22 Sep 2014
A specially extended feature frenzy for FOSS4G 2014 in Portland. Usually I only frenzy for 25 minutes at a time, but they gave me an hour long session!
Thanks to the organizers for giving me the big room and big slot!
16 Sep 2014
At FOSS4G this year, I wanted to take a run at the decision process around open source with particular reference to the decision to adopt PostGIS: what do managers need to know before they can get comfortable with the idea of making the move.
09 Aug 2014
Strategy documents.
Did I just see you yawn? Let me try again. Strategy documents.
Setting high level goals is important, but the process walks a knife edge: are the goals too general to be realized? are they too specific to provide a guide to the whole organization?
Here’s the goals from the BC CIO’s strategic plan:
It’s hard to choose where to start hating these: the focus on process; the organization-centric worldview; or the relentless use of the passive voice. You choose.
When Vivek Kundra took over as Barack Obama’s CIO, he produced a 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management:
Apply “Light Technology” and Shared Solutions
Strengthen Program Management
Align the Acquisition Process with the Technology Cycle
Align the Budget Process with the Technology Cycle
Streamline Governance and Improve Accountability
Increase Engagement with Industry
While there’s still a certain amount of navel-gazing at internal concerns, around things like CIO councils and review boards, the plan at least is made up of actions, stated in the active voice, most of which can be evaluated on a done/not-done basis over time. The organization can track whether it is executing this plan, and whether staff are allocated to it’s accomplishment.
Of more recent vintage, the UK Government Digital Service has a strategic plan (note, available in simple HTML):
There are fewer done/not done items here than in the US plan, but a lot less emphasis on internal processes and more about achieving results, for “people” (the word “people” shows up in four of the twelve points). The plan is focussed on not on internal processes, but on external results.
Which organization is likely to produce more positive results for the people who pay their salaries? The one “optimizing collaboration across the division”? Or the one that seeks to “increase the number of people who use digital services”?
This can be (heck, it IS) deathly dull, but these documents provide the base note over which the activities of an organization are laid: does this organization accomplish things, or does it talk about how best to accomplish things? You can tell a lot, and learn a lot, from these documents.
30 Jul 2014
Bill Dollins wrote an excellent paean to the positive aspects of vendor lock-in, which is worth a few minutes of your time:
Lock-in is a real thing. Lock-in can also be a responsible thing. The organizations I have worked with that make the most effective use of their technology choices are the ones that jump in with both feet and never look back. They develop workflows around their systems; they develop customizations and automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks and embed these in their technology platforms; they send their staff to beginning and advanced training from the vendor; and they document their custom tools well and train their staff on them as well. In short, they lock themselves in.
I think locking yourself into a good technology could have all the positive knock-on effects Bill lists. But, we never quite know what we’re getting, good or bad, until we’ve spent some time with it. Which to me means being carefully modular and standards-oriented in design (which is to say, the opposite of how most vendors will architect a solution).
The BC Integrated Case Management (ICM) project yet again provides an excellent example of the negative aspects of vendor worship. In this case, ICM chose their software vendor first (way back in the single-digit 2000’s they chose Seibel) and then chose their system integrator (Deloitte) and finally began to get the first major phases of delivery a couple years ago. One result of this slow motion train wreck is that the Seibel software is dragging other aspects of the Ministry’s technology base down to its level.
For example, among the limitations (scroll to the bottom) ICM (Seibel) imposes are:
Only a few years after launch, ICM is already locking the Ministry to desktop technology that is several versions out of date, which will in turn restrict flexibility for doing more modern work in the future. This is one of the the downsides of lock-in.
16 Jul 2014
“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
The BC Public Accounts came out today, so it’s time to update the statistics and see how the IT consulting racket shaped up in BC last year. Judging from the sharp suits on the streets and general perkiness of the local IT labour market, I’d guess “pretty peachy”, but there’s something to be said for actually checking the numbers.
Totalling up all the Usual Suspects, I am pleased to report that 2013/14 was another record-breaking year in technology outsourcing: a $435,350,420 spend, that’s up 11% over last year! Rockin’ it!
Let’s put that in perspective, shall we?
I said it last year, and I’ll say it again this year: suck on that, children and sick people! Who’s the boss? IT people are the boss!
Once again, in the individual category, HP Advanced Solutions reigns supreme, billing out $138,407,858, a 6.8% gain. HP’s growth is slowing though and my favourite systems integrator, Deloitte, just closed a monster year with 51% year-over-year billings growth and a take of $54,294,507. Look out HP, someone hungry is on your heals!
I recently discovered that there’s a significant government IT spend in the health authorities, so I’m looking forward to adding some new stats over the summer. In addition, I feel like leaving Telus out of the accounting is an increasingly hard call: while much of their billing is infrastructure stuff like group cell phone plans and connectivity, they also have a huge new outsourcing arm doing all sorts of not-at-all-like-a-telephone stuff: Telus Health, anyone?
Until next year, keep on spending, British Columbia!
