WebedtecH

If you have ever been responsible for tracking anything then you’ve dealt with the world of metrics.  In most cases they can be useful and highly effective tools for gauging the impact of business decisions and strategies.  Unfortunately there is another class of metrics…those for the sake of being.  This happens often when you demonstrate you can capture metrics.  Now the objective becomes how can you use those measures rather than the original question of what did you need to measure in the first place.

Next time you’re asked to generate metrics for some activity, don’t be afraid to ask what they’re going to be used for and what will change as a result of their capture and reporting.  You see…far too often metrics are the data version of the beating stick used when unrealistic expectations go unmet.  If the intention is to improve productivity then you best know how the metrics can be applied before you start gathering them otherwise you’re just wasting your time.

This is a repost of a previous article.

Everybody had little foibles that they sometimes hide, sometimes revel in. Mine happens to be pens. I love collecting and using them. Not only the fancy, high end ones but well design inexpensive ones hold just as much thrill. I’ll often find myself switching pens in mid-document just because the one I’m using just isn’t doing it for me.

The reason why I’m sharing this tidbit is because there is a personality type managers run into that share this behavior. It is the person who needs “change” all the time. Think about the person who, for all good intentions, is “fixing” your processes and procedures, always looking for new ways of doing things, and in general being a positive but disruptive influence. What can you do as a manager to get the most from this type of person while still helping them to feel satisfied with what they are doing?

Find things for them to fix

This type of person typically loves the challenge of fixing a “broken” process or procedure. If you have something you think could potentially be improved, turn them loose on it and ask for their recommendations. It’s important though they understand you may not implement all their recommendations but you are still interested in hearing what they have to propose.

Reinforce what can’t change

In many cases there are processes and procedures that cannot change no matter what recommendations are made due to external factors, costs, or other driving reasons. These instances require you as the manager to redirect the changer as soon as possible to other places they can make a difference before they waste time and energy on something that won’t make a difference and will leave them feeling frustrated. Help them understand that their energy and insights are better applied on another area.

Make them justify

If they are interested in changing processes and procedures and you sense there is a potential benefit from their ideas, don’t just accept them off the cuff. Make them package them, think them through to completion, and present them as coherent, well analyzed plans rather than coffee napkin ideas. Not only are you helping them develop the skills of executing their ideas to completion (something many rapid changers have an issue with) but also encouraging the communications abilities in them to get their changes recognized and accepted.

Now, where’s my fountain pen?

If your group, business, or organization is undergoing the classic “we need to redesign our web site to get more visitors” panic you need to take a deep breath right now. It is rare that the visual redesign increases the number of visitors to your web site. I’m not saying it’s not possible, just very rare. Most site redesigns are catalyzed by one of five things:

• Change in the competitive landscape
• A shift in your business or organizational model
• A change in staffing
• Response to a business stressor
• A shift in the technology landscape
• Change in the competitive landscape

When your business or organization’s competition does something new and innovative to their online presence it can trigger a surge within your group to update or revise your own online image. The perception that new is better has been fostered for so long it can blind an organization to the impact of that change on internal operations as well as visitor response to the site. While you should always be monitoring the changes in the competitive landscape, just because your competitor does something does not mean you should too.

A shift in your business or organizational model

We live in dynamic times, often engaging in significant changes to the makeup of our organizations. An online presence no longer relevant to your organization can be worse than none at all. Be prepared to make the hard decisions to not upset your entire online experience to compensate for internal changes.

A change in staffing

“Under New Management.” We see that on businesses all the time, but when the management of a web site changes it can elicit an unwarranted redesign so the new management can leave their mark on the presence. When a car is transferred from one owner to another, the new owner doesn’t immediately change out the engine in most cases. A good detailing may be all that is needed to get back that “new car smell” to your online presence.

Response to a business stressor

Downswings in business can lead to a panic reaction of “we have to do something!” Let’s not kid ourselves. In most cases the redesign of a web site will not make an immediate uptick in business happen just on its own. A redesign or refresh combined with a comprehensive communications plan, strong metrics, and consistent follow through will make a difference. Unfortunately it is far to easy to say, “Make it look different and people will like it more.” While that may be true…there is nothing to say more will come. If you have analyzed why people are not completing the success events you have identified (more on that in the future) and included that in your redesign you have a much greater chance for success.

A shift in the technology landscape

This is one of the worst reasons to redesign your site. Unless the architecture you have now is broken or unreliable, changing to a new technology platform just because it’s there is a solid waste of time and money. Ask yourself this…what need does the new platform meet?

Know why

Look at your reasons for doing a site redesign and ask yourself the following questions before you take one step forward:

1. What are the business needs that are driving the change?
2. Who is driving the change?  Are they internal to your group or external?
3. How will you know if the change is successful?
4. Do you have the right resources available to be successful?
5. How committed is your organization to the change?

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune – Teacher e-mails made public Annotated

tags: management, policy, privacy, teaching

Teacher emails released to “make sure they’re doing their jobs.”

“Based on our interpretation of the current state law, the public interest demands those e-mails be released.”

Bubolz said in July he made the request to see if the teachers were doing their job “… the way it’s supposed to be done.”

“People will know this decision is out there,” Jonen said. “The effect will be any public employee that does a personal e-mail at work is subject to having that released.”

“There’s no misconduct at all; they don’t want the public to feel they were misusing resources,” she said. “These are e-mails they wrote to their friends, spouse or kids. It’s a little unsettling they will be for public view.”

Couple of key points to this in my mind.

1. If they were sending personal email against district policy they really don’t have any recourse.
2. If they didn’t do anything wrong (something the article fails to clarify) then their personal correspondence should not be publicly available (see item 1 for the counterpoint however).
3. If this is the case and a member of the public can request the emails of a public servant (which is a bit of a stretch to define a teacher as) be made public then why can I say with great confidence that this is far less likely to happen to the school administration?

Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy » Freedom Sticks For The Classroom

Alec has posted an interesting article about his efforts to get around overly restrictive filtering and access controls.  In our back and forth comments a thought occured to me.  What if we were to use USB drives as “keys” to the internet.  Here’s the idea:

1. The teacher is given a USB key that includes a file with an encrypted sequence of characters that acts as their “authorization code”.
2. When they log into the network,  the login script looks for the key file and verifies the authorization code on the USB drive is the same as the one associated with the teacher’s account.
3. If they match, the teacher is granted full access.

What if scenarios:

1. Teacher logs in without the USB key – teacher is given standard network access (student level)
2. Student logs in with teacher’s USB key on student account – no special permissions are granted and a notification is sent to IT
3. One teacher logs in with another teacher’s USB key – only student level access is granted.
4. USB key is lost – the authorization code for that teacher is changed on the server, immediately making the old code invalid

I’m sure there are dozens of other situations we would need to take into account (and that it’s similar to VPN connections but not quite), but I’m curious what the IT people and teachers out there would think of this?