CIO, No Technical Experience Required?

OCIO Tech Logo

Last week, during an issue the open systems team was working, I was reminded of how important experience is to leading an organization. The leadership team and I were receiving regular text updates about the issue and we knew progress was being made...
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Process Improvement Texas Style

Texas State Capitol

There are few things that can really make me laugh. One of those things has gotten me in trouble more times than I want to count…… teasing my significant other, Colleen.  Now I am going to pick on her in writing which is really going to be a risk.
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Achieving The Trifecta

Cost- Speed- Quality Trifecta Venn Diagram

Since my first days in manufacturing, I have understood there is a defined criteria for measuring project success. This criteria is known as the “triple constraint” or the Industrial Engineering Triangle. With this theory, we are constantly trying to balance three variables: Cost- Speed- Quality. 
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What I Learned on my Journey to Leadership

Forman Book

Robert Fulghum wrote a book that I think says it all. First published in 1986, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.” “Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday school.” Three years too late for me.  
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Fundamental Data

Metrics

Last week I received an email announcing the State of Nebraska’s Emergenetics - August Workshops.  If you have never attended an Emergenetics workshop, think of it as a tool to aid professional growth rather than a mere personality test.  Emergenetics provides participants with a better understanding of their thinking when compared with the thinking preferences of others. Last year I asked the leadership team to attend this workshop so that they could learn more about themselves and also try to understand me-- not an easy task.  
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Change Leadership- linking action to one’s vision

Wikipedia Search Results

When I started to write this blog, I thought I may have invented another new word, “Change Leadership”. I say another because if you have ever been around me for any period of time you know that I tend to make up new words, try them out in the middle of a conversation, and then keep on going like it was already a part of our normal lexicon.  
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A Long Process Improvement Journey

Image of a stack of books

During my commute from Omaha to Lincoln each day I think primarily of two things: new projects for the leadership team (they have asked me to move to Lincoln) and/or what I need to accomplish that day. 
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Phase Three Regional IT Support Centers

Travel Plans

IT Consolidation Phase 3 is well underway, with the discovery process being led by a multi-agency group consisting of Jayne Scofield and Aaron Weaver (OCIO), Joe Homan (Department of Health and Human Services), Suzy Fredrickson (Nebraska Department Of Roads) and Serenity Kinney (Department of Administrative Services). 
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The Year of Transformation

Strategy

The OCIO recently received recognition in an article about our State IT Consolidation efforts. This could not have been accomplished without all of your assistance. We are on track with the Roadmap we created 18 months ago and are now entering the “Year of Transformation”. Through your efforts, the hardworking OCIO employees, we have set the stage and now begin to transform how we provide IT Services to the entire State of Nebraska.
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2016 Was a Very Good Year for the OCIO

People looking out a window at the Nebraska State Capitol Building

I have come to the conclusion that 2016 was a very good year, thanks to all of you!  The start of every year, I go through the same process of reviewing what we as a team have accomplished in the outgoing year. I indulge in surveying the road traveled because this helps me determine whether it was a good year.
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