Here’s the meat of it…

1.  Do we need a meeting?   ”The default tendency in any bureaucracy, especially in government, is to substitute discussion for decision-making. If you are the leader of an organization and call a meeting, make sure you have something to communicate or need to learn in a group setting. If the meeting is to be purely informational, without much back and forth, that information could probably be as easily relayed in a memo or email.”
2.  Avoid a meandering session. Rumsfeld says “When I moved into my first executive position in government in 1969, I had a stand-up desk…. standing up while working tends to be an incentive for those who come in for a discussion to say what they need to say, and not linger”.
3. Invite the right people. He thinks that generally too many unnecessary people are invited to meetings.
4. Start and end on time.  This is universal meeting advice.
5. Be prepared and expect preparedness. “During meetings, I confess to being less than patient with folks who bring up irrelevant information or are ill-prepared. I also tend to lack patience with PowerPoint presentations that convey obvious information or slides with grammatical errors and that lack page numbers. There were occasions when I abruptly ended a meeting in progress and advised the participants that we would reconvene when everyone had had time to fully prepare. The response was usually surprised looks all around. In my experience some leaders don’t end meetings when it’s clear they’ve become a waste of time. Instead they sit there and let the meeting experience a slow, painful death.”
6.  ”Encourage others to give their views, even if it may ruffle some feathers.”
7. And then expect resistance to new thinking. “Keep in mind that when new ideas are broached in a meeting, there is often an instinctive and immediate opposition. Large bureaucracies can be masterful at creating an insular and self-serving culture in which people reinforce each other and become captive to what becomes the conventional wisdom. Meetings are a good place to discover whether an organization might be suffering from groupthink. If everyone in the room seems convinced of the brilliance of an idea, it may be a sign that the organization would benefit from more dissent and debate.”
8. Summarize important points and action items. Also, he says “I’ve found it can also be helpful to offer a last opportunity for anyone in the room to speak up by my asking, ‘Is there anything else?’ or ‘What have we missed?’ There often is something important that someone was thinking of saying and never found the opportunity for.”

Sometimes I feel my generosity is abused, but I am glad I err on the conservative side. As long as people meet their deliverables and satisfy the customer, we as managers can make some compromises on internal meetings. We may sometimes need to sacrifice ego as we perform day-to-day management of our teams. In IT, many times we sacrifice the weekend and holidays most people enjoy, and we need to provide some give-and-take in other areas.

That said, revenue-generating activities have a different urgency. IT managers have a responsibility to differentiate.

In this podcast, their advice is regardless of the project methodology or presentation or categorization of project tasks, there are basically only two types: Tasks we need to do today, and tasks we need to do later. Again this actually makes a lot of sense. Spend time worrying about the NOW tasks. Spending an inordinate amount of time planning LATER tasks is not a good use of time since those plans will likely significantly change.

This is good advice for hardcore PMs to hear too.

• We may want to consider presenting on occasion just the NOW tasks to our teams to demonstrate focus and remove potential confusion.
• It helps to realize that our business stakeholders really prefer to view our work at a high-level. The methodology, the process, the templates, the doc, the ceremony – it is all a means to an end, not the end itself.

Now conversely, why can’t we as PMs then pitch our MSP files and scope doc and managed a list with two categories?

• Somebody has to think about the LATER. Someone needs to hold out the LATER for all to see and aim for, because particularly in IT projects, the structure of the LATER affects how the now tasks will be completed.
• Someone needs to continually compare and concatenate the now and later to ensure they fit within the committed scope, schedule and cost.

So PMs, listen to that podcast and don’t be offended. Good stuff.

Ten Tech Skills Heading the Way of the Dinosaur – 2013 Edition

John Hales, Global Knowledge VMware instructor, A+, Network+, CTT+, MCSE, MCDBA, MOUS, MCT, VCP, VCAP, VCI, EMCSA

April 2013

Introduction

IT is a very fast changing industry – what is hot today may be a tiny niche market in only a few years and things that few have heard of may be huge trends in the same timeframe. There are many new technologies on the way, and that means opportunities for those who watch the coming trends, prepare themselves early on, and thus have experience when the demand picks up. There are many articles devoted to what is hot in the IT industry today, so we won’t rehash them here. Instead, we will focus on skills that are going away. If these skills are all you have, you may soon find yourself in an unemployment line. If these skills are the most recent ones you have, NOW is the time to update your skill set and prepare for the future.

This year’s top 10 skills that are going the way of the dinosaur (in no particular order) include the following.

1. Windows XP / 2003 and Earlier

These operating systems are reaching end of life (EoL) where they will not be supported and updated by Microsoft at all. If bugs, exploits, etc. are found in them, they will go unpatched. Not only that, but many new applications no longer support them and drivers are getting harder to come by for them. There are still many who know these operating systems, but the demand for these skills is rapidly shrinking. Windows 2000, NT, 98, etc. are in even worse condition as they are rarely used now. According to Wikipedia, Windows 7 is the market leading desktop OS, with approximately 45 percent of the market, while Windows 2000 is at 0.06 percent, NT 4 at 0.05 percent, and Windows 98 at 0.01percent. Windows XP is still around 40 percent, but that is dropping off rapidly as the end of support nears. On the server side, learn Windows 2008 or 2012 and/or Linux. You’ll need to prepare for today’s operating systems to do any kind of system administration work in the years ahead.

2. Silverlight

Microsoft introduced Silverlight to compete with Adobe Flash and pushed it as a way to develop desktop widgets in Vista, as well as Internet web pages. Silverlight 5 (the most recent version) was introduced in 2011, and Microsoft plans to support it through 2021, or the browsers’ EoL, whichever comes first. (Who runs 10-year-old browsers?). Windows 8 will still run Silverlight on the desktop, but it can’t be used with the new Windows Store (aka Metro) apps or on Windows Phone. It is very much a Windows-only technology. In addition, while the market penetration figures look pretty good (about 65 percent, according to Wikipedia), compared with Flash at over 95 percent, it doesn’t look so good. As for web sites that use it, Silverlight is at 0.3 percent, compared with Flash at 27 percent. Even Flash is being replaced with HTML5, which is also the replacement for Silverlight.

3. Adobe Flash

Flash is widely used, but Adobe dropped support for all mobile platforms back in 2011. Consequently, more and more web sites are moving to HTML5, which works on mobile and desktop operating systems, including iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. Why choose a platform for your web site (or anything else) that can’t be used across platforms and across devices, especially with the explosion in the use of mobile devices? There is still demand for Flash, and there will be for some time to come, but it has peaked, so it’s time to prepare for the future while you still have a job.

4. COBOL, FORTRAN, and other Mainframe Languages

COBOL, FORTRAN, and other mainframe languages that were popular and common 40 or more years ago still exist and will continue to be used in niche markets for years to come, but the bulk of programming work has moved to more modern, object-oriented languages. Top languages include Objective-C (used in iOS apps), Java (used in Android apps and lots of other places), and C and C++ and C#. For the latest data (updated monthly) on top programming languages, seehttp://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html). The index isn’t perfect, but gives a good idea of what is trending.

5. Lotus Notes Administrator

A decade or more ago, there were three big email platforms: Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes (Domino), and Novell GroupWise. All three exist today, but one continues to gain market share while the others have dropped off. Lotus Notes, by the latest estimates available, has about 10 percent of the market. People are moving more and more to hosting email in the cloud, using Gmail (or private company versions of Gmail), Office 365 (Hosted Exchange), etc. There are also many Shareware or Freeware platforms (such as VMware’s Zimbra) that people can use for very little cost. The latest studies suggest that by 2016, the majority of companies will host their email in the cloud instead of keeping it locally. Unless you work for one of the cloud providers, it may make sense to broaden your skill set and learn something beyond email administration, such as virtualization, storage, data analysis, or SAP.

6. Novell GroupWise Administrator

If you thought things were bleak for Lotus Notes administrators, things are really depressing for GroupWise administrators. The market share for GroupWise is difficult to pin down, but is very small in most industries (though they still have a market in some areas, such as governments and schools). As with NetWare, the market share just keeps shrinking, so it is time to broaden your horizons and start looking at other platforms and technologies before your job is outsourced. See the recommendations associated with Lotus Notes administrators (Section 5) for some guidance in this area.

7. Traditional Telephony

For years, every company had a PBX (a Private Branch eXchange), which was like a mini-phone company on the company’s premises. More and more, companies are switching to mobile platforms, VoIP-enabled phones, and even communication over your computer and an Internet connection (such as Lync from Microsoft). There are many vendors who will outsource this functionality for you, either doing it all and forwarding to your mobile phone or providing a unified inbox and communications via an application, such as Lync, which is provided as part of Office 365. Either way, the use of phones is decreasing and, while they may never completely go away, they may do more and more over standard Ethernet, making it an IT task instead of telephony administration. Now would be a good time to study up on VoIP and networking, if you wish to stay in this line of work, or consider broadening your skills further in case the company outsources all these functions.

8. Those with only Server Administrator Skills

As virtualization becomes more and more ubiquitous, fewer and fewer servers are being deployed as more and more virtual servers are being used. That means there are fewer servers to set up and configure, and those that are deployed are usually deployed from a template. There is a drop-off in demand for server administrators who only know server administration. It is time to learn virtualization and leverage the skills you already have. In addition, as the integration between servers, storage, and networking increases, and as virtualization requires integration of all these components, it is probably a great time to start learning more about storage or networking (and ideally both). Those with skills in all of these areas, along with business sense and the ability to communicate with management and end users, are those who will succeed and be employable.

9. Help Desk Technicians / Level 1 Support

Those working as help desk technicians (especially those in level 1 support roles) will see less and less demand for their skills, primarily due to outsourcing to other companies (possibly also off-shoring to other parts of the world where labor is cheaper) and fewer repairs to do on the actual hardware (see PC Repair Technicians below for more on this). Previously, people would earn an A+ certification, start at the help desk, work their way up to server administrator, and grow from there. As there is more and more pressure on all these areas, A+ is no longer enough. You need a broader set of skills to compete and keep your job. Review the skills suggested in this list for other areas you may want to explore to find and keep a job in IT.

10. PC Repair Technicians

While this skill set is not really going away, demand is decreasing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as companies and individuals use tablets more and more and PCs and laptops less and less. There is little to nothing that can be fixed in a tablet, so there’s no need for a technician. In addition to this trend, more and more companies are switching from PCs and laptops to VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), where the desktop runs as a virtual machine on a server somewhere, and the user connects with a mobile device or a dumb terminal. In either case, there is little to nothing to be fixed, you just swap it out, plug in a couple of cables (in the case of the dumb terminals), and you’re back in business – no need for a technician.

Happiness–in your business life and your personal life–is often a matter of subtraction, not addition.

Consider, for example, what happens when you stop doing the following 10 things:

1. Blaming.

People make mistakes. Employees don’t meet your expectations. Vendors don’t deliver on time.

So you blame them for your problems.

But you’re also to blame. Maybe you didn’t provide enough training. Maybe you didn’t build in enough of a buffer. Maybe you asked too much, too soon.

Taking responsibility when things go wrong instead of blaming others isn’t masochistic, it’s empowering–because then you focus on doing things better or smarter next time.

And when you get better or smarter, you also get happier.

2. Impressing.

No one likes you for your clothes, your car, your possessions, your title, or your accomplishments. Those are all “things.” People may like your things–but that doesn’t mean they like you.

Sure, superficially they might seem to, but superficial is also insubstantial, and a relationship that is not based on substance is not a real relationship.

Genuine relationships make you happier, and you’ll only form genuine relationships when you stop trying to impress and start trying to just be yourself.

3. Clinging.

When you’re afraid or insecure, you hold on tightly to what you know, even if what you know isn’t particularly good for you.

An absence of fear or insecurity isn’t happiness: It’s just an absence of fear or insecurity.

Holding on to what you think you need won’t make you happier; letting go so you can reach for and try to earn what you want will.

Even if you don’t succeed in earning what you want, the act of trying alone will make you feel better about yourself.

4. Interrupting.

Interrupting isn’t just rude. When you interrupt someone, what you’re really saying is, “I’m not listening to you so I can understand what you’re saying; I’m listening to you so I can decide what I want to say.”

Want people to like you? Listen to what they say. Focus on what they say. Ask questions to make sure you understand what they say.

They’ll love you for it–and you’ll love how that makes you feel.

5. Whining.

Your words have power, especially over you. Whining about your problems makes you feel worse, not better.

If something is wrong, don’t waste time complaining. Put that effort into making the situation better. Unless you want to whine about it forever, eventually you’ll have to do that. So why waste time? Fix it now.

Don’t talk about what’s wrong. Talk about how you’ll make things better, even if that conversation is only with yourself.

And do the same with your friends or colleagues. Don’t just be the shoulder they cry on.

Friends don’t let friends whine–friends help friends make their lives better.

6. Controlling.

Yeah, you’re the boss. Yeah, you’re the titan of industry. Yeah, you’re the small tail that wags a huge dog.

Still, the only thing you really control is you. If you find yourself trying hard to control other people, you’ve decided that you, your goals, your dreams, or even just your opinions are more important than theirs.

Plus, control is short term at best, because it often requires force, or fear, or authority, or some form of pressure–none of those let you feel good about yourself.

Find people who want to go where you’re going. They’ll work harder, have more fun, and create better business and personal relationships.

And all of you will be happier.

7. Criticizing.

Yeah, you’re more educated. Yeah, you’re more experienced. Yeah, you’ve been around more blocks and climbed more mountains and slayed more dragons.

That doesn’t make you smarter, or better, or more insightful.

That just makes you you: unique, matchless, one of a kind, but in the end, just you.

Just like everyone else–including your employees.

Everyone is different: not better, not worse, just different. Appreciate the differences instead of the shortcomings and you’ll see people–and yourself–in a better light.

8. Preaching.

Criticizing has a brother. His name is Preaching. They share the same father: Judging.

The higher you rise and the more you accomplish, the more likely you are to think you know everything–and to tell people everything you think you know.

When you speak with more finality than foundation, people may hear you but they don’t listen. Few things are sadder and leave you feeling less happy.

9. Dwelling.

The past is valuable. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others.

Then let it go.

Easier said than done? It depends on your focus. When something bad happens to you, see that as a chance to learn something you didn’t know. When another person makes a mistake, see that as an opportunity to be kind, forgiving, and understanding.

The past is just training; it doesn’t define you. Think about what went wrong, but only in terms of how you will make sure that, next time, you and the people around you will know how to make sure it goes right.

10. Fearing.

We’re all afraid: of what might or might not happen, of what we can’t change, or what we won’t be able to do, or how other people might perceive us.

So it’s easier to hesitate, to wait for the right moment, to decide we need to think a little longer or do some more research or explore a few more alternatives.

Meanwhile days, weeks, months, and even years pass us by.

And so do our dreams.

Don’t let your fears hold you back. Whatever you’ve been planning, whatever you’ve imagined, whatever you’ve dreamed of, get started on it today.

If you want to start a business, take the first step. If you want to change careers, take the first step. If you want to expand or enter a new market or offer new products or services, take the first step.

Put your fears aside and get started. Do something. Do anything.

Otherwise, today is gone. Once tomorrow comes, today is lost forever.

Today is the most precious asset you own–and is the one thing you should truly fear wasting.

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up fromghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. @jeff_haden

To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.

I suspect IT managers – even more so than regular managers – have a mixed reaction to this. IT professionals, particularly those  creative types or high-end support that may called upon round the clock, can be stymied or frustrated by a butt-in-seat type of management style. We want to give them freedom even if it requires us to be a little more diligent and organized in our managing regimen. I frequently hear research results like this from the University of Texas which says teleworkers “add five to seven hours to their workweek compared with those who work exclusively at the office. They are also significantly less likely to work a standard 40 hour schedule and more likely to work overtime.”

Yet we have also managed folks who are in IT for paycheck rather than passion or who lack discipline and commitment. Teleworking is a constant PITA as we try to measure and improve their productivity.

In Yahoo’s specific case, the decision is more strategic than anything else. Yahoo has been floundering in their direction and the new CEO should be given whatever latitude she needs to right the ship.

Job interview: “What’s your greatest weakness?” “Honesty.” “I don’t think honesty is a weakness.” “I don’t give a fuck what you think.”

I suspect this means very little to those of us already certified. I’d like to say I read the exposure draft and will soon read the final, but alas. So here are the changes that PMI mentions…

• A 10th Knowledge Area has been added; Project Stakeholder Management expands upon the importance of appropriately engaging project stakeholders in key decisions and activities.

• Project data information and information flow have been redefined to bring greater consistency and be more aligned with the Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom (DIKW) model used in the field of Knowledge Management.

• Four new planning processes have been added: Plan Scope Management, Plan Schedule Management, Plan Cost Management and Plan Stakeholder Management: These were created to reinforce the concept that each of the subsidiary plans are integrated through the overall project management plan.

Also, the Standard for Portfolio Management was updated last month to v3.

Although PC Magazine calls the “most stupid move Cisco has made yet” and it did give Cisco some presence on the low-end, I never found the quality of the product to be representative of the Cisco name. Maybe it is for the best.