Documenting work to ensure consistency & sustainability

Technology personnel tend to love new projects, challenges, and the fun of learning and implementing new technologies, but much like any profession, there are necessary duties that tend to get put off for a less busy day or because there is other work that is more interesting. Documenting tasks, processes, and systems tends to fall into the less interesting work category, but it is vital that it be done well, as the number and complexity of IT systems is growing.

 

There are few employees that can remember every step taken and every configuration option selected when setting up a new system, so documenting as the work is being done has to become a part of a culture of a technology department. The other part of this equation is that IT staff tend to be highly mobile, and school IT staff are no different. Most can work equally well in or out of education, which means that school IT departments will have periodic staff changes. But what happens when the new staff member needs to upgrade a system or fix one that has failed? If the staff member that setup the system is no longer around and there is no documentation as to what was initially done, this can lead to extended down time, funds spent on consultants, and so on.

 

As technology leaders, we need to look closely at our internal processes and documentation and decide if we are doing the best job at documenting what is being done by our IT personnel. If it is not being done, or not being done well, then it is time for us to start planning a new year’s resolution and make documentation a year long push for our staff. It will take this long and, truthfully, longer. Once basic documentation is done it will still need updates, changes, etc. And new systems will be added. So once started, the impetus to keep documenting must be sustained.

 

Find a standardized place to house the documentation for your staff. At our district, we chose a private wiki that is housed on our corporate intranet. It is quick and easy to search for and to add information, which makes our staff more likely to use it. Do not ignore this factor, since if it is a pain to use the documentation system put in place, people will most likely not use it.

This blog posting is cross-posted at SchoolCIO at http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&EntryId=5112

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Non Tech Alert: My Thanksgiving Texas Twice-Baked Potatoes in Pictures

I know this is supposed to be a techie blog, but I have to eat too.  So what is becoming a Thanksgiving tradition for me is the preparation of Texas Twice-Baked potatoes.  They are delicious, with lots of flavor and spice, which I think adds a little flair to what I think can be a bit bland holiday meal.

The ingredients I use are as follows.  I will not give amounts, but you can see how much I used and make yours based on your taste preferences.

Ingredients:

• Russet potatoes
• Grated sharp cheddar cheese
• Chopped pickled jalapenos
• Cooked and chopped Bacon
• Minced fresh garlic cloves
• Cream or milk
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper

Add what you want - green onions are good in these, but I did not have any.

So - bake potatoes as normally done.  Cut in half.  Scoop out potato, place in bowl and mash a bit and add butter, cream/milk and mix.  Then add ingredients (use 1/2 the cheese), stuff potatoes, and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake until golden brown.

Here is the process in pictures:

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What? My iPad can do more than email and Web? iPad productivity apps (cross post with SchoolCIO)

There is one device that follows me around all the time at work, when going to meetings, while traveling—and it also goes home with me each night. It is my iPad. It is my ultimate productivity tool. I see many tech directors, CIOs, principals, and superintendents carrying theirs around as well. But what often surprises me is how many leaders just use their iPad for email and Web browsing, not exploring many of the fantastic iPad productivity apps that really can make this device shine. Many great iPad productivity apps can help leaders become more organized and effective.

 

So I want to share many of the apps that I find very useful below in my productivity app list. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it ought to really help you get a great start on using your iPad for more than email and Web browsing.

 

Note: All prices are accurate as of 10/28/2012.

  

Stock iPad Apps
Safari	Web Browser	Included with iPad
Contacts	Syncs with Exchange (Outlook) and Google	Included with iPad
Email	Syncs with Exchange (Outlook) and Google	Included with iPad
Calendar	Syncs with Exchange (Outlook) and Google	Included with iPad
Camera	Takes pictures and video.	Included with iPad
Photos	Access, email, and share your photos.	Included with iPad
FaceTime	Real time video conference with other iOS users.	Included with iPad

Notetaking Apps
Evernote	The e-filing note cabinet of choice – use as your memory.  Stores emails, text notes & audio.  Syncs across many devices and web.  You can easily share notes.  Includes a great search feature!	Free
Notability	Any easy to use simple text, written, audio and photo note app – email or PDF notes.	$0.99
GoodReader	PDF annotation and reader software – a bit complex but very powerful, with Google Drive and Box support amongst many others.	$4.99
PDF Expert	Simple PDF annotation with WiFi transfer and Box support.	$9.99
Audio Memos Free	Voice recorder, email up to 3mb files, WiFi download.	Free
Dragon Dictation	Voice to text transcriptions.	Free

Office Apps
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote	Apple’s GREAT office apps for Word Processing, spreadsheet, and presentations.  These are the apps to use if using iPad for content creation.	$9.99 each
QuickOffice Pro HD	All in one office suite – edits Microsoft Office docs and syncs with Box.net and WiFi file transfer. This more affordable suite is geared towards just editing.	$19.99
CloudOn	Cloud-Based MS Office with Box synchronization	Free
Digits Calculator	Great desktop calc with editable, comment-able eTape that can be emailed.	$1.99
Dictionary.com	Great dictionary and thesaurus.	Free

Book  Apps
iBooks, Nook & Kindle	eBooks from the big three.	Free

News Apps
Pulse	Incredible customizable news aggregator.	Free
FlipBoard	Another great customizable news aggregator.	Free
News360	Great news aggregator with excellent social media integration.	Free

Other Useful Apps
Box	Box is a great secure corporate level file sharing service. Use this app to synchronize files to the cloud and web browser.  Can sync files between computer and iPad.	Free
Twitter	Great social networking tool to expand your PLN.	Free
iThoughtsHD	Easy mind mapping with Image & PDF export, Box, and WiFi sync.	$9.99
Skitch	Simple annotation app – take a photo and mark up ideas and notes (syncs to Evernote).	Free
Explain Everything	Annotate and narrate on screen then export video – great way to narrate presentations then share.	$2.99
VDI and Remote Desktop Clients (I use Citrix)	There are many virtual desktop clients that you can often use to access work from remote locations or which you can use at work to get a full Windows desktop on your iPad.	Vary

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Judson ISD Connect Mobile App Takes the Bronze Lovie Award

Yesterday we received notification that the Judson ISD Connect! mobile school app for Android and iOS received a Bronze award in the European Lovie Awards.  I am so very proud of my co-workers who worked very hard to make this app what it is.  I am also most appreciative of Conduit Mobile and their fantastic team who worked with us to make the app better and resolve issues to make the app what it is today. More info on the app is available at the app page at http://www.judsonisd.org/district/technology/jisd_mobile.cfm or read about our development experience here in the CTO Technotes blog via Tech & Learning Magazine.

Conduit Mobile

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We closed another work order, but does anyone know if the customer's happy?

With school budgets being filleted and diced year after year, many school districts’ IT departments have spent a lot of time trimming fat, cutting products, and squeezing budgets and employees for efficiency. One of the big dangers of all this cutting is that we will lose sight of the end goal—keeping our customers happy.

 

This year in our IT department we wanted to step back and look at how our customers perceived our day-to-day work. So we embarked on creating a simple tool to measure how well we were doing for every work order we completed. Every day, we send surveys to customers when their work orders are closed. The survey simply asks customers if their problem was solved and five questions about our service.

 

 An interesting by product of this measurement is that we now have a way to identify customers who had a bad experience, and we can try to go back and work on making the issue right or reopen a work order if their problem was not solved to their satisfaction the first time around.

 

Each weekend, all help desk technicians (all of our IT staff) get a report showing how they did for the week. They also get a list of free-form comments left by customers, both happy and unhappy. Additionally, each staff member also gets to see where they rank in relation to their colleagues. The openness of this data has certainly caused many of us to step back and think about how we are interacting with those we serve. It may be simple courtesies while on the phone or writing out our work-order solutions with correct grammar in complete sentences, but either way the end result should be a better customer experience. 

 

In the end, paying attention to the many details is what builds a great team and great customer service, which we do not want to sacrifice, even in the name of efficiency in lean times.

This blog is cross posted with SchoolCIO at http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&EntryId=4981

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Non Tech Alert: Spending Some Precious Moments with the Scion FR-S

Well this is another blog entry straying from the tech realm, but since I got to spend some time today with an incredible piece of driving technology today, I think this will have to qualify as a tech post.

The object of my driving desire

I don't hide my love for fun driving cars.  But this has always been tempered by budget, practicality, and life.  My current Mazda 6 fit this mold - super fun to drive, low cost, decent gas mileage, and it has room for the little buggers in my life.  

Well today, I think my car philosophy might have changed when I had a chance to drive a couple of beautiful new Scion FR-S on a test track at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Here is a car that by any sports car measure is a fantastic value, drives like virtually nothing else in its class and looks oh so good to boot. 

Now in my affordability book, a car just shy of $25,000 may not being the ultimate economy car, but for a car that can snake through tight corners with the greatest of ease, and DOES drive like a top of the line sports car, this is a STEAL.

Today Scion and Yokohama setup a first drive track with some great corners that really let the FR-S shine. I must give a special thanks to Yokohama for putting their S Drive tires on the FR-S. We had these things squealing through the turns, yet they held like glue to the pavement.  I have not driven the FR-S on the stock "what were they thinking European Prius tires", but I am convinced from others that those should be ripped off by any self respecting car enthusiast. 

Enthusiast drivers were clearly the main audience out for this event today - there were some beautiful Mazda 3, 6, and RX8 in the lot, so I could tell that there were a lot of people who were very curious about all the great press the FR-S has received.  I imagine, much like me, there are many folks who are becoming Scion fans after this event.

Well my next chore is to get one from my local dealer to test drive (which could be a next to impossible feat, as they seem to have almost no Scions at their Scion dealership.)  My goal in this is to see if one of these can actually make it onto my steep driveway........ I sure hope it does, as I am sold!

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Tech & Learning Magazine and SchoolCIO cover story on (Not So) Easy Money

Getting funding in times of very tight budgets is certainly challenge for any CIO.   Tech & Learning magazine has a great new issue called "Showing You The Money".  This issue is focused on how you can get funds, as well as save them.

The issue features several fantastic technology visionaries, plus me, give their (my) views on how we now have to work on justifying expenditures, using tools like CoSN's Value of Investment and Return on Investment calculators.  The article is entitled (not so) Easy Money and is found here.

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