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Effective Communication on a Decentralized
CampusMay 7, 2007 – EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference
Mindy Tueller, Communications ManagerCraig Bennion, Manager, Computing & Operational Services
Office of Information Technology, University of Utah
Copyright Mindy Tueller and Craig Bennion 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.
The Problem
How to communicate to a diverse group of computer professionals (with strong opinions toward anything “centralized”) about campus-wide IT issues and projects?
University of Utah Demographics
18 Colleges and Schools 30,000 students (approx.) 17,000 faculty/staff (approx.) 4 major computing centers Approximately 350 IT Staff distributed
throughout campus (not centralized) Over 1500 acres of campus 298 Buildings
About the University of Utah
Particular distinction in medicine, genetics and engineering
A national leader in technology transfer Original ARPANet member (1969) Internet2 and NLR connections Center for High Performance Computing – 766
nodes/1876 processors grid system Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute (SCI)
Notable UofU Alumni - Computing
David Evans (Evans & Sutherland) Ivan Sutherland (Evans & Sutherland) Al Davis (computer graphics) John Warnock (Adobe) Jim Clark (Silicon Graphics Inc., Netscape) Ed Catmull (Pixar) Alan Kay (virtual research, GUI) Ray Norda (Novell) Alan Ashton (WordPerfect) Chris Johnson (computer imaging, visualization)
History of IT Community at the U of U
A regular meeting of Unix managers who did email and networking
began around 1980: “All-Managers”
An “All-Managers” email list created to coordinate routing table
changes - has been around for years
Two additional groups were ultimately formed: PC Novell Mgrs
(1983) and Mac Mgrs (1984)
The “All-Managers” group began to overlap in areas like email, Unix
About 10 years ago, one IT guy with a strong personality “took the
reigns”
Culture of IT at the University of Utah
Strong individual areas of computing Strong personalities with their own ideas A knee-jerk reaction to the idea of
centralization of just about any kind
History of IT Managers
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) was created in 2002 under the campus Sr. Academic VP
Headed by the campus CIO with a vision: Central Coordination, Local Control
OIT began sponsoring the monthly meetings for campus IT Managers in early 2004
IT Managers Forum Creation
OIT provides administrative and logistical
support (and $$ for food) – doesn’t own it
Governance for the group remains independent
of OIT
Nominations for a 6-member Board were
requested from the campus IT community and
The first vote was held in April 2004
IT Managers Forum Creation
Criteria for the Board (by the Board): Terms should be limited to 2 years
Appointments should be rotated and staggered
Campus-wide (academic, non-academic and
Health Sciences areas) representation was
encouraged
IT Managers Forum Creation
VisionBuilding a community of IT professionals
MissionProvide an environment that fosters communication and cooperation among the members of the University IT community and an opportunity to learn and improve skills
IT Managers Board – Requirements
Meet for 1 ½ hours each meeting month, one week after
the meeting
Plan the next meeting and sketch out the one after
Some action items result in follow-up, usually no more
than two hours/month
A list is kept for future topics of interest
Minutes are kept and posted
A Board retreat once a year (July)
IT Managers Meetings
10 per year – none in January or July due to
academic calendar
Scheduled for 90 minutes, but goal is for 75
minutes plus “cookie/social networking time”
Standard format includes updates, security info,
two “meaty” topics
IT Managers
Set your phones/pagers to
Silent Mode
PLEASE
Typical IT Managers Agenda
IT Updates
Security - Corey Roach
HSC-ITS Network - Tim Urban, Mark Beekhuizen
Cellular Broadband – Dave Packham
IT Managers Meetings
The meaty topics have included: Help Desk Software Wireless Networking Email (general overview and specific platforms) VMWare Content Management systems HR rules for hiring Computer/IT positions Cellular Broadband options
IT Managers Website
Web page with information, list subscription,
agendas, presentations, minutes, streams, etc.
http://www.it.utah.edu/leadership/committees/IT_Managers/index.html
IT Managers Meetings – what works
Good representative Board, not only of the campus, but of differing points of view
Getting buy-in Open lines of communication from all areas of
campus Covering all platforms; looking for solutions for
everyone Always staying open to new ideas, continually
tweaking the model
IT Managers Meetings – what works
Campus IT managers can talk to “their” Board rep
It doesn’t feel like OIT is running the show Meetings stay on agenda and finish on time Good administrative “behind the scenes”
support Board members can add their skills and not
their failings
IT Managers Meetings – what works
Good Speakers! Relaxed atmosphere Follow through on ideas, concerns Meeting Minutes – online soon after Meeting Video Streams (archived) Email list (it lives on!) Give-aways, parties
Food!
IT Managers Meetings - what doesn’t work
Long boring downer meetings! Bad speakers Presentations that are too complex Wiki – just never caught on Still have individuals who don’t ask questions
or voice opinions
Obstacles
Finding a good central meeting room (that allows food)
Support from the IT manager’s supervisor(s) – encouragement or approval to attend meetings
Metrics
Annual Survey 2006 Survey: 86% of those who responded feel
the meetings are relevant or very relevant to them The best thing is the sense of community (we are
accomplishing the mission!) http://www.it.utah.edu/leadership/committees/IT_Man
agers/papers/ITM_ForumReport.html
Meeting Attendance 20% of IT Community regularly attends
Other Positive Results
IT Mgrs provides a voice into other groups Helps set some IT direction for campus in
ways other than usual (hierarchical) channels More direct input into the process Example: recent enterprise email/calendar
system
Other Campus Areas Following Suit:
HSC-ITS group now meeting monthly, using this
format
Campus Webmaster group wants to emulate this
meeting format
IT Managers Meetings – VendorsAn interesting phenomenon
Vendors want to present to this group, but the group
doesn’t want marketing pitches.
Vendors are allowed to present for 30 minutes PRIOR to
meetings IF they meet guidelines (high on the geek
factor)
They are encouraged to bring food
Currently, vendors are queued up
Vendor presentation attendance is around 40-55
Guidelines for Vendor Presentations
Presentation topics must:
Discuss new technology and how their product uses it or how their product provides a solution to a campus issue.
Topics must be approved by the IT Managers Board.
Vendors cannot present to a pre-IT Managers meeting group more than once a year.
Guidelines for Vendor Presentations
To communicate a scheduled vendor event, the IT Managers Forum facilitator will:
1. Send one email to the IT-Managers list2. Post the event on the U Events Calendar as an IT event3. Announce the event at the IT Managers meeting prior to the event4. Scheduled training events will also be posted on the IT Managers and Training web pages
All postings include the following disclaimer:
The Office of Information Technology and the IT Managers Forum Board do not endorse any content presented, views expressed or products or services offered from vendors who present to or conduct training for members of the University of Utah IT community. In no event shall the University of Utah be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services available through any such product or training course.
Summary
Problem: How to communicate with an IT community on a (very) decentralized campus
Solution: An open meeting Centralized admin support for the group Campus-representative local governance Open e-mail list Food!
What do you do?
Tell us what works for you . . .
