experience, as well as your future career plans.” I maintain these certifications are all keys and you need to decide which door(s) you would like to open.

Do Some Soul Searching

 ”Focus” is a driving force to lead you where you want to go. One of the tricks I learned is that if you want something, paste pictures of it everywhere you are going to be so that your mind will focus in on it.  It will help you to achieve your goal. If you want to take a trip to Italy would you prepare by learning Spanish?  Your choices might not seem this simple, but if you stop to think and focus on your career goals you will see the key to your success.   

Be Wary of Distractions

When you make a map of where you want to go, You may encounter a few detours. One team I worked on called these distractions “shiny things” – things that are distracters and take you off track. Sometimes detours are good, as you learn new things, it will make you a more interesting person; it may become your new path. Just make sure you set up guidelines; how long will you allow yourself to stray.  

I live in Chicago area, and it always amazes me when someone comes to visit and we go downtown.  The awe they find helps me see new things as I watch them experience the city. There are things to do here that I may never have had an interest in doing.  When taking visitors around and experiencing the city in their eyes I have a learning experience. That doesn’t mean I need to sign up for a class and get a certified in everything that interests me or them.  It does make me a more informed, more interesting person.

It is good to be diversified, but don’t get too far off the track and don’t make yourself highly skilled and marketable in a field in which you really have no interest.  Because if you advertise that you have these certifications, and highlight them in your job search, that is the job you will be offered.

A Critical Choice

Let’s say that you hate working on computers, but you find out that the market is looking for IT professionals who are ITIL certified. If you take the class, to be more marketable, you will end up being qualified to work on computers.  Which is what you don’t like doing!  The better approach is to decide what it is you want to be doing and then find out if there are any certifications that would qualify you for that position.  If you want to be managing ITIL technicians, maybe you do need your ITIL certificate, but would a Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification be a wiser choice?  Even if you take the ITIL class to broaden your knowledge do you want to highlight the certification on your resume? Your resume needs to articulate who you are and what you want to do. It does no good to use key words and sell yourself as one thing and then hope to get an interview/job offer to do something completely different. Talk about sending a mixed message.

Consider the Investment

It is never hard to make a payment if you have invested in something you want. Arm yourself with training and certifications that prepare you for what you want to do. A certification does not give you the experience to do the job.  It is a key to help you unlock the door to your career. Training can be costly and take a lot of time and energy. It is wiser to spend the time and money on something you enjoy doing or learning about rather than a job requirement for something you have no plan of ever doing.

So, what’s your plan?

As  PMI’s website so aptly says on their web page, “You need to choose the credential that best fits your knowledge and experience, as well as your future career plans.” These are the certifications you should identify and go out and get. Then list them on your resume, post them on your walls and live them to the best of your ability. Focus, confidence, knowledge and passion. Build your hopes and dreams on these and you will be successful – but you need to write your own definition and ultimately your own story. The final destination is yours, these are just a few keys to assist you in your endeavors along the way. Choose wisely.

Cloud computing will not run without people. IT professionals will still need to supply core business functions. The techno-functional person will be most in demand when businesses move into the cloud. Most companies will run some technology elements inside the cloud and others will run outside the cloud. Such models will require strong service management between internal and external teams. For example, organizations will still need to network systems and integrate architectures. Network engineers will still have to solve routing and management challenges. All of these elements of an IT function will not evaporate into the cloud.

Dice.com has taken it a step further with their recent tongue-in-cheek video that calls this “Tech Enforcement“. The video suggests that vendor management may be an IT career path unto itself. Take a look:

Within large, well-funded organizations this may become the case. It may also become just another skill you’ll need to succeed as an IT pro within any organization. So, the next time you consider another IT skills certification, consider instead asking your boss to let you manage one of the company’s 3rd party or outsourced relationships. It is experience that will serve you well in the near future.

Photo by: Dice.com

Leaders vs. Project Managers

Susan brings a unique background to her project management engagements. For many years she worked in store management roles at retail chains including Kmart and SportMart. Responsible for opening new stores, Hilty developed firsthand experience with the various people and complex processes that need to be setup and managed for a store to operate successfully. Susan said, “In retail, there were so many moving parts from HR, Payroll, and Finance – my favorite part was figuring out new processes on the fly and mentoring my staff to adopt those processes. We were not given exact instructions on how to open a store. We had to find the necessary resources and make sure that the goal was achieved.”

When I asked Susan how this experience related to her later work in IT consulting and project management, she said “many project managers do not understand how to synthesize varying (often small and inaccurate) amounts of information from stakeholders into a workable plan, and shepherd that plan up and down the decision chain to get things done. Being a leader adds a layer of value to the project management role.”

Building Houses Without Architects

Further along in her career, Susan Hilty developed a knack for complex mergers and acquisitions. Systems and processes were being integrated from many locations or entirely different companies. It was during this experience that she saw the need for a well-run Program Management Office (PMO). “At the time, the CFO budgeted for networked imaging software to cut document production costs and the CIO had the mandate to do software setup and installation for hundreds of users on a timeline. The only problem was, without a PMO taking ownership of the project, no one realized that we had a fleet of copiers in house that were not network capable. We had to procure all new equipment that was not a part of the original budget. If there were a functioning PMO, something that basic would have been uncovered in the project requirements assessment.”

Susan continues to take new project assignments where different stakeholders hold elements of business requirements, software, workflow, training and finances, yet they do not coalesce into a project definition. She said, “It’s like saying you’d like to build a house. You have gotten the loan, ordered a bunch of lumber, hired a painter, and set your move-in date. When I ask what the house will look like when its done, you say you’ll let me know when it’s built.” Susan points out that houses do not get built without the involvement of a good architect and a good general contractor. In addition to their traditional task and resource allocation roles, good IT Project Managers often have to be the architect and general contractor on projects. “I often have to educate upwards, to tell the very people that brought me in to manage a project, what the vision and architecture is.”

Companies Do Not Need IT Project Administrators

Companies have a very narrow vision of what a Project Manager is. Susan Hilty feels that the companies enjoying the most IT project success bring in good project management talent early in the cycle. “I screen my engagements very closely now. There are projects out there where the PM is simply being brought in to run Microsoft Project. Those projects ultimately struggle because project management is seen as an administrative task. When the PM speaks up on architectural or strategic issues, many different decision makers must be consulted. Often the PM is perceived as slowing the project down, or business owners get upset with the questions.” When I asked her to describe her ideal situation Susan said, “When I am in early enough to ensure a proper blueprint for the project. When I can add value to the creation and adoption of new processes, I am the most effective”.

Tips for Surviving as an IT Contractor

Susan has worked with IT Staffing and Consulting firms such as Hudson IT for over 5 years. I asked Susan about what it’s like being an IT contractor in today’s economic environment. She said that her #1 tip is to always keep your own eyes open for new engagements. “The days of companies carrying a huge bench of IT consultants are behind us”, said Susan. “You can’t just stay with one firm and draw a paycheck. Be proactive in this market and keep your eyes and ears open as you get closer to the end of your contract terms. Always work with your staffing partners to see what channels are open to you, and choose projects that will continue to build your capabilities.”

I sincerely hope that Hudson IT can keep quality Project Managers like Susan Hilty on the projects they love for years to come.

It is possible to transfer skills from related industries, like computer simulation to video game development. A good example is Terry Michaels, Sony Online Entertainment, Everquest Developer, who used his experience as flight simulator programmer to land his first gaming job. For more of my thoughts on building your experience in industries related to gaming check out my video post below.

I suggest if you want to land in the gaming industry, get your hands dirty with real-time programming environments as soon as you can.

image by: Jesse757

Mike Whitmer @mlwhitmer CIO of @HudsonIT, and Kirby Miner, CIO of @Trex_Company will speak on experience with #cloudcomputing #WhyCloud

Mid-sized cos. have had significant IT staff reductions, but still have large base of employees to support. Cloud can help. #WhyCloud

Formal def. of Cloud: multitenant shared platform…NOT useful to convince leadership. Go with simple. “Rent from the internet” #WhyCloud

Explaining IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, “ohhh. you mean servers, middleware and apps. Yeah I get it.” via @monkchips http://bit.ly/a497dQ #WhyCloud

Reference to @monkchips 15 Ways to Tell Its Not Cloud Computing http://bit.ly/YuBkc #WhyCloud

Reason 1: COST @mlwhitmer showing detailed cost savings analysis of Exchange E-mail vs. Google. 2nd ROI Analysis of ERP SaaS #WhyCloud

Reason 2: SCALABILITY. Reference @GoGrid‘s charts of IT infrastructure buy cycle before and after #cloudcomputing #WhyCloud

Reason 3: SPEED. Faster provisioning and ability to get upgraded software and hardware as it happens with little intervention. #WhyCloud

Reason 4: USABILITY. Access apps from anywhere and users familiarity with web apps skyrocketing. #WhyCloud

Reason 5: SECURITY & DR More robust off-site disaster recovery/security protocols than most mid-sized biz’s can afford. #WhyCloud

Reason 6: MANAGEMENT. Reference @Proofpoint_Inc study http://bit.ly/dzRwtC most IT staff think #cloudcomputing causes job loss #WhyCloud

Cloud will cause IT skills shift. @jamesurquhart “you still have to connect to the cloud. That’s where the IT depts come in.” #WhyCloud

CIO’s should think ahead for needed skills coming out of recession. Cloud Jobs skyrocketed. http://bit.ly/cTMMLQ via @inDeed #WhyCloud

Hybrid cloud strategy: @mlwhitmer explains mix of cloud and traditional apps #WhyCloud

HudsonIT: Introducing Kirby Miner from @Trex_Company speaking on experience with #cloudcomputing #WhyCloud

Hybrid Cloud strategy @Trex_Company CRM, Payroll/HR, Safety in the Cloud. ERP, Business Intelligence in-house. #cloudcomputing #WhyCloud

Cloud choice factors: App’s impact on business, initial investment, maintenance costs, ability to integrate with other solutions #WhyCloud

Kirby Miner’s Cloud analogy…Lawn Care. We outsource lawn care to allow use of the best lawn without the maint. headache. #WhyCloud

Audience Q: Is using the Cloud good fit for call center? A:It depends. Some components, but not entire solution as yet. #WhyCloud

Audience Q: Why Trex BI and ERP in-house? A: Localization could be issue with ERP. BI integrations with data too complex. #WhyCloud

Audience Q: How secure is the Cloud really? A: The Cloud can be more secure than what you can do in-house. Careful eval needed. #WhyCloud

Audience Q: How Trex IT staff evolved? A: Training need reduced on learning the ‘guts’. Implementation/analysis skills increased. #WhyCloud

Audience Q: Is just IT decision or biz decision? A: More biz leaders able to make functionality decisions. Makes competitive advtg.#WhyCloud

Here is more information on the Hudson IT Cloud Computing webinar and the slide download.