"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

The opportunity to spend a couple days with some wonderful colleagues last  week has me thinking about the great benefits we receive when we work together. I’ve written about the value of volunteering and that is certainly a rewarding experience. Today, I am thinking more about working together in our professional roles.

I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work in environments where most of the people were genuinely motivated to work together in pursuit of the vision, mission and goals of the organization. My colleagues have generally been eager to share their knowledge, experience and perspectives, and to listen openly to what others had to share, to help ensure our success. Most of the leaders I have served under fostered this kind of cooperation and served as role models in their own engagement with colleagues.

Across a wide range of situations, from cooperation within work groups and teams, to collaboration within and across departments and organizations, I’ve experienced the power of people coming together in service of shared objectives. I’ve seen this dynamic at work in campus-wide committees and initiatives, and in system-wide groups like the Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) that I spent time with last week.

As ITAC gathered, with CIOs from across a large multi-campus system representing their universities, I watched with real admiration the way these colleagues choose to work together. I’ve been fortunate to work with this group for a number of years and I was struck again with the diversity of their knowledge and experience, the respectful way they work together, and the commitment and energy they bring to this work. The needs and cultures of their campuses differ and the best solution for one will not always be suitable for another. Still, they come together with mutual respect to search for answers.

I admire the way the members of this group seek opportunities for common action and benefit from understanding how the different organizations they represent are unique. Their work together provides an excellent example of how it is possible to share the effort, and benefits, of seeking standard system-wide solutions, forming smaller communities of interest where appropriate, and sharing experiences and knowledge that can benefit us even when we choose unique answers for our campuses. Often the pioneering work of one, or a few, will ultimately benefit all and I appreciate the spirit of generosity and collaboration they exhibit.

Although this recent experience was another positive example of how we can work together, I admit it’s not always easy. Some problems are perennial and even with all the best intentions and great good will, we can find ourselves struggling with them for years. Cynicism is a real danger at times like these and it can take real creativity, and patience, to find a way forward.

Even when we are paid to do a job for an organization, we don’t necessarily work effectively with all our colleagues. While we may all be “riding for the same brand” there are times when we find ourselves failing to connect to do good work together. There can even be personal, or personality, conflicts that can threaten to undermine the work we are engaged in together and I have faced a few situations where I wasn’t sure I could find a way past these. To be clear, none of those was at ITAC. 

There are many issues that can get in the way of effective collaboration. Our goals may be, or appear to be at odds. We may find ourselves in competition for resources or in championing different approaches to a shared objective. We may disagree about priorities and, sometimes, we may need to find a way to disagree respectfully. With luck, we may find ways to move ahead separately to a point where we can rejoin our efforts.  One answer has been to recognize when I needed to set aside my preference and support a solution that would not have been my first choice. Not every group will represent the power of working together and I’m sure we have all experienced those times when it seems a committee is the worst possible way to find a real solution.

It takes real leadership to bring people together, or through the hard times, to carry on good work. I don't believe that you can compel people to come together in this way. We must inspire them to do so for good reasons of their own by appealing to common interests and to their desire to improve things through their shared effort. We must meet them with respect and listen with open minds for the wisdom they have to share. We must help them meet one another with respect, openness, creativity, and patience. When we work around, or rise above, the challenges inherent in working with others toward a common goal, it almost always makes us stronger.

For my part, I am deeply grateful for the opportunities I have had to work with groups of colleagues. I’ve built a network of peers, and friends, and I’ve learned more from our work together then I ever have working alone. The perspective I’ve gained, and the growth I’ve experienced, as we faced challenges and celebrated accomplishments are invaluable. The opportunity to contribute, and the good times we’ve shared, have been among the highlights of my career.

With the end of our meetings last week, my work at ITAC has come to an end. Endings are part of this phase of my career that I am exploring as I write. I find that they afford me the opportunity to look back and reflect on what I’ve shared with others, what we’ve accomplished and how I’ve grown and changed. I find they also give me the chance to look forward with happy anticipation to what comes next. I know from past experiences, like the one I had in my volunteer work at SHARE, that the best times may well be ahead of me.

(The photo at the head to this weeks article is from Sulphur Mountain in Banff; one of the many great team-building experiences I enjoyed with the SHARE Board of Directors.)

"Therefore, desiring to rule over the people,

One must in one's words humble oneself before them

And, desiring to lead the people,

One must, in one's person, follow behind them." - Tao Te Ching

Today, I am inspired by a nightly occurrence in our household to write about herding cats. For many people this is simply a humorous, and helpful, metaphor for a situation where we try to bring disparate independent, and often unruly, elements into alignment to achieve some goal. The Wikipedia entry describes herding cats as "An idiom that refers to a frustrating attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are uncontrollable or chaotic."

I particularly like the way the Urban Dictionary defines this - "The phrase herding cats comes from the common saying that something involving coordination of many different groups or people is as difficult as herding cats. One of the commonly encountered uses of the term in technical fields is the phrase "Managing programmers is like herding cats" or "Managing engineers is like herding cats". In education it would be "Managing students is like herding cats". In reality, it would be "Managing cats is like herding cats." It refers to the individualism common in the stereotypical examples of programmers and domesticated cats. A similar phrase, allegedly of Irish origins, is 'Minding mice at a crossroads'". http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=herding+cats

I hadn’t heard “Minding mice at a crossroads” before and I like it! One of the things I particularly appreciate about their definition is that it honors the individualism of programmers. I’d extend this to IT professionals in general and I’m sure it applies to many other groups. I think that one of the keys to successfully herding cats, literally or metaphorically, is to respect their individualism and the way they value their independence. It can be important to consider the perspectives of different members of the team, to think about what will motivate different people to move in the direction you want, and to remember who they are ready to follow.

Herding is generally a management function. A manager can act by exerting authority to direct the actions of others. The cowboys herding cattle whistle and shout, use their horses and ropes to channel them in the right direction, and generally outsmart them all the way to the destination. Thank goodness, the people we manage and lead have very little in common with cattle! It is their intelligence, independence, and creativity that we value and that we rely on to help us define innovative solutions to users’ requirements.

While management techniques can have some value in herding these cats, more often it takes real leadership. In contrast to a manager, a leader effectively communicates a vision and, to the extent that the vision is compelling, followers will choose to help achieve it. You may be able to get some distance toward your goals by simply directing your team to please do what you are asking. To reach the final objective, you’ll likely need to appeal to their individual strengths by defining your vision in a way that makes them want to use their skill and knowledge to reach the goal.

Most of us have to play the roles of both manager and leader and I’ve learned a lot about both from my wife. In addition to being a skilled and passionate educator, she is the best mother I’ve ever seen. I’m proud of our sons and I know that she, and they, deserve most of the credit for what wonderful men they are. Once, when I asked her about her outstanding ability as a mother, she said it was important to have a clear idea what you are hoping for, and what behaviors you will, and will not accept, and to be clear about that.

She said she began thinking about this well before the boys were born. I know that she has always communicated clearly, and consistently, with them about what was expected and that she insisted on correct behavior when that was necessary. She managed them fairly, but firmly, and got great results. She also had a clear vision from the beginning and she lead them to realize those goals.

She treats them, always, with real respect and love. She offered them options that spoke to their individual strengths and preferences. She talked with them about what she wanted and why it mattered. She listened to what they wanted and adapted her vision to better align with their interests. As they grew, she gave their perspectives and independence greater and greater weight and helped them grow strong as individuals. She is an amazing leader, in her work and at home, and I watched the boys choose to follow her with love.

While the role of mother is so much more than manager and leader, the lessons of leadership I’ve learned from my wife, and others, can help you herd your cats. If you clearly define your expectations and communicate your vision, and honor their individuality and ability, they may impress you with their results.

I can remember a time when I managed the creation of a new group of systems staff from three, very different, groups. We were combining our Windows sysadmins, Unix sysadmins and mainframe systems programmers into one team. On the surface, the cultures of these three groups were significantly different and I remember thinking at the time that it was like putting cats in bag! Ultimately, I told them so. At a meeting with the combined team, I shared that thought and told them how much I like cats. I acknowledge that we had some different cats in the room. Maybe some were more like Persian cats, some more like Siamese cats, and others more like the tabby cats we see in such variety. Maybe there were even some alley cats ready for a fight.

I asked them to think about what made them different, and also about how they were the same. I started outlining my vision for the new group in ways that I hoped would help them adopt it as a shared vision. I talked about the special strengths that people in each of the former groups brought to the table and also about the things they all shared; like their commitment to delivering reliable systems that performed well and their desire to do things right. I asked them to think about what it would mean to be one group of cats more than three groups of different kinds of cats.

Ultimately, I left a lot of how the new group would form up to them and they found their own best ways to build trust and create a new culture around their shared values. As a manager, I laid out what we needed to accomplish. As a leader, I invited them to participate in defining how we’d achieve those results. In the process, I saw the power of the first follower in action. Once a respected member of this community chose to get on board, the others found it easier to join in.

The picture at the start of my post today must be ten years old. It is of our cat Olema with two kittens who are grown cats today. We weren’t sure how he’d accept these two; orphaned so young my wife had to hand feed them every four hours at first. He chose to be father and mother to them! He cleaned them up after feeding time and looked after them throughout the day. He’s been gone for some time now, but I still think of him at the end of the day.

You see, we have four cats in our house now. The two kitties above, a middle cat we found in a log in the forest, and a new kitten whose current nickname is “The Terrorist”. She’s actually a sweetie and when it’s bedtime, she’s often the first follower who helps with herding cats at our house. Sometimes, she will follow me down the stairs to the cat room where they sleep and the others will follow along. They do need more or less encouragement depending on the night! Often one will insist on being carried down and sometimes we all laugh about this process.

Of course, even with all the best intentions, sometimes its just like… well, herding cats!

“Time may change me, but I can't trace time." - David Bowie from "Changes"

Recently, a younger colleague who has been reading this blog asked if I’d consider writing about the changes I’ve seen during my career in IT. He was particularly interested in the concepts that have remained relevant across the years and in how current cloud computing models are similar to the service bureau environment where I started. I hadn't thought about this topic for 100 Mondays, but it's a good one! I also admit that thinking of 100 things to write about is going to be a challenge and I appreciate the suggestion. Thanks, Lars!

My interest in computers started in high school and my first computer programs were recorded on punched paper tape and stored with rubber bands around them in a mason jar on my shelf. For some reason, I didn't actually consider a career in IT and graduated with a degree in psychology after starting out majoring in enology.  I do remember hanging out in the computer lab at university but I never actually took any computer science or IT classes before I graduated.

I began my career in IT when I needed to make more money as I considered pursuing my Master's degree. I answered an ad in the paper and ended up as a computer operator on an IBM 370 mainframe working with punch cards and green-screen terminals. I taught myself some assembler language programming and then took a class from a colleague and got my next job as an assembly language programmer in the banking industry.

From there, I continued working in IT as a mainframe systems programmer, in storage, capacity planning, quality assurance, Unix systems administration and other technical pursuits. I was hired by the university to help them migrate to an IBM 3090 mainframe and ultimately moved into management. I've managed systems programmers and systems administrators, the help desk, networking, and ultimately took on my current role as Executive Director for Technology Services. We've just hired the first CIO in our university's history and I'm very pleased with this change and looking forward to helping with the transition to get the greatest value from having IT represented on the president's cabinet.

In the course of my career, I’ve worked with many systems including IBM mainframes, Prime, PDP and VAX minicomputers, and IBM, Apple, NeXT, Sun, Silicon Graphics and Dell microcomputers. These used a wide range of operating systems, storage, memory, database, network, printing and display technologies. I’ve worked with various virtualization environments from VM/370 to z/VM, VMware and others. I’ve watched the introduction of personal computers and seen the software they use evolve from offerings like CP/M, VisiCalc, CompuServ and Mosaic to modern operating systems running programs like Excel connected by the Internet and the modern web providing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and cloud computing including Google offerings for just about anything. Along the way, I’ve seen the emergence of Unix, Linux and technologies that allow up to 8,000 virtual servers to run on a single IBM z13 mainframe.

Some of my colleagues will remember wiring boards for the IBM 402, mounting tapes and disk packs and not only TSO, but WYLBUR and Interact, too. For the rest of you, my lapse into nostalgic jargon above isn’t really very important. I hope you can find it more amusing than annoying!

What  is more significant is what has remained relevant across all these changes. From time-sharing systems running on mainframes, through distributed client/server computing, to the current cloud-based offerings what has remained important are things like reliability, availability, performance, flexibility, and security.  While I may find cloud computing eerily similar to the service-bureau environment I started in, with the data in the data center and the user accessing it from a terminal, IT is still mainly about people and relationships. What matters is how well we can communicate our requirements and work together to deliver value by making information out of data.

What drives people to adopt new approaches to IT, and abandon old ones, remains the same, too. We flee higher costs for the promise of cheaper, more powerful, computing. We gravitate to new solutions that provide more useful ways of analyzing, and visualizing, information. We forsake the limitations of old paradigms for the promise of innovative ways to do our work. We embrace revolutionary new capabilities that allow us to tackle problems that were beyond our ability until now.

Over and over again, we will choose to build our own solutions when waiting for others to meet our requirements takes too long. Then we will surrender that independence, or have it taken from us, in exchange for the greater efficiency of a more standard approach. Sometimes, we will get caught up in trends and leave valuable tools behind in pursuit of shiny, unrealized, promises. In March of 1991, Stewart Alsop, the editor of InfoWorld and a very insightful person, wrote, "I predict that the last mainframe will be unplugged on 15 March 1996." Sometimes, we will be wrong.

The mainframes are still here, processing the vast majority of our financial transactions and playing a key role in most major industries. Distributed computing is still here, helping us achieve the flexibility we need to meet our wide range of computing needs. Cloud computing is here now, too, offering a new way to access a wide range of computing options in a simpler way. Behind the clouds shine cheap commodity computers, super computers and mainframe power and reliability. We watch in hope that the promise of efficiency, flexibility, and power, the dream of a real computing utility, is about to be realized.

If the promise does come true, I’m confident that thinking about computing the way we do at the enterprise level will be fundamental to making that happen. The mainframe mentality that encouraged us to think about computing environments as requiring very high reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) is still relevant today. After a prolonged outage of one of our distributed servers lately, I have an even keener appreciation for those mainframe systems I worked with 35 years ago! High performance and capacity are needed but the ability to assure that the right capacity and performance is available for each request, so that we optimize the use of scarce resources and deliver reliable service, is fundamental. I’m grateful to my early mentors and to SHARE for teaching me to think this way.

Whether we are using a utility computing environment for the serious business of commerce, healthcare and government, or to play, connect with each other, and share our passions across the face of the planet, a service we can count on to the point that most will take it for granted will be necessary. I look forward to watching that service continue to emerge and evolve.

“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.”- Arthur Ashe

Some of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences in my career, and in my life, have been those where I have volunteered my time to an effort, cause, or organization that mattered to me. It’s been my experience that we get so much more than we give from these opportunities and I’ve met many others who agree they can be the most rewarding experiences of all. Far from “What’s in it for me?”, I’ve found working with volunteers to be an exercise in “How can we make a bigger difference together?” There is something very special about people coming together to give their time, knowledge and experience.

I’ve had several great volunteer opportunities during my IT career with some of the most engaging being my work with SHARE (www.share.org), the Fresno Area Collaborative Regional Initiative (CRI), and the Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI). All three of these experiences allowed me to make a difference and helped me grow as a professional and as a person. The CRI and RJI gave me the opportunity to work with colleagues from government, the university and the private sector to help improve the economy of our region and give people here better opportunities. In the process, I also was able to strengthen my network of connections to other IT professionals as we worked to use technology to advance the mission.

My volunteer work with SHARE was the best experience of my professional career. Over a period of 23 years, I volunteered to support and organize the work of this association dedicated to providing the best training and networking for enterprise IT professionals, and to influencing vendors, standards bodies, and others to advance the value IT can provide. Beginning in 2001, I served on the SHARE Board of Directors for eight years and that was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. The culture of SHARE is one of the most unique and engaging of any organization I have ever encountered and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of this group that really lives the meaning of the phrase we often used to explain our name. “SHARE. It’s not an acronym. It’s what we do.” 

While my purpose working for SHARE was to pursue the mission of this great organization, I gained greatly in that process. When I joined SHARE, I was a systems programmer working on IBM mainframes. By the time I left the board, I had been an IT manager for more that eight years. I am certain that the contributions I've made to the work of my university have a great deal to do with what I learned at SHARE. I learned my first lessons in management as a SHARE Project Manager, and key lessons in budgeting, policy and strategic planning as I served in various roles on the Board. I’m convinced I would not be where I am today in my career if it weren’t for the invaluable experiences I had at SHARE. They say that what you get out of any experience depends on what you are willing to give. I gave my best at SHARE and it is clear that I got even more out of my time there than I gave.

In addition to all the professional growth I experienced in my years of service to SHARE, I also received great personal satisfaction from our work and met many lifelong friends in the process. I also enjoyed the opportunity of traveling to many interesting and beautiful places and would bring my wife, Sue, along on many of these trips. It was working with this great organization that lead me to meet my best friend, Martin, and provided Sue the chance to meet and become friends with his wife, Cathy. I learned a great deal working with Martin on the Board and, thanks to our work at SHARE, the four of us traveled to some wonderful places together. Now, long after my active role as a volunteer has ended, Martin and Cathy are two of our very dearest friends, we continue our travels, and the time we spend together is a gift from SHARE that grows more lovely with the passing years.

I learned to volunteer from watching the example set by my parents and I grew up having opportunities to sing at convalescent homes and mental hospitals, serve meals to others on Thanksgiving, and help with the restoration of wetlands in Southern California. As an adult, I’ve  served on the City of Fresno Historic Preservation Commission, worked on political campaigns and performed at benefit concerts to raise funds for worthy causes. I’m so grateful to my parents that I grew up volunteering as it has enriched my life more that I can express.

The most satisfying volunteer experience I’ve had outside of work has been in beautiful Yosemite National Park. Since the fall of 1988, I have volunteered in the Pioneer Yosemite History Center (PYHC) in Wawona with most of my work being for the wonderful Yosemite Environmental Living Program or YELP (http://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/education/elp.htm). This outstanding program gives 4th and 5th grade students the opportunity to study a character from Yosemite’s past throughout the school year and to portray that person, in costume and in character, for 24 hours amidst the historic buildings at the PYHC. 

The students cook their meals on a wood-burning stove, ride an authentic wagon reproduced with funds from the Yosemite Conservancy (http://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/), work in the blacksmith shop, learn about other period-appropriate skills, and complete a project that reflects the experience of the character they are playing. Many times each spring, students live what they've learned portraying historical figures including Chief Tenaya describing how his people have lived in this place for generations, Christian Jorgensen painting a watercolor of this beautiful place, Jennie “Mother” Curry planning an affordable way for people to visit the valley, John Muir writing a letter to advocate for the preservation of Yosemite, or Claire Hodges working to protect this place and provide people the opportunity to enjoy it as Yosemite’s first female ranger. In the process, they learn about how our National Parks were set aside for future generations and that it will be up to them, as they become voters in a few short years, to determine the future of these places that belong to them.

Again, the gifts I’ve received from volunteering far exceed what I have given. It was in the process of my volunteering for Yosemite that I fell in love with my wonderful partner, Sue, and we were married in the park. After years teaching 4th grade, participating and volunteering with the YELP, she left the classroom to devote herself entirely to volunteering to coordinate this program and has now been involved with YELP for 30 years. We both continue to volunteer in Yosemite and it is only as I write today that I realize that we have had the opportunity to model volunteering for our children, and the satisfaction of watching them volunteer for YELP and other worthy causes.

I am a very lucky man to have had these wonderful opportunities in my life and, although I’ve done my best to give, I know I’ve gotten even more in return from my service as a volunteer. From my first opportunities in childhood, to the outstanding experiences I’ve had with SHARE and in Yosemite, being a volunteer has been immensely rewarding and satisfying. I look forward to new volunteer experiences once I retire and I encourage all of you to look for volunteer opportunities in your professional and personal lives. As a great leader at our university once said to me when I was offered a volunteer role in the community “Are you hesitating? The answer is ‘Yes!’”

“For business reasons, I must preserve the outward signs of sanity.” - Mark Twain

Today I am inspired by recent challenges in our file server environment to write about the importance of ensuring that the people I am responsible for, and to, have opportunities to refresh themselves and return to their work with new energy. I am very fortunate to lead a dedicated and experienced team of professionals. The dedication they bring to their work is a great asset and must also be managed with respect.

The members of our teams take great pride in the quality of their work and in the reliability, performance and utility of the services they provide. They can also take it personally when these services don’t meet expectations. Recently, a key server providing file services has become unreliable. I have been providing management for our Systems team in addition to my other duties on an interim basis and I’ve seen again how systems administrators will work long hours and weekends to get services back to normal.

As I work more closely with this team again, I see their desire to solve the problems and their frustration as they work with the hardware, operating system, and software vendors to find, and correct, the root cause. This has given me renewed opportunities to act on my belief that they must have the chance to rest, time for fun, and time for family and friends. In practical terms, this has meant making sure that I support them taking a break to go home and get some sleep, go out with friends as planned for Friday night, and get away with the family as planned on Memorial Day. In the longer term, it will mean making sure we give them time off to compensate them for the long hours they’ve worked on these issues.

At the same time that I work to respect staff’s need for balance, I need to make sure I respect their commitment and dedication. One of the tactics we can use to keep moving towards solving a problem while giving people the breaks they need is to share the work of diagnosing and resolving problems between several members of the team. This works pretty well as long as I remain sensitive to staff’s need to see things through to resolution. I’ve had them tell me in no uncertain terms that, while they may be darned good and ready (they may have used more emphatic language...) to finish working on a problem, they want to be the one to solve it, too.

Two other aspects of managing this balance are vacation schedules and drawing the line when staff are not allowing themselves the balance they need. I have very seldom asked anyone to reconsider the schedule for their vacation because of key project or operational needs at work. I have done this a few times, usually when directed to, and I believe it is to be avoided if at all possible. I consider it my responsibility to work with the management team so that we can staff and plan for our requirements, and find creative solutions when necessary, to allow us to support people taking time to be with family, explore our world, relax and disengage for a while. I've also had staff volunteer to postpone a vacation day to keep working on an issue. I usually accept those offers while keeping in mind how we can make sure they get time off soon!

Occasionally, I’ve had to meet over-zealous dedication to work gently, but firmly, and insist that a member of the staff take more time away from work. I remember one instance very clearly when I talked with an exceptionally talented and dedicated systems administrator about the amount of time he was spending at the office. He worked many late nights, and often on weekends, without being asked and was very productive. At the same time, I was seeing real signs of stress in him and was concerned he could burn himself out without more balance. As I recall, this was on a Thursday afternoon many years ago and I directed him to go home and not return to work until Tuesday morning. I also told him he was not to log in to any university computers during this time.

His first concern was that he’d done something wrong and was being disciplined. I reassured him that this was not the case and we talked about the importance of having time away from work to enjoy other aspects of our lives and how these help us return with new energy and fresh perspectives. He was conscientious about leaving work alone over this long weekend and, later that week, made a point of thanking me and telling me how relaxing and fun it had been to take more time with his spouse and their young family. He remained one of the most productive members of the team until he moved on to a great new opportunity some years later and it looked to me like he continued to honor this need for balance.

I am firmly on the side of those who say we work to live as opposed to living to work. Work is an important part of life and I think it can be a great source of personal satisfaction as well as the means to provide for our families and the non-work experiences vital for a full life experience. Still, work is only a part of our lives and we must strive, and help each other, to keep it in perspective with the other essential elements of our happy and meaningful lives. I wish you all the happiness and fulfillment that comes with this balance!