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Branndon Kelley and Jared Price: It's a Data Explosion

May 24th, 2012
By Erika Pryor, Ph.D.

Both Branndon Kelley, CIO at American Municipal Power, and Jared Price, IT Director at American Municipal Power are speaking at IT Martini 22 in Cincinnati next month about being on the front lines of an explosive issue in today’s enterprise: data management.

“The whole idea of managing data is fairly new,” Kelley said. “[In the past] 10 years until today, data has exploded, and we were not ready for that explosion. It has only been in the last five years we have gotten serious about data.”

American Municipal Power (AMP) is a nonprofit wholesale power supplier and services provider for 129 member municipal electric systems in Ohio, the midwest and east coast. Like most companies, AMP is experiencing a steady increase in data.

“It is important, now more than ever, to be able to manage, organize and store the data that’s relevant to the organization”, Price said. “Companies are realizing more people are accessing and storing more data on their consumer devices, which is another significant contribution to increased data use.”

A Partnership Approach

To dig into this issue, Kelley has taken the approach to partner with all relevant AMP divisions to help the organization identify the contents of its data, its value and the best strategies for management. This approach avoids the traditional disconnect between data manager and data owner.

“This disconnect has resulted in a lack of understanding and knowledge regarding the content of data, its value and how long it should be stored,” Kelley said.

This strategy led Kelley and Price to undertake initiatives across verticals, and make use of traditionally identified backup technology. Applications of the technology included de-duplication within AMP’s primary storage site and its tiering technology.

“[This strategy means] we can more effectively budget and buy storage based on space or performance,” Price said.

Consumer Changes

Kelley and Price both agree that the growth in data stored on consumer devices and many more consumer options for storage means employees search outside the enterprise to find data storage and management solutions. “Those solutions are not always in the best interest of the organization,” Price warned.

It is important for IT managers and directors within organizations of any size need to continue to address the consumer device and the data on it, according to Price. One way this issue is addressed, at AMP, is by providing employees with information.

“Informing staff on common best practices and being able to meet their needs with quick turnaround when business units ask for things is key,” Price said. “If we can provide a solution, the tools and education about those tools, then they won’t need to go outside the organization. It’s about building those relationships between business units and IT.”

Avoiding the Historical Trap

As the IT landscape continues to change, so does the role of the IT professional, Kelley noted. “From month-to-month and year-to-year, there are always new things going on, [which] makes IT exciting,” he said.

Despite this constant evolution, however, it is easy for companies to get trapped in the history of how they do things.

“The historic way we do things should not always be the way it should be done,” Kelley said. For him, to stay relevant means “let’s think different.”

At this moment, it is all about thinking cloud first as a service first strategy Kelley said.

“If you’re not thinking about the cloud and seriously contributing to it, you’re not doing your company or yourself any good and you will get passed by.”

Background

Kelley and Price found themselves involved with computing technology as youngsters. For Kelley, it all started when his parents purchased a TSR-80, Tandy Corporation’s desktop microcomputer. After high school, Kelley enrolled at Shepherd University to study computer science, but left before graduating to work with Safelite on their Y2K Point of Sale compliance project.

Kelley later returned to college, completing his Bachelor of Science at DeVry University, followed by his masters at Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University.

Price too found himself interested in computers and technology soon after his father brought home the first family computer.

“I got into the networking side and found that’s what I really enjoyed,” Price said. Price completed his bachelors and masters at DeVry University as well.

Price likes his job because “At the end of the day," he said, "it’s about being able to excite other people about technology."

Editor's Note: Registration is open for IT Martini 22: Infrastructure We Trust conference and reception on June 21st in Cincinnati. This week, Jared Price and Branndon Kelley are answering your questions at IT Martini on LinkedIn. Join the conversation.

Erika Pryor, Ph.D.

Columbus IT Community
Erika Pryor, Ph. D. is a digital communication strategist. She works with businesses on digital identity, social media, blogging, as well as content and relationship marketing. Erika keeps her finger on the pulse of what's happening in the worlds of tech, digital and social media with her internet radio program, Digital 411. This interview based talk radio style program engages industry experts on the most relevant topics in these key areas. Digital 411 is heard exclusively on TalktainmentRadio.com, Thursdays, 5pmEST.

Steve Covert: Tackling VDI & Licensing

May 17th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

Most organizations think about licensing their VDI as an afterthought - a simple administrative task. For Steve Covert, manager of Vendor Services at Highlights for Children and speaker at IT Martini 22: Infrastructure We Trust, it is a passion.

“VDI is a virtual desktop running in a computer room on a server that can be accessed by end devices that have a connection to the virtual desktop,” Covert said. “VDI holds promise of a secure, managed device, that can be accessed by any type of device, at any time, from anywhere as long as there is a connection to the virtual desktop. It is being driven by the need to have secure data and centrally managed applications while supporting an increasingly mobile workforce on an increasing number of types of endpoints.”

Licensing is Just Like Taxes

Covert said one of the problems he commonly runs into is companies that have not licensed their VDI correctly. Some may not think it’s a big deal, but if an enterprise is exposed, they are subjected to fines and public embarrassment. Less scrupulous companies bank on the, "How are they going to find out?" theory, but Covert contends the majority of companies want to stay within compliance, but have no idea how and don’t understand the scope of the questions desktop virtualization presents.

Covert mused that enterprise licensing was much like tax code, "voluminous and ever changing." He advised companies to invest in a professional to help them navigate their options and responsibilities, just like an accounting pro helps with tax code, to reduce risk and save.

VDI is Trending

So what is happening in the industry? Quite a few things actually.

"Server virtualization is a slam dunk," he said. "It's a money saver and from a cost perspective is pretty predictable. Desktop virtualization is not as easy of a sale. Companies have to ask questions like, "Do I have the right to virtualize applications?" Companies want to go to VDI, but don't have groundwork set. How do you implement in a diverse desktop environment? Are you licensing every laptop, desktop... what about iPads and other tablets? You gotta have appropriate management tools in place and procedures and policies set."

Recently, changes in hardware and advances in the public/private cloud are driving the licensing decisions that make up for potential revenue loss.

“Microsoft is tieing virtualization in the private and public cloud to Software Assurance subscriptions as they are preparing to switch to more of an offensive approach with up and coming virtualization offerings,” Covert said. “Microsoft is reworking their licensing so that their on premise and cloud licensing complement each other (this is no small task).”

Some industry trends Covert is excited about are not necessarily related to virtual desktop infrastructure. He's been very interested in Microsoft SQL Server Licenses moving from processor based to core based. Processors are becoming more powerful, which means fewer are needed and that is impacting Microsoft's bottom line in licensing servers. Recently, Microsoft moved to licensing cores - something they had never done.

"Microsoft licensing or the licensing of any large software company is complex," Covert said. " very few understand licensing and even fewer understand desktop virtualization."

Background

When IT Martini talked to Covert he just returned from Vail where he is a ski instructor. He calls himself a jack of all trades, but his latest interest got him reading and studying licensing two hours a day everyday outside of his regular 9-5 job.

“I enjoy licensing because there is a need to be very detail oriented but also have the ability to look at the bigger picture when I am in negotiations or trying to help management in achieving strategic objectives.”

He contends licensing minutiae keeps him ahead of changes throughout the tech industry before many people realize what's happening.

"I understood there were people smarter that knew where the industry was going. I wanted to know and realized if you figure out where licensing is going you can figure out where the industry is going," Covert said.

Covert is planning to speak about the four different types of licensing related to VDI at IT Martini 22 - server, connection, individual desktop and software assurance - then look at solutions and practices that protect enterprises from inadvertently stealing software.

Any words of advice for organizations contemplating the adoption of VDI?

“If you are having trouble properly licensing and managing your physical PC environment, think twice before you tackle VDI. You need to walk before you run!”

Editor's Note: Registration is open for IT Martini 22: Infrastructure We Trust conference and reception on June 21st in Cincinnati. This week, Steve Covert will be at IT Martini on LinkedIn discussing VDI, informational infrastructure and more. Join in the conversation.

Terreece M. Clarke

Columbus IT Community
Terreece Clarke is the newest member of the IT Martini team. She has been a freelance journalist/writer since 1999 for a variety of magazines, Web sites and newspapers. Terreece is a nationally published freelance writer, whose work has appeared in Columbus Parent, ThisWeek Newspapers, Freelance Writing Gigs.com - the #1 Freelance Writing Website, Common Sense Media.com and more. She is also the new Columbus Ohio guide for About.com.

IT Martini 21: The Definitive Event Preview

May 10th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

In just two weeks, on May 23rd & 24th, IT professionals from all over the world are descending on the Arena Grand Theater in Columbus for the The Path to Agility conference - the largest Agile conference outside of San Francisco. The conference and signature IT Martini 21: Agile IT Ability reception are expected to bring close to 1,000 IT professionals together.

Thanks to the explosive growth of Agile practices, Central Ohio’s growing technology influence in the Midwest and strong partnerships with community facing organizations like IT Martini, the Central Ohio Agile Association (COHAA) has seen The Path to Agility conference more than double in size since its debut in 2010:

2010: 350 attendees, 2 keynotes, 18 sessions, 1 day
2011: 500 attendees, 2 keynotes, 18 sessions, 1 day
2012: 775 attendees, 4 keynotes, 26 sessions, 2 days, addition of The Path to Craftsmanship and Code Retreat

This year the popular conference boasts more than 40 national & international speakers hosting nearly 30 sessions. Through a creative partnership with COHAA, IT Martini featured several top speakers from The Path to Agility conference in the IT Martini Weekly newsletter and made them available for live question & answer style discussion on the web.

"We are excited to continue our partnership between COHAA and IT Martini," Bart Murphy, COHAA board member and conference chair said. "The spotlight articles IT Martini has produced highlighting The Path to Agility and Craftmanship conference speakers has been great to build buzz and allow the IT community to get to know our speakers prior to the event."

Both organizations have a long-time commitment to connecting the IT community at events, so hosting interactive online discussions with Agile thought leaders was a natural extension.

John Bishop, co-founder of IT Martini, agreed, “I’ve really enjoyed seeing world renowned speakers likeChristopher Avery, Robert ‘Uncle Bob’ Martin, Jurgen Apello and Ken Schwaber connecting with the IT community leading up to the event. It’s an honor to have IT Martini Weekly carry the stories of such an accomplished, outgoing group of people who are willing to engage IT professionals across a variety of formats.”

At the conclusion of The Path to Agility conference on May 24th, IT Martini is hosting a reception event with one part conference attendees and one part IT community. This mix is vital to the ongoing success of both organizations, according to Murphy.

Murphy continued, "Both the Central Ohio Agile Association and IT Martini organizations have a passion for improving the IT community. Each year we use the feedback from the Conference Retrospective and reception hosted by IT Martini to plan for the next conference. This activity allows all conference attendees a chance to provide feedback, socialize with peers, meet the conference speakers and of course, win some great prizes. I can't think of a better way to close out conference."

Three-time Emmy award winning journalist Angela An of 10TV news has signed on to emcee the IT Martini reception, guiding attendees through activities such as speed networking, the ‘Voice for the IT Community Choice’ and a charity benefit for Buckeye Ranch. IT Martini has raised more than $30,000 for local charities since being founded in 2008.

"The Buckeye Ranch is excited to partner with IT Martini for another fundraising event," Michelle Aro, development coordinator of The Buckeye Ranch said. "Through our programs and services, The Buckeye Ranch is able to help 1,600 children and families everyday in our community. These children and families struggle with emotional, behavioral and mental health issues and we provide hope and healing to them through our treatment programs and continued support. We could not continue the level of treatment and support without the financial assistance from individuals, corporations and fundraisers like IT Martini."

Early stage companies have always been a focus of IT Martini events and IT Martini 21 is no exception. Five companies presenting at the event are Mondokio, sideNOW, LifeCubby, ZoopShop and The 5 Minute Project. Each company is vying for the coveted IT Community Choice Award which is decided by popular vote of event attendees.

IT Martini events wouldn’t be what they are today without the support of the IT community and tech companies dedicated to cultivating active relationships within the community.

"Vaco Columbus is proud to sponsor this IT Martini event, our 3rd sponsorship of their events in the last nine months," Paul Bishop managing partner of Vaco said. "We trust IT Martini to be a great professional networking source in the Columbus IT community, providing our team value on many levels. We've made lasting friendships and business relationships as well as expanded brand awareness of Vaco, a key advantage in a highly competitive industry."

All ticket holders for The Path to Agility are automatically registered for the IT Martini reception, which starts at 4:00 p.m. for conference attendees and 5:30 p.m. for non-conference attendees at 343 Front Street Tavern & Sports Bar. The turn-out is expected to be nearly 1,000 IT professionals at the reception event, with tickets still on sale. Register today!

Terreece M. Clarke

Jurgen Appelo: No Shortcuts to Agile

May 3rd, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

Jurgen Appelo, author of the book Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders and How to Change the World is a keynote speaker at The Path to Agility conference on May 24th. His presentation, entitled ‘How to Change the World’, suggests that it takes a broad, calculated effort on the part of change agents to build Agile organizations, one small positive change at a time.

"According to the famous "butterfly effect" even the smallest changes can have big consequences," he said. "Taking that into account, anyone who has made a small positive change in the world around them is by definition a world changer. Though of course, the more you are able to change the world directly around you, the bigger the chance that the effects in the end will indeed be big."

Agile Rationale

It’s through this cumulative effort, combined with a focus on other people’s ‘irrational’ needs, that Appelo suggests change agents can be successful.

He noted, "...[people] have a tendency to rationalize things, but people often are not thinking and behaving rationally. That why change agents must figure out how a behavioral change connects with the interest of other people. What is it that they need? And what non-rational things can you do to trigger their desires?"

Once these triggers are identified, anyone can earnestly lead with Agile principles.

"Agile means putting individuals and their social interactions ahead of process and tools, embracing change over following plan, focusing on products and services that actually work instead of just producing forms and documents, and trusting customers and business partners instead of suing them over contracts. Anyone can do that, in any environment," Appelo said.

Inspiration

"I wanted to be a computer programmer ever since I was 11 years old, when I had my first Commodore 64 computer," Appelo said.

That path lead to studying Software Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, earning his Master’s degree in 1994 and leading a “horde of 100 software developers, development managers, project managers, business consultants, quality managers and service managers.”

Appelo's insatiable curiosity allows him to the opportunity to see how his work impacts others.

"Someone traveled 1500 kilometers (from Romania to The Netherlands) just to be at my book launch last year," Appelo said. "Quite coincidentally he was the one who caught the "officially launched book" when I catapulted it into the audience. Some weeks later he emailed me from Romania, saying he had implemented a few practices from the book with his team, and it worked for them. I was very happy about that."

Turnaround Advice

So what does he tell someone who is on the fence about working to turn a "crappy organization" into a place people want to work?

"They should do whatever motivates them most. For some people that will be walking away from their bad employer," Appelo said. "For other people that will be ignoring the bad part of the organization and focusing on the job that they like. Indeed, for some people it is option 3, which is changing the organization from the inside. You should only do that if you're passionate about the organization and if you like learning to become a change agent."

Editor's Note: Registration is open for The Path to Agility conference on May 23 & 24th, 2012. This week, Jurgen Appelo will be at IT Martini on LinkedIn discussing leadership, agility and more. Join in the conversation.

Terreece M. Clarke

Christopher Avery: Leadership With Agility

April 26th, 2012
By Angela Slezak

Christopher Avery, author of “Teamwork is an Individual Skill” and a keynote speaker at The Path to Agility conference on May 24th, is fascinated by the complexities of Agile leadership and its adoption across other industries.

"Agile was named/invented in the software industry so adoption there is ahead of other industries.” Avery said. “However every industry, company, role, and function that is exposed to change, complexity, and uncertainty can learn the mindset and tools for thriving if they are willing to outlearn their competition by practicing responsibility and adopting an agile culture and disciplines.”

Agile in Three Steps

Across any industry, Avery outlines three steps that can be taken to be successful in Agile leadership.

“Taking 100 percent personal responsibility for producing value is the overarching leadership approach,” he said. “To do that we must learn, correct, and improve based on feedback loops. Then we must fearlessly confront impediments to creating value where-ever those impediments are and regardless of whether they are in our control or authority.”

But this isn’t a new concept. In fact, suggests Avery, the very ‘beginnings’ of Agile practices began nearly a century ago before the software industry emerged.

“The roots of agile come from the Quality movement focus on continuous improvement that began in the 1940s and first made its mark in manufacturing,” he said. “So the linear-thinking style of most companies and executives today has been obsolete for half a century.”

Agile = Responsibility

Leaders interested in successful Agile leadership find themselves challenged by Avery's Responsibility Process, digging deep to undo years of learned behavior based on society’s expectations of what responsibility means.

"I want people to know how personal responsibility works in their minds -- how they can tap into their personal guidance system to have the life, work, and relationships of their dreams," he said.

He also said the most pressing issue leaders in charge of leading large change efforts face is their own resistance, defensiveness and coping mechanisms.

“...the basis for all leadership is self-leadership, which many so-called leaders don't do very well. That's why we have such an outcry for real, true, authentic leaders.”

Responsibility Drives Leadership

Personal responsibility has been the cornerstone of Avery's focus for years, making the connection between Agile and his research into leadership theory a seamless one.

“From about [age] 22 to 40 I was in search of a purpose. It found me,” he said. “In 1990 I set out to understand what personal responsibility is. I determined that teams work when people share responsibility for something larger than their role.”

“Everyone is born with the Leadership Gift. But most people never realize they have it so they don't develop it. With the research of the last 25 years we now know how to help you develop, practice, and even master your Leadership Gift.”

Avery uses the word "gift" because, he said, everyone is born with a mental program called the "Responsibility Process."

"It activates every time something goes wrong big or small," he said. "When things go wrong we can either cope or grow. In short, the story of the Leadership Gift is that we are all born with it (it being the Responsibility Process). Every act of leadership calls on the Responsibility Process. Most people never know they have this faculty, so they don’t develop it. Now, with the research of the last twenty five years, we know how to develop and master the Leadership Gift.”

Every Day Leaders

IT Martini asked this expert on leadership which leader he most admired, in any place and time.

Avery’s answer was surprising.

“Last week,” he began “a courageous woman with a traumatic brain injury attended my workshop "Leading People to Take Responsibility and Demonstrate Ownership."

While she visibly struggled and even checked out briefly to re-compose herself when the rigorous workshop experience impinged on her emotional and cognitive limits, she was determined to live, to thrive, to grow and to contribute. She was one of the most engaged and responsive participants that day. She confided in me privately that she was struggling mightily to completely own her "limitation." I said to her "aren't we all?"

“This week she is the leader that inspires me.”

Editor's Note: The Path to Agility Conference is May 23 & 24th, 2012, Christopher Avery will speak on the 24th and is teaching “Leading Agile Change for Executives” on May 21st and "Leading and Coaching People to Take Responsibility and Demonstrate Ownership" on May 22nd. Both are co-sponsored by COHAA.

IT Martini would like to thank title sponsor Central Ohio Agile Association for their support of IT Martini 21: Agile IT. This week through Friday Christopher Avery will be at IT Martini on LinkedIn discussing leadership, agility and more. Join in the conversation.

Angela Slezak

Columbus IT Community
Angela Slezak has 10 years of marketing experience, specifically in database marketing and mail planning. Angela also hold as Masters in Library Science and speaks Mandarin Chinese. She speaks Spanish un poco, and eavesdrops on conversations for fun and learning. Angela's role in database marketing puts her in close contact with IT Professionals. She is eager to support the IT Community through communicating about past and future events.

Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin: Back to Basics

April 18th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, software expert, author of Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship and Path to Agility Conference keynote is still excited about coding. After 35 years in the business, he's focusing on a 'back to basics' approach of getting software developers back on track.

Getting Back on Track

"It's been years since we thought carefully about architecture and design," he said. "We've been too busy hacking web sites, building social networks, and trying to make a gazillion dollars in a new social networking startup. But now it's time to get back to basics and remember how the oldsters taught us to design systems. Good software architecture is severely lacking around the world; and it's time we turned our focus around and paid attention to what were are doing."

There are a variety of reasons why developers have lost their way, but Martin focuses on one in particular - frameworks.

"...they've become befuddled by frameworks. They think that using Spring, Oracle, and Tomcat is an architecture. It's not," he said. "Architecture is the art of deferring decisions as long as possible, not of making them as early as possible. A good architect makes Spring, Oracle, and Tomcat interesting options to be considered late in development."

Developing Inspiration

Martin's developer philosophy was formed out of a life-long passionate pursuit of "Clean Code." A passion that began early in his life.

"For my 12th birthday my Mother bought me a plastic computer called a Digi-Comp I. It had three flip-flops, and six and-gates. You programmed it by shoving short little pieces of soda straws onto pegs. You could program it to behave like virtually any 3 bit finite state machine. I learned Boolean Algebra in order to program it. After I wrote my first program, and saw it worked, I was hooked. Nothing was going to keep me away from writing code after that."

Today Martin has spent more than 35 years in the business, written more than a half dozen books and initiated the meeting of the group that created Agile software development from Extreme Programming techniques. He has traveled all over the world as an international software consultant since 1990 and IT Martini had to ask, "what keeps you motivated?"

"The same thing that always has," he said. "It's a thrill to write good code and see it work. I just enjoy the hell out of it. I am passionate about doing it well, and I love every minute I spend at it."

Moments of Truth

With his vast experience, there must be a project that he can look back and call a total disaster, right?

"My biggest technical screw up was following structured analysis and design to the letter," he said. "I wound up with a horrible software design. My biggest professional screw up was getting fired from a good job for behaving like a prima-donna. It's not fun to come home to a pregnant wife and have to tell her that you just lost your job."

In fact, Martin's experience is an example of what he says is the biggest problem in IT - lack of professionalism.

IT Professionalism & Career Growth

"Software developers have to learn to behave professionally," Martin said. "They have to learn professional disciplines, and follow them. Among those disciplines is the discipline to say "no" when asked to do something harmful to the project."

Professionalism is also a part of changes Martin has seen in software development.

"The move towards craftsmanship and professionalism is probably the most significant movement I've seen. The move towards Agile is a close second. We are in a race to become professionals before the governments of the world force it upon us. I hope we win that race because governments aren't very good at that kind of thing."

Martin said the best piece of advice he has ever received about being a developer had nothing to do with code.

"You are responsible for your own career. Do not expect your employer to help you with that. Spend personal time and personal money on improving your own skills."

The Name

And what about that name? How did he become known the world over as "Uncle Bob?"

"It was a nickname given to me in 1988 by a co-worker. I put it in my email signature, and it stuck. Now it's a brand."

Editor's Note: Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin is a keynote speaker at The Path to Agility conference on May 23-24. He’s also answering your questions on a variety of topics this week (April 18-20) at IT Martini on LinkedIn.

Terreece M. Clarke

Ken Schwaber: Building Trust With Agile

April 10th, 2012
By Angela Slezak

Ken Schwaber is back in Columbus on May 24th as a featured speaker at The Path to Agility conference, presented by the Central Ohio Agile Association (COHAA). As a signatory of the Agile Manifesto and co-developer of the Scrum framework, it may be surprising that his perspective on software delivery rarely veers from the basics of cost, risk, and timely delivery.

Schwaber said he'll use his feature to discuss management managing Scrum projects.

"It's difficult to manage projects that are one, very long and two, not necessarily clear as to what's deliverable. [How to] deliver measurable pieces of business functionality at least every 30 days. After 30 days, managers can ask 'How much value did I get compared to how much value I think I wanted to get?? If I expect to get 100 units in ten months and I have five in the first month, this may be an indication that there is a need to change the date or have an increase in productivity," Schwaber said. "Scrum provides early risk management and cost tolerability. Scrum provides numbers for management to control projects."

Scrum in Practice

When asked what can be done to turn 'emotional' corporations into rational entities Schwaber said that Scrum should be used to make a company better.

"Scrum is like a shovel," Schwaber said."You can use it to dig a hole or use it to beat the ground. If there is no difficult problem to be solved, Scrum is not really a good thing to do. Scrum is looking to solve problems, not become the next new process."

Schwaber described an instance when a client asked him about when Scrum fails and when it succeeds.

"The client had been using Scrum for three months with a release due in June," he started. "I asked the CEO if she expected the release in June. She answered yes so I asked to see the graphs. She said they didn't have the graphs, but still believed the release would be in June. They weren't providing those reports from Scrum."

"Scrum hasn't failed," Schwaber told his client, "You've failed Scrum."

Writing Software in 30 Days

Schwaber and co-author Jeff Sutherland have just published a new book Software in 30 Days. The book was developed as a result of a common request Schwaber received from developers who said they needed help selling Scrum.

"Developers," Schwaber said, "can put this book business management's desk and say, "We're sure you're having issues with IT. Do you know that at least every 30 days you should have an update? There's no reason to put up with how software has been developed in the past."

Instead of using Agile practices to write a book about Agile software development, Schwaber and Sutherland experienced what every writer experiences:

"We panicked and wrote, panicked and wrote," Schwaber said.

No Agile practice to develop a book on Agility?

"It's such an effort to get a book out," he said. "It's not as easy to precisely state what each chapter will be. It's constantly revising and you?ve promised your editor a certain date. You write then feedback comes in that blows the schedule. It's not easy to precisely state monthly what was delivered. Sometimes you re-write an entire chapter. The feedback loop is unpredictable."

Mathematics of Building Trust

In the first interview with Schwaber last year, IT Martini asked if Schwaber was trying to change corporate structure through Agile. This time the answer was more definitive:

"If you want agility, corporate structure doesn't work," he stately clearly. "If I demand this be done by this date, it's not flexible."

Schwaber explained that Scrum emphasizes "helping them [employees] do the best they can, not telling them how to do their work. These people are as smart as you are."

It's a simple mathematical formula for Schwaber.

"If you tell people what to do, you constrain them to your intelligence," he said. "If you have 100 people, you can open the intelligence of 100 people. Scrum is the art of the possible."

It appears leadership maybe the hidden premise in much of Scrum's framework. Schwaber said the top three qualities of a leader are vision, stubborness (because of many failures) and excellent facilitation skills (rather than force).

In his blog, the word "leadership" doesn't appear much, but he described it as critical.

He explained, "I take it for granted that leadership is needed. In any change if someone is not leading it, it flounders."

The Soft Side of Scrum

When Schwaber is not evangelizing for Agility, he's reading about physics the chaos theory and how those ideas are turning to religion. He is especially interested in the work of Stuart Kauffman. And because he recently purchased a Volvo, he has also been reading about Software Product Line Management.

"The Volvo has 100 million lines of code," he said. "You can get a device that is the equivalent of an app that can detect rain on the car and automatically roll up the windows [among other things]."

Schwaber's January 2, 2012 blog entry states that his New Year's Resolution is to be more "friendly, warm, compassionate, conciliatory, moderate and compromising" (for one day).

And how was that day and did he learn anything from it?

"It was great," Schwaber answered. "Friends flooded from everywhere. I learned that some enemies weren't enemies. If you don't talk to people for long enough, you don't remember why you had conflict."

Editor's Note: Registration is now open for The Path to Agility Conference, on May 23rd-24th, 2012 at the Arena Grand Theater in downtown Columbus. This week (4/10-4/13), Ken Schwaber will be at IT Martini on LinkedIn discussing Agility, his new book and more. Join in the conversation.

Angela Slezak

Retrospective: 9 Hardened Industry Leaders, 4 Soft Skills

March 28th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

Over the last several months, nearly a dozen industry leaders were profiled in IT Martini Weekly. The goal was to connect your IT community on the web, by seeking the unique perspective of IT industry leaders with questions from IT Martini - and questions from you.

Several themes emerged from these conversations about the ‘soft skills’ needed to make successful leaders. In particular, integrity, curiosity, innovation and business knowledge were the most discussed qualities.

Integrity

All of our leaders have pointed to leading with integrity in some way. George Photakis, vice president and CIO of Anchor Hocking and Oneida, discussed the importance of establishing and holding to the truth no matter one's position.

"A leader should never be afraid to speak truth to power. Truth is truth," Photakis said.

John Kessler discussed integrity while talking about the importance of providing an atmosphere conducive to loyalty in his February interview.

"We are led to believe that these days your best workers are likely to be more loyal to their careers than to their employers, but I'm not sure how that's any different than any other era. The best case scenario has always been if you can establish an alignment between an associate’s loyalty to their career and loyalty to the company,” Kessler said.

Expesite gains most of its employees and business through referrals and Jeff Sopp, president and CEO, cited integrity as a key component to the double digit growth the company has experienced.

"Leaders need to be more transparent than ever before," he said. "Leaders cannot be disingenuous. I'm fun, but fair. People respect that. When you're disingenuous, trust is lost."

Curiosity

Good leaders do well with the information given to them, great leaders gather information for themselves. James McIntyer, CIO of Cincinnati Christian University, "keeps his ear to the ground" to detect the rumblings of issues before they become shouts he said. He also actively engages with his customers within the university on a regular basis.

"I find the people who really are the experts in their area and chat them up, find out what they do and work on how we can help them do it better," he said.

Jeff Harper, CEO of eProximiti does the same. "Everyday I talk to people using our product, clients paying for our products and people building our products. If you ever fall too far away from those people, you've gone too far and you're losing out," he said.

Innovation

Leaders see problems as an opportunity to create something new. Marc Canter, CEO of Broadband Mechanics, Digital City Mechanics and Digital Jamaica uses software as his tool of change.

"I'm able to do what I do because I believe in what I'm doing," Canter said. "Software is about helping the world. I know the power of software, I know how to change the world."

These leaders also discussed the importance of innovation in hiring and technology career paths.

Michael Fergang, CIO of Grange Insurance, enjoys giving people opportunities to do something they've never done before.

"When you give someone an opportunity, they do a fantastic job and come up with something new because they don't have a set notion on how others have done it before."

Jeanne Gokcen, CEO and President of FutureCom Technologies, encourages women in particular to be innovative with their acquired skills and consider careers in technology.

"The skills and knowledge you are acquiring can apply in lots and lots of different places," Gokcen said. "You don't have to be locked into one career path [or] one type of job your whole life. Look at it [your skills] objectively...[and] keep your mind open."

Business Knowledge

No matter the industry - software, insurance, education, etc., knowing the business is vitally important for a leader.

Fergang's popular quote "Fire your tech talking CIO," applies across the board for anyone in leadership who cannot translate what their role and responsibilities deliver for the business.

"It's essential with education [aligning with the business strategy], but it's not exclusive to the field," McIntyre said. "Many businesses have different departments and they run in circles without looking at the larger picture - you have to be able to do that."

Zahid Afzal, executive vice president and CIO of Huntington National Bank advice to CIOs about going the extra mile in learning the business is great advice for anyone in a leadership position.

"A CIO's role is one of the most complex roles, most exciting," Afzal said. "You have a 360 degree view of the company, and [you have to] be in line with business strategies, that only comes from taking the time to learn, to speak the language and word side-by-side with the business partners."

These four soft skills are consistently driving success for IT industry leaders in your IT community. Stay tuned for even more perspective, brought to you by IT Martini Weekly with Q&A opportunities at IT Martini on LinkedIn.

Editor’s Note: What qualities do good leaders possess? Who are the inspirational leaders that shaped you? Share your thoughts about leadership this week (3/28 - 3/30) at IT Martini on LinkedIn.

Terreece M. Clarke

Zahid Afzal: Innovate to Grow

March 20th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

For Zahid Afzal, executive vice president and CIO of Huntington National Bank, innovation is a life-long pursuit.

He started out running the family construction equipment rental and sales operation in Pakistan and said he "fell into" taking IT courses. After reading an article in a British magazine that published a study of growth in IT, he saw mighty things for the future.

"I realized IT as an industry, at the time, was fairly small, but it was going to grow," he said. "I saw how tech would play a role in every business."

While he was able to earn a degree in mathematics from the University of Karachi, at the time a degree in computer science was not available. His confidence in the future of IT prompted Afzal to move to the U.S. to follow the industry and its learning opportunities.

Afzal went on to earn his degrees in computer science and management from Strayer University and completed executive leadership programs at Duke University and The Ohio State University.

He has held a variety of leadership positions in his career including positions with Broadslate Networks, Citicorp and MCI Communications. Afzal was also senior vice president and CIO of Bank of America's consumer banking, and executive vice president and CIO for Sky Financial Group before it was acquired by Huntington.

Going Mainstream

IT Martini asked Afzal to look into the same crystal ball he used to predict IT's direction and predict the future of IT.

"Tech is mainstream; it's not back office anymore," he said. It's more closely aligned and essential to every business. The separate function called "IT" won't exist the way it does today - as a support structure. It's going to align with sales, with data, with every aspect of business."

To prepare for this future, CIOs and those aspiring to take on that role, must know the ins and outs of all business channels, Afzal said. This understanding comes only by making time to learn, something Afzal said, many CIOs simply do not do.

"A CIO's role is one of the most complex roles, most exciting," Afzal said. "You have a 360 degree view of the company, and [you have to] be in line with business strategies, that only comes from taking the time to learn, to speak the language and word side-by-side with the business partners."

Driving Decisions at Huntington

Right now, Huntington's IT department has a portfolio of 300 projects with about 70,000 work hours. To set priorities, Afzal rethought the way the department made decisions. The result was a committee structure.

"A governance structure is important, and CEO involvement is critical," he said. "It took me a while to get a large cross section of input. We asked, how do we make big decisions? It should not be driven by tech; that's just one component..."

One of those 300 projects includes "Green 2 Green" spearheaded by Afzal. The project's goal is to bring the company to a paperless rate of 85 to 90 percent. This early into 2012 they are halfway there. How?

Internally, the company has gone mobile, replacing paper with electronic strategies that include everything from video to electronic project collaboration.

Leading by Doing

Afzal's leadership style, he said, comes across as easy going and rooted in high standards. Standards he witnessed under one of his leadership mentors - John Reed, ex-CEO of Citicorp. He described Reed as tenacious and visionary.

Like another visionary Afzal holds in high esteem, Steve Jobs, Afzal goes out to discover what people need.

"CIOs have to get out of the back office...think about strategies and solutions and drive them," he said. "We [CIOs] are very reluctant, it requires confidence and knowledge. Knowing your business is so important."

Afzal goes to bank branches on a regular basis and sits down with tellers and bankers. He said he always leaves with three to four pages of actions items.

"A lot of them are small things, easy to do that make a real difference," Afzal said. "A lot of CIOs say they are too busy to do this kind of stuff, but it's important."

The key to driving innovation as a leader, Afzal said, is to encourage a "bottom-up" idea generation culture and establish a process to review and respond to those ideas.

Afzal stays motivated by trying to find new ways to drive the business when others are thinking about coffee.

"My mind is racing first thing in the morning," he said. "I'm driven by a sense of accomplishment, I'm always thinking about which part of the company has challenges? How can we be innovative - not in the context of pure technology, but, in other ways as well?"

Editor's Note: Zahid Afzal is answering your IT and leadership questions this week at IT Martini on LinkedIn.

Terreece M. Clarke

Jeanne Gokcen: Mastering Speech Technology

March 13th, 2012
By Terreece M. Clarke

Jeanne Gokcen didn't set out to be an entrepreneur. With a B.S. and masters in speech-language pathology, and a Ph.D in speech science, Gokcen envisioned her career taking her down a few narrow paths: academia, clinical practice or research.

It was Gokcen's husband that suggested she start a business - an idea she fought.

In 1994, Gokcen founded FutureCom Technologies as a speech and signal processing technology development and services company. Today, FutureCom Technologies has its own speech recognition, text-to-speech and speaker verification engines - all of which are integrated into a single platform.

Ideation to Execution

After solving a problem for a speech technology project her husband was working on, Gokcen was brought on as a consultant. At the first meeting, she had a lightbulb moment - an integral component to the project's success was missing.

"It was a really simple thing, in my mind. Something I would have learned in my bachelor's degree [studies]," she said. "They just looked at me like I had said something that was inspired. From that moment on, I realized I had something to contribute!"

Gokcen leveraged her speech science background to create a call answering system that speaks and responds in a natural, human way.

The company's Speech-Centric approach is at the core of all of their technologies. They call their Speech-Centric approach, "the final frontier in creating human-like interaction that enables communication in a way that is preferred by customers."

Evolving from Hardware to Software

While the company beat the dot.com burst of the late 90's and early 2000's, Gokcen admits not having a business background made for a steep learning curve.

"I know it [lack of business background] affected the growth of the company," she said. "I got too stuck into one way of business and not really looking ahead, and so there came a time that what we were offering and the way we were marketing it wasn't what the market needed."

Gokcen refocused the company and made adjustments to the way the company offered its product, taking it from equipment based to an integrated software platform. This change provided companies a greener alternative to the environmentally damaging and expensive cycle of buying, storing, maintaining and disposing of hardware.

This ability to recognize industry shifts and evolve is one key reason why FutureCom Technologies continues to thrive.

"We've been ahead sometimes too much and the market wasn't ready for us," she said.

Now the company has a 'customer-pull' model instead of a 'technology-push' model, discovering the former to be more relevant and valuable to its customers.

Women as Technology Entrepreneurs

In an industry with a small group of giant players like Microsoft, FutureCom Technologies stands out as the only woman-owned company in the speech technology field worldwide.

"Women in technology in general, is still not [where] we would like to see," Gokcen said. "When I go to shows and conferences, there are very few people I can relate to at my level in terms of being the president or CEO of this type of company. We really want to encourage women to become entrepreneurs and enter the tech field."

Gokcen is passionate about getting women involved in public policy and legislative advocacy to represent their interests (especially as business owners) and is currently president of the Columbus chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

"I have a responsibility as a professional with expertise to make my legislators aware. They are not experts, they can only go by what they are told," she said. "I have the responsibility to give them the knowledge for them to make wise decisions."

Making the distinction between legislative advocacy and politics, Gokcen lamented the lack of female representation, as women represent the fastest growing segment of small business owners.

"We don't have a voice at the table. Women make up practically 50 percent of the businesses in the state of Ohio and we are not at all represented in that way," she said.

Final Thoughts

Gokcen's success has been shaped by the key lessons she learned throughout the 17 years she has spent as President and CEO of FutureCom Technologies: continue to evolve to stay relevant in your industry; get involved in public policy to advocate for your business interests, customers and community; and embrace your experience and skill set.

"The skills and knowledge you are acquiring can apply in lots and lots of different places," Gokcen said. "You don't have to be locked into one career path [or] one type of job your whole life. Look at it [your skills] objectively...[and] keep your mind open."

Editor's Note: Parts of this article originally appeared on Women with Moxie Entrepreneurs on February 26, 2012. Jeanne Gokcen will be answering your questions this week [March 13 - 16] at IT Martini on LinkedIn, in a session that's sponsored by Women with Moxie Entrepreneurs.