[BBLISA] December meeting 12/11/2013

[John P. Rouillard]

Hello all:

For those of you who have noticed bblisa.org seems to have started
getting the holiday blahs. Many thanks to Steve W. for the work to
keep it running. But we may be in for a few rocky patches yet.

For those who came to the November meeting. Thanks for sharing your
experiences at LISA. I now knwo whose talks to skip for next year, and
am sd that I couldn't make some of the tlks that you guys did. Well
at least they are available on video.

Our presenter for December is: Cathleen Bonner of the Broad Institiute
Her topic is: Project Managers as Value Role in IT


Responding to "urgent/non-important" IT requests takes time away from
developing initiatives, completing complex operations, and evaluating
hardware or software technologies. Given this ever-present aspect of
IT, many departments believe that sysadmin, service desk, network, and
security areas are the obvious priorities when increasing
staff. However, if project management is valued as a staff position or
as a portion of present staffing roles, projects will have the high
visibility and accountability they deserve, plus the resources they
need in order to be Done Right.

The fundamentals of project management (sponsors, stakeholders,
resources, scope, methodology) and how they can be used to drive the
strategic vision of IT departments can be transformative for a
department and its staff.

This talk is not a tutorial about "how to be a project manager",
instead, attendees will hear about how to advocate for and develop
project management within their groups, completing projects despite
the seemingly endless lists of things to do.

Cathleen Bonner has worked in IT at the Broad Institute for over a
decade. She began in desktop support, shifted into research computing
engagement, and now manages the project and portfolio team. Cathleen's
goal has been to understand how to best synchronize the tricky triad
of customer engagement, IT culture, and strategic vision to produce
the best IT services possible. In her non-work time, she finds
fulfillment by volunteering with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center,
running, cooking and eating out, and traveling.

I hope to see you at MIT E-51, Room 145 round 7PM on Wednesday
December 11th.

--
				-- rouilj
John Rouillard
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My employers don't acknowledge my existence much less my opinions.