Framework for action

Editor's Notes

• #2: This meeting is about Vision. The vision is to become a world-class IT department. This session is to give us a framework for getting there.
• #6: Chuck Odom used to say, “IT will not be a roadblock.” His intent was to make sure that OTP always had the tools needed to accomplish whatever objectives were placed before us. However, we all know that we did not have a plan that was communicated throughout the department and to our customers. I am broadening our vision through stating some specific & measurable goals for the IT division. These goals will insure that our vision is attainable.
• #7: Who is our customer & what do they want? Our customer is anyone who interacts with any OTP IT or communication system or that system’s outputs.
• #8: The IT Division is entrusted with a critical set of assets. Without these assets, the company might not survive.
• #9: To becoming a world-class IT Division, we have to have world-class IT personnel. How do we get there? world-class (wûrld ' klăs ' ) adj. 1. Ranking among the foremost in the world; of an international standard of excellence; of the highest order: a world-class figure skater. 2. Great, as in importance, concern, or notoriety. World Class Manufacturing - A definition World Class Manufacturers are those that demonstrate industry best practice. To achieve this companies should attempt to be best in the field at each of the competitive priorities (quality, price, delivery speed, delivery reliability, flexibility and innovation). Organizations should therefore aim to maximize performance in these areas in order to maximize competitiveness. We have to be focused and intentional.
• #15: We have a great opportunity to improve our internal IT processes through adopting better planning methods and tools. We are not going to “micromanage” your work. Everyone will participate in the process. The process will become the monitoring tool.
• #16: Being a steward means we are entrusted with protecting our IT assets and using them wisely. A vital part of protecting our assets is protecting ourselves against loss due to personnel unavailability. We must document all procedures that we perform as a regular part of our duties so that the procedure can be carried out by someone else who may know little or nothing about the process beforehand. We are not being a good steward if we are wasteful in our time management. We are not being a good steward if we are unavailable and no one else in the department knows where we are or when we will return. The key to this is communication within the IT department. If you are going to be out of the office, you must let someone know when you will return. As a matter of protocol, you should always e-mail special circumstances to your direct supervisor.
• #17: We have various sets of objectives that we will work on over the course of a year. Some of these are stated explicitly in our performance review, others will develop during the year. These objectives must be described clearly so that we can measure our progress toward achieving them. In our IT team meetings, we will review our progress on making our objectives as a group.
• #18: First things first. It is absolutely essential that we keep our focus on the right things by prioritizing our objectives according to the schedule we set for their delivery. From a planning point of view, we must break our objectives down into the tasks that are needed to accomplish the objective. Task progress can be monitored and reported.
• #19: We should use our projects and tasks to keep us focused on those things that will allow us to meet our goals. We need to monitor our progress and report any obstacles we encounter.
• #20: Incremental improvement is the key to long-term success in our profession. We can all improve what we are doing, how we do it and our ability to do it well. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and make a plan to improve upon your weaknesses. “Downtime” is crucial for IT workers. You must schedule time each week to keep up with what is going on inside your particular specialty. If you do not, you will eventually fall behind and you will be less valuable as an employee.