Much loved Volvo Estate for sale (pipe, slippers, labrador all optional extras)

Helen is selling her much loved volvo - it's on ebay now

The new one looks like this - not that different!!

UCISA Leadership Event Manchester Jan 28 Day Sessions

Some nice quotes in session one by Chris Head of CHH Consulting and previously Head of IT at Surrey County Council:

At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past – Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949).

The diminutive chains of habit are seldom heavy enough to be felt until they are too strong to be broken – Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Chris gave a case study on building an ICT strategy, why you do it, who it's for, the need for strong governance arrangements and clear terms of reference for a governance board and the need for commitment by others to support the IT service in preparing the strategy - it's not about the destination in this case but the journey.

The second session by Steve Hopson CIO of Cheshire County Council was another case study on transformational change in a huge billion pound organisation. There was lots of detail here in terms of a framework and there were seven deady sins and ten steps to heaven in managing change programs. The definition he used from the NHS to describe transformational change:

Transformational change is radical in nature. It requires a shift in assumptions made by the organisation and its members. Transformation can result in an organisation that differs significantly in terms of structure, process, culture and strategy.

The next session was an hour and a half and for me was the highlight of the event. Adrian Gilpin of the Institute of Human Development presented a multimedia presentation that was engaging, interactive and very challenging to the delegates. Pause for thought on these quotes:

Leaders are all different - the only thing they have in common is followers
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung. - Rabindranath Tagore
People are absolutely brilliant at ignoring advice – we all need to discover for ourselves
The opening frames of the film gladiator (noting that Powerpoint not in evidence on the battlefield!)
Maximus: Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead! [Cavalry laughs]
Maximus: Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.
The Guiness advert about belief.

There is more, much more. A story worth listening too.

After lunch there were two personal case studies from people who are relatively new in post at their Instiutions but the background stories and the genuine advice and sharing of experience was brave and very well received.

Final wrap up discussion - I liked the point that someone made about the IT being the veins and arteries of the organisation - could be a useful analogy.

UCISA Leadership Event Manchester Jan 28

This event began last night with a keynote presentation by David Sweeney who recently took a new role at HEFCE as Director Research, Innovation and Skills. David has been a key figure in the HE community and IT community (UCISA) as IT Director at Royal Holloway and Chair of UCISA in the past. David is also a member of the Shere Khan secret society of IT people who met at a leadership and development course also organised by UCISA in Manchester in 1996. At this event today there are at least six of us attending who are Shere Khan "members" and that is quite an interesting reflection - still learning and interested in leadership - but also committed to HE, their Insitutions and the wider IT community through UCISA. David's key messages were that IT folk were one of the most valuable assets - in a priviledged position to understand the organisation and influence its future - technology as enabler. He also had various salutory stories of how we are perceived and what we might begin to do to change that. Most important thing I heard - in the current economic climate and with changing government priorities - there is a perception that HE is well provisioned and funded: maybe even "feather bedded" in terms of recent settlements like the inflation pay rise coupled with falling costs (deflation?) and the capital investments from tuition fees over last few years. A cosy recent past is likely to lead to a much more challenging future - great leaders are not those who deliver in the good times, but those who deliver when the tide changes. More to follow from today's speakers.

Feedback on Self Assessment Toolkit for IT Services

In the last week a small group of us in IT Services (five) together with invited assitance from others, have worked our way through a self-assessment exercise for IT services. Each of the four assessments has taken 3 hours so it has been a significant time commitment for those involved. The toolkit is something that was put together at Strathclyde University using funding from the JISC and was promoted towards the end of last year by UCISA at a one-day event which one of us attended. The feedback from that event suggested that the self-assessment had demonstrated value and benefit to those who had undertaken the exercise as presented in a number of case studies. Overall, we have identified a number of our strengths at this University and areas where we benchmark well against the proforma questions. We also identified a number of gaps and development areas, some of which we have never really had in place, and others which we used to have in place at some time in the past but which may have lapsed. It is often difficult not to be over-critical but on balance I think we demonstrate many areas of good practice and we should celebrate the fact that we are in the minority of Insitutitions that have taken the time to undertake such a comprehensive self-assessment exercise at all. There are also questions that the toolkit didn't ask (such as internal and external communications strategy, fit for purpose physical space/resources etc) so there is more work to be done.

IT Futures Conference Event

Attended an event all morning providing an opportunity for staff who are mainly in Learner Support Services to take a bit of time out to discuss where we might be going with respect to e-learning in particular. The slightly innovative nature of the event was the location (the newly refurbed Learn Higher Room), the fact that it was a cross-divisional conversation within LSS, and the idea of 5 minute speed dating intro presentations. For the 5 mins I was allocated I decided to talk about the four issues that emerged on Tuesday at the e-learning showcase:

• How we support things may need to change
• The infrastructure must be robust
• The debate about standards
• We are likely to use tools in unexpected and anticipated ways

There were four groups which then discussed their own takes on the key issues. Assuming that all this information will be posted onto the web shortly. One of the observations related to presentation styles and this is something that came up last week when some of us spent time on the Myers-Briggs preferences. There were examples of a range of styles which re-inforced the need identified last week to think about the personal preferences of individuals in terms of content and presentation of new information.

Emergency Planning Briefing Event

Spent most of yesterday in a training event with about 15 other colleagues discussing the nature of emergency planning and business contingency planning from a very wide variety of perspectives. Some of the emergencies or critical incidents were quite obvious (like fires, floods, natural disasters) but others less so (Hillsborough). The top two according to the Cabinet Office facing the UK are (a) Flu Pandemic and (b) Terrorism. The group added a few others like credit crunch and energy sources. It was a good event with a lot of interaction from a wide range of professional and personal experiences and it was interesting how often IT was referred to - not as the cause of an emergency (although sometimes IT is a potential cause) but also as a tool to support communication and co-ordination during the crucial response stage and later recovery stages of an emergency situation. Better order up some PPE.

E-Learning Showcase - Key Points

How we support things may need to change

• Anytime, anywhere, anyplace – puts new demands on our traditional 8x5 support infrastructure
• Timeliness – perform activity on location as it happens – requires highly available and responsive networks as well as infrastructure like servers etc
• Technology that we manage and support (traditional in-house e.g. Blackboard), technology that we source from others via a contract (traditional out-source e.g. Pebblepad), emerging technology platforms sharing resources and support (or none at all e.g. second life)
• We appear to be gaining real benefits through collaboration with others and networking which means that the support could potentially be managed and shared in some innovative ways.

The infrastructure must be robust

• Is it useful – would you use this sort of technology. Needs to be more robust and ubiquitous – not an early adopter so it’s a leap of faith. Someone has to do it – should it be us?
• Next year going back to the drawing board and start again – tech has moved on from where we were with the ALPS initiatives.
• Lots of various tech niggles throughout the day – needs to be seamless and robust

There is likely to be a debate about standards

• Standardised Infrastructure - Is there any guidance to students on buying a device – we don’t currently do this for students for PCs, laptops etc – however, there are some Institutions that are choosing to be prescriptive (some schools, some FE, some HE quite a few Thinkpad Universities in the US a few years ago. Looking back did that approach work?
• Different learners make progress in lots of different ways and have different learning styles – which tech may be able to help us manage. So the content will not be standardised and the delivery platform may not be standardised. IT people (and accountants) tend to like standards

We are likely to use tools in unexpected and unanticipated ways

• Sometimes tools can be exploited and used in a range of expected and also unexpected ways ie there may be different ways to do the same things, e.g. Pebblepad we could use the tool for staff performance review (not just students). And this may have additional and unexpected support implications.