Business Innovation

Kindle Fire: The Gateway Tablet

2012-01-10T08:25:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of my Apple products. This holiday season I cheated on my iPad with my husband's new Kindle Fire. To my surprise, I liked it.

There are several observations I made while using it. First I'll start with opening the box:

1. The packaging - modeled after Apple's product packaging, there was very little else besides the tablet, a power cord, and a very small card with basic information.

2. It just worked - As soon as I took it out of the box I was able to power it on and immediately be productive.

3. The user interface was intuitive - While not quite as slick as what I am used to on my iPad, the UI was surprisingly easy to navigate and it was easy to find what I was looking for.

4. Integration with my Amazon account - Being and Amazon product, the Fire makes it easy to make purchases via my existing Amazon account. Which had been dormant for a while but now that it's so easy to make purchases it's become my family's go to online retailer again.

This brings me to my point - the Kindle Fire isn't trying to be the next revelation in tablet technology. It's a gateway to what Amazon does best - sells products. Amazon isn't looking to make it's money on sales of the Fire, it's banking on the revenue it will rake in by making it even easier an more enjoyable to make purchases via the Amazon stores now accessible through the Fire. It's no surprise with it's sub $200 price tag that the Fire was the hottest selling item this holiday season. It was the perfect gift - all the technical advancement of a tablet without the early adopter price tag.

In terms of market share, the Fire may have eaten into some of the iPad sales this season so much that speculation is that there is a $299 iPad on the horizon to help boost the dormancy in iPad sales.

So here are my predictions on what's next for the Kindle Fire:
1. The Fire will continue to dominate as a prime competitor to Apple's iPad in 2012. Becoming the tablet of choice for those not willing to pay the Apple premium.
2. With it's size somewhere between that of a smartphone - not quite small enough to fit in your pocket - and a tablet - not quite big enough for superior web browsing - Amazon will look to create a newer version that is larger and caters less to the Kindle loving reading crowd more to the tech savvy web browsing crowd.

You heard it here first folks - my predictions and analysis of the Kindle Fire tablet and how it's giving Apple a run for it's money. What do you think?

iPad & Tablet Technology: Out of the Enterprise and Into the Classroom

2011-10-24T22:09:00.010-05:00

If you saw the recent episode of 60 Minutes, you saw a tribute to the late Steve Jobs not only in the man that he was but also in the good the products that were developed under his leadership are doing. There was a segment focused on how the iPad has been instrumental in helping some schools teach children with autism.

I most often talk about how technology, and more specifically mobile technology, is useful in the enterprise but the 60 Minutes episode inspired me to look beyond my profession and explore how other professions are benefiting. I have been fortunate enough to know a wonderful Speech-Language Pathologist that has dedicated her life to helping children with various learning disabilities thrive among their peers. Below are the highlights (in her own words) from an interview I did with her this past weekend.

You will not be surprised to learn that the same ease of use and intuitiveness that make the iPad an addicting tool also make it a powerful tool for teaching children. The productivity gains that we experience in our everyday business life through app integration with email and other enterprise services also help teaching professionals quickly produce results and report data.

An Interview with Ms. Shari Hodgson, board certified Speech-Language Pathologist, on how mobile technology has improved her work and benefited her clients

How are you using the iPad/tablet in your work?:
I use the iPad daily with my students to address a variety of speech, language and communication goals and objectives. The iPad is an engaging tool that stimulates receptive and expressive language development. There are apps specifically designed for special needs students. iPads are now being used as Augmentative Communication Devices.

Instead of districts paying thousands of dollars for AAC devices, now with the click of a button, one can download an application for the iPad or iPod. Devices that are made specifically to help people speak are typically very cumbersome, expensive, and not user friendly. The iPad and iPod are less expensive, fairly easy to operate and also help remove some of the social stigma associated with certain augmentative devices.

There are so many apps that can dramatically change the lives of individuals with delayed communication needs. I use close to 100 different apps with my students in therapy to address needs from articulation to answering questions, to improving vocabulary, to following directions and many more. These apps offer great visual cues and auditory feedback that aid children with special needs in the learning process.

The iPad has become a cost-saving, convenient, portable library of intervention materials replacing shelves of manuals, therapy cards, and games.

What benefits have you realized?:
There are numerous benefits associated with using this technology. First and foremost, this allowed me to use 21st century skills with my students on a daily basis. It has allowed for improved communication with parents and colleagues.

Many apps allow me to collect data right on the iPad and then the information can be emailed to parents and teachers. This has reduced time spent calculating and reporting data. Also, in and effort to be more "green", it has reduced the amount of paper copies I once used in therapy. I have found apps to replace many of my cut and paste and paper-pencil activities.

What benefits have your clients/customers realized?:
Aside from the may benefits mentioned above, the iPad is also very motivating for my students which has increased student success. I have found the iPad to be much more engaging than traditional therapy materials. In addition, since so many of my students have access to these devices at home, it is easy to recommend apps for follow through and practice. I have a current, up to date, list of all the apps I use on my blog. Parents are encouraged to visit the blog for suggestions for their children.

What would you like to use the iPad/tablet for in the future? What would be your wish list of requirements that you could use the tablet or mobile technology in general for?:

Wow, this is a tough one. In my perfect world, I would like to develop apps to use with my students in therapy. While there are so many wonderful apps out there, I often find myself thinking, I wish the app did this, or I wish there was a app for that...maybe someday.

In general, how has mobile technology -tablets, smartphones, etc..- improved the way you work and serve your clients/customers?:
In short, mobile technology has just made me a more efficient, environmentally friendly, and more engaging therapist.

Background:
Ms. Shari Hodgson has been practicing speech-language pathology since 2000. Ms. Hodgson received her undergraduate degree from Bowling Green State University in 1998 and my Masters degree from the University of Toledo in 2000. Ms. Hodgson is certified by the Ohio Board of Speech Pathology and Audiology and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association as well as a pupil services license from the Ohio Department of Education.

Ms. Hodgson first began working in the Columbus Public School system and has worked in clinical, home health, and group home settings. For the past nine years, Ms. Hodgson has been working for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District in Brecksville Ohio, outside Cleveland where she works with grades K-3. Ms. Hodgson works with children diagnosed with speech-language impairments, learning disabilities, multiple handicaps, Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and developmental delays.

How are you using your tablet at work to do something amazing?

Good Thing Gone Bad: How to Tame Google Doc Sprawl

2011-07-05T18:31:00.005-05:00

The Google platform is a fantastic and basically free option to use as a collaboration and productivity tool within a business. My company uses it. It's been key in enabling the flow of ideas, the sharing and storage of information, and collaboration. But, our mantra of "just throw it in google doc" is now becoming a tangled web of one-off information and difficult to find resources.

The first step to taming the beast is recognizing that this will happen. With so much freedom to spin up and share information it can quickly get out of hand. What good is a doc or spreadsheet if no one can find it? Here are two ways to get and keep your info organized:

Consolidate documents through a Google Site
At an enterprise level use the Google Sites feature to logically organize information and create a portal. Google Sites is an entire topic in and of it's own, but you can very quickly build a site that can simply serve as the launch pad for all of your information. The site ties all the random docs together and can be organized in a way that makes sense for your organization. We use a site as the foundation for our company intranet. The information architecture is organized by department. All the relevant google docs for a department are categorized as links within the portal. This has been a handy reference tool particularly in the on-boarding of new employees. We also leave the site permissions open so that anyone can add more links to docs. We've virtually eliminated the need for sophisticated system administration and content management. Although lightweight governance over the site is recommended so that we don't end up with another problem - a disjointed information architecture

Leverage Personalization Capabilities
At the individual level, you can create folders and labels to logically organize documents in a way that makes sense to you. This feature is called Collections. The google documents view allows each person to create their own filing system structure for finding docs. This personalized approach to managing info is more powerful than it may seem on the surface. Think about it, in traditional environment someone else manages the directory structure and naming convention of a shared drive or LAN. They've already decided how information should be organized in terms that make sense to them. We've got a company shared drive too for docs that are required to be static. And guess what, the biggest complaint is that people cant find what they are looking for. This nuisance actually creates a bigger issue when people take things into their own hands and start storing their own versions of documents locally or wasting time trying to find then emailing documents around to each other. Organizing our google docs in my own terms changed my world. While it's simple enough to just do a search to find the right document, categorizing docs keeps all related items together and let's you quickly locate information related together but kept in separate documents.

How are you using the google platform for your business? If you want to more about how to strategically use the Google platform, contact me.

Confessions of a Micromanager

2011-07-05T18:04:00.003-05:00

It's been brought to my attention more than once over the past year that I am a micro manager. I am an incredibly introspective person, constantly self examining and analyzing my every action. Micromanagement is considered a negative trait so being my introspective self I am setting out to better understand this trait and how to turn it around.

Wikipedia defines micromanagement as "management especially with excessive control and attention to detail."

Controlling and attention to detail - yep, that's me.

Early in my career that "controlling" trait was celebrated by my managers as "drive" and a "take the bull by the horns" attitude. My managers liked it because they knew I'd get things done. And with my attention to detail it would be done thoroughly and polished. No matter how many hours I needed to put in, I got the job done. In the sea of entry-level green consultants I was able to differentiate and rise to the top quickly because I took control, thought through the minutiae, and the end result was polished.

So where did this all go wrong? How did my best trait become one of my worst?

In my mind it's easy to be confused with why this once positive trait is now being perceived as "a developmental opportunity" - I know how something needs to be done, I love getting into the details, and I don't want anything with my name associated to it to be less than perfect. Where's the flaw in that?

Well here's what I've come up with:

Expectations have changed - I'm not a green consultant anymore. I am a seasoned professional and executive within my company. Just being eager with great attention to detail isn't going to cut it anymore. Enthusiasm and quality are expected. As a company leader, it's about scaling that quality.

Scalability - to grow in your career means to move beyond the individual contributor status. An individual only has a limited amount of throughput. To grow as a leader means to scale yourself so that no single result is dependent on you. You need to inspire and teach teams of individual contributors to put the same level of thought and quality into a task as you would. Otherwise you'll burn out quickly trying to do everything.

Grow someone else to grow yourself - unless you are content to be a one-man show or pigeon-holed (which I am not), it's your duty to help someone else follow your lead. Constantly thinking of ways you can put yourself out of your current job so that you can keep moving is key. It can be unsettling. It's easy to be concerned about - what will I do if someone else is doing my job? That is rarely an issue for someone that likes to keep moving and is open to the next challenge. There's always something new to sink your teeth into and a new problem to solve. Teaching someone else helps a micro manager learn to let go of some of the control and figure out ways to put just enough structure in place that the job will get done well while allowing the individual to learn the ropes in their own way.

People crave structure - without some framework in place, the work that gets done becomes reactive and tactical without a strategic vision behind it. No one sets out to operate in a purely reactive manner but it happens without some set of guidelines for organizing and prioritizing what needs to get accomplished.

People find you annoying - the constant badgering will drive someone insane. The checking if it's done and pounding people with emails on how to do something usually stems from the fact that there wasn't well thought out plan put in place in the first place and there isn't enough transparency in place. A micro manager's gut is to take control by doing the work or badgering people in a very reactive way about what needs to be done. Don't punish your team for your own lack of planning leadership.

So here's my action plan:

1. Communicate desired outcomes, don't dictate how it gets done. Empower and trust others.

2. Put enough structure in place to help people prioritize what needs to be done in the short-term. Plan first, get alignment from the team on what needs to be done and what the definition of done is, then let them execute.

3. Focus my attention to detail on the big picture, analyzing results, and turning results into actions that are followed through

4. Manage through change - our priorities can change on a daily basis and anything worth doing takes time and persistence. A true leader with help the team course correct to adapt to the changing needs of the business, while being the biggest supporter in seeing the work through completion. A bunch of half done projects aren't nearly as good as one "done" project.

5. Listen more, talk less - I may think I know it all but listening to other people's ideas and perspective is a great way to drive innovation and creativity. Putting someone else's idea into action is a great way to build confidence in individual team members. A micro manager thinks only their way will work. And 9 times out of 10 you are probably wrong.

Fellow control freaks, I'd love to hear from you. What's your perspective and what are you doing to beat the urge to "just do it all yourself"?

Meet Travis Hiltrop - Data Analyst/Jr. BA Ready for Your Next Project

2011-04-14T09:41:00.015-05:00

Solstice is proud to introduce Travis Hiltrop, the newest member of our Internship Program. Travis is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa College of Business with an emphasis in Finance.

Travis can help your projects as a Data Analyst or Jr. Business Analyst to:
Perform complex data analysis
Prepare Excel workbooks and reports
Perform current state analysis on applications or business processes
Document future state business processes or system requirements
Leverage his knowledge of SQL for query writing

Project Experience:
Today, Travis is wrapping up a project with a liquor consulting company. As a Data Analyst he is point on analyzing transactional data related to the beverage programs that are currently in place between national hotel chains and liquor suppliers. The goal of his project is to make sure each of the liquor supplier & hotel chain relationships is compliant with the beverage program requirements.

Through his analysis he has provided recommendations for standardizing the on-boarding and data collection process between the liquor suppliers and hotel chains. He has developed Excel reports using functions, macros, and pivot tables to cipher and clean the data eliminating manual data analysis each quarter. This reduction in manual processing will not only made the reports more useful but will also cut the quarter end processing time from 60-80 hours down to 20 hours.

Travis has a proven track record of successfully performing complex analysis, has superior leadership, quantitative, analytical and communication skills.

Background:

While at Iowa, Travis worked as a Capital Accountant providing accounting support to the University of Iowa's multi-million dollar campus capital master plan. As a Capital Accountant, he performed monthly reconciliations, variance analysis, and journal entries on all capital projects.

Travis is a natural leader with an entrepreneurial spirit that drove him to co-found a full service multi-sport event production company in which he successfully managed a team of fifty volunteers and effectively partnered with several major corporate sponsors to fund his organization.

Travis is eager to build on his analytical, financial, and technical skill sets. He is available to interview immediately and can start on your project within the next 2 weeks.

Dude, where's your profile???

2011-03-30T14:06:00.009-05:00

Please make my job easier. Keep your LinkedIN profile current, interesting and, for your own benefit, please bother to have one in the first place. I interact with a lot of people looking for their next career move. I am in a position at Solstice Consulting that is on the front line of matching supply (the talent pool) with demand (our sales pipeline). We've got a very talented recruiting team that works to fill our open positions by screening for talent across two main competencies:

1) the hard skills - technical skills/domain expertise

2) the intangibles - cultural fit, interpersonal & soft skills.

Beyond the resume, the first place we look to assess if it's worth going down the path of evaluating a candidate further is the LinkedIN profile. I can't tell you how many people still aren't on LinkedIN or have below average profiles. I can tell you that if someone falls into either category, those candidates fall to the end of the line for consideration. Here's some advice on what it means to have a comprehensive LinkedIN profile.

Profile Photo: This is your chance to make a first impression and succinctly tell your viewer who you are and what you do. While not having a picture isn't detrimental, having one can make or break you if it isn't a tasteful professional photo. I'm not suggesting all photos be a standard conservative head shot (eehm...like mine). Showcasing pride for your Alma Mater, your favorite sports team , your city, or even a symbol of your favorite cause, says a lot about who you are. And, after all, that's what this medium is all about. Don't waste the real-estate by leaving it vacant. It's a personal branding opportunity that shouldn't be wasted. Just think twice about the message you want to send before uploading that favorite picture of yours from your college days.

Recommendations: Since you control which recommendations actually get displayed, of course only the most positive reviews will be posted. This one is a bit of a numbers game. Having 1 or 2 recommendations to show for a 10-15 yr work history isn't great. As a baseline, strive for 5 recommendations total across all of your work history. The bulk can be concentrated around the more current roles but it says a lot about you that colleagues along the way have had positive things to say. Taking the initiative to ask for recommendations (and give other people recommendations) says you care about your brand and that there's a history of good work backing up your skills presented. So strive for 5 but more is better.

Websites: The websites section is a great chance to differentiate. Do you have a blog? A personal website? Are you on Twitter? These say a lot about who you are. The more you are involved in having an opinion on a particular topic or sharing useful information says something about what can be expected of you in your next job. Stepping outside the confines of what a job description asks by blogging or making it a point to be followed and follow others on Twitter tells employers you have initiative and that staying current is important to you.

Job Experience: The Job Experience section is typically where people spend the most time adding details. I can tell you, if you have a good solid representation of yourself covered across the other areas of your profile (picture, websites, links, info about groups & honors) you should keep this short and sweet. But don't skimp on the detail of noting specifically what month and year your time at a particular post spanned. It's a red flag anytime only years are listed as a timeframe (2010-2010). That sends the message that it was probably a short term assignment and there's a story behind it. Be upfront, and be prepared to explain any short-term roles.

Groups and Associations: This is another area to help reflect who you are and differentiate. Are you involved in your the local chapter of your alumni association? Leading the PTA at your child's school? Do you volunteer? Have you done any professional speaking or belong to professional associations? This is a chance to show that you are well-rounded and a leader in areas outside of the workplace. Joining groups on LinkedIN is also great way to expand your network and get noticed. Groups are typically formed around specific domains of expertise or a professional commonality - alumni association, company groups etc... If you are going to belong to a group, participation in discussions and sharing information are key to getting the most out of them. Don't just be an observer, participate in the conversation.

Status Updates: Last but certainly not least, the status update feature. This is my personal favorite. Here is where I believe the real value of LinkedIN from a personal perspective comes into play. The status update gives you the opportunity to keep a dialogue going with your network. And after all, isn't that what having a network is all about? If you never communicate, what good is having 5, 50, or even 500 connections? I make it a rule to post something new everyday. This puts my face (the profile photo) and my personality (what I have to say and how I say it) in front of my network on a daily basis. While I can't claim to maintaining close relationships with everyone in my network, I know I am connected to people that can help me both professionally and personally when I need it. If they don't know more about me beyond just the invitation to connect, I can't imagine they'd respond in my time of need.

There you have it. My personal rant on the importance of a solid LinkedIN profile. Tell me if you agree or disagree with my perspective. And, how have you found LinkedIN to be useful as a tool for branding yourself?

How a Great App Improved My Bottom Line

2011-03-07T17:00:00.003-06:00

As a followup to a blog I published last year on how to use the Google platform to help run your household, I wanted to share my latest passion - managing my family's finances like a business. I discovered Mint.com about a year ago and it's consumed me ever since. It offers a more user friendly way to ingest and create a consolidated view of your bank accounts, investment accounts, and debt (credit cards, loans). I'm a huge fan of a dashboard. And I love pouring over data to observe trends. Whether or not you share my love for detail, everyone can appreciate trying to answer "where does my money go?" & "how much do we really need to live on?". Well, since I've managed to collect a solid year's worth of transaction data and utilizing the standard reporting functions in Mint, I can tell you my family's top 3 spending categories, how much money we need on a monthly basis, and our projected yearly savings. I may not always like what I see but I now am able to get a realistic view that I can do something about.

So why I am sharing this? Because I know a lot of people trying to get a better handle on their finances. It can seem like a daunting task managing transactional data but it's also necessary to get an accurate financial picture you can act on. I love spreading the word about technology that makes your life easier, especially when it's free. And, I think Mint.com has done an great job of translating what can be a complicated data intensive task into a simple to use web based application and mobile app. Here's where my personal life intersects with my professional life - I appreciate a great app because my company helps companies build great apps. Here's what Mint is doing right that can be applied to any mobile app:

Seamless desktop & mobile experience:

Mint.com is a desktop application, with a primary focus on the financial management tools most useful in a desktop world. What Mint has done right is identify the functions most useful in the mobile context and provided seamless accessibility with that information in a fast & useful way. From app download to first log in you can productive in under 60 seconds.

Make it easy on-the-go:

Mint is tasked with organizing a lot of data. Creating a meaningful experience with all of that data in the mobile context can be challenging. Mint focused on 2 things in the mobile app - balance information & categorizing transactions. While the desktop application allows a lot of preference setting and reporting, in the mobile context the most important thing is: How does my financial picture look RIGHT NOW. This is achieved through functions that show summary of account balances, cash flow, and budget tracking.

Make it enjoyable:

I actually like digging into the details of balancing my checking account and figuring out how to improve my family's bottom line next month. It's a joy interacting with the Mint user interface - both desktop app and mobile app. In the desktop version the report generation is really slick. In the mobile app world while historical reporting is not a focus, the ability to categorize my transactions as granular as I'd like is great. It's almost become a game to categorize my spending as soon as I can. The transactions are downloaded fast using background processes eliminating frustrations with waiting for data to load. Enjoying using an app is 80% of battle when striving to create an app that's "sticky" and viral.

The joy of interacting with this app has helped me be more responsible about managing my family's finances. Which apps do you love and how have they brought positive change to your life?

Decoding Apple's Human Interface Guidelines Part 2: Designing Great Apps

2011-01-20T19:58:00.009-06:00

The User Experience guidelines are probably the most crucial "rules" in Apple's suite of Human Interface Guidelines. These provide the insight and advice you'd typically pay a pricey design firm for. By understanding and embracing the User Experience guidelines you'll know how to not only use the mobile medium most effectively but also create mobile apps that people genuinely enjoy interacting with. Creating a delightful user experience leads to word-of-mouth exposure that no amount of marketing dollars can secure.

There are 26 guidelines that Apple recommends following. I've broken them down and consolidated them into what I call the "The 6 Commandments of iPhone Design".

1. Have a clear focus

Unlike the desktop browser world, the mobile world is task driven. The mobile context means that your users are likely multi-tasking and are looking to an app when they have a few minutes to spare to and want to accomplish something very specific. Your app needs to have a clear purpose and emphasize the most current content/information. Given the screen real-estate constraints it's important to approach app design by asking:

What's needed right now? - based on the purpose of your app, the most relevant and timely information should be the most prominent. i.e. Breaking News, current weather conditions

Is this needed at all? - the most difficult decision is not what you include but what you don't include in your app. It's more important to create an app that helps the use achieve one primary goal really well than be functionality rich.

2. Make it work like I think it should

Your app should be intuitive. If it requires help text or instructions to use, it's time to go back to the drawing board. The main function of the app should be obvious. A great example is the native stop watch or compass app that comes with the iPhone. It's pretty clear by looking at the app what it does and how to work it. The physicality aspect of the compass helps make it intuitive. It looks like a compass, you physically turn your phone like you would an actual compass to get a reading. It's simple and intuitive. And the graphics are fantastic to look at.

3. It's not about you

Along the lines of creating user-centric apps, don't crowd the already precious real-estate with your logos or anything not relevant to the user achieving a goal. Your marketing and branding opportunity comes with designing your app launch icon and in crafting an effective app store description.

4. Make it seamless

Apps that are mobile variations to a wired web browser based parent should have seamless connection with the data available. Don't require a cumbersome app set up process, leverage what you already know to create a ready to use app moments after app store download. In today's social media world, people like to share for better and worse. Encourage collaboration and make it easy for users to tell their friends about your app and share content.

5. I want to find, I don't want to browse

The mobile context is all about relevant information ready before I know I need it. The search capabilities should be tailored to fast and rewarding searches. Display partial results quickly and use on-screen controls to help users quickly filter through results sets. There are out of the box user interface elements called scope bars that can help with limiting the data that an app pulls back. Tap into the phone senses such as the GPS to order results by those "closest" to where the user is now. And keep the search box near the top or header of the app where users expect it to be.

6. Entertain me

Creating a truly enjoyable experience relies on not only a focused, user-centric purpose but also stunning graphics and the use of physicality and realism. Enhancing a user's sense of direct manipulation such as turning pages or physically rotating a phone to engage the compass creates apps that are delightful to use. They can make performing the simplest of tasks a truly memorable experience. And help create the buzz that you are looking for.

There you have it. 6 golden rules for designing iPhone apps that will have your users coming back for more and spreading the good word about your app. Read the Part 1 of my blog series on Decoding Apple's Human Interface Guidelines here.

Use the comments below to tell me more about the apps you love and which apps keep you coming back for more.

Decoding Apple's Human Interface Guidelines: Part 1

2010-12-14T16:44:00.012-06:00

So, you are ready to build an iPhone an app. The good news is that a lot of the decisions are already made for you in terms of how things should look and work navigationally. The bad news is, there are a lot of guidelines (rules) to follow to make sure your app gets through Apple's App Store review process. Apple has a set of Human Interface Guidelines that, coupled with the the built in features and on-screen controls available out of the box in the SDK, give you what you need to build a solid app. These are more than just guidelines but rather explain the method and rationale behind design best practices and maximizing the end-user experience on the iOS platform. Through the Human Interface Guidelines Apple is expecting iPhone app designers and developers to reinforce and embed the consistency people expect when using an Apple product. If you plan on creating an iPhone app for mass consumer consumption, these guidelines are a must to follow.

This is the first of a 3 blog series where I'll dive into the components of the Human Interface Guidelines. This post focuses on three of the seven guidelines:

Platform Characteristics

Human Interface Principles

Application Design Strategies

Platform Characteristics
Embrace the iOS as a platform. This means embracing the way people expect to interact with with the iOS platform and the "gestures" the go along with navigating and executing tasks. Gestures such as the pinch and zoom, making changes to device orientation (horizontal to vertical), tapping vs. clicking. Other platform considerations such as where users expect to set one-time app preferences ( via the native settings app, not within an app itself) is important to note when designing your own app. Did you know that the comfortable amount space to allow for a "tap zone" is 44x44 pixels? Apple figured this out and accounted for the fat finger. Allowing a tap zone 44x44 pixels avoids the issue of having elements too close and creating end-user mis-taps.

Human Interface Principles
The Human Interface Principles revolve around designing an app that behaves intuitively. It should be designed with aesthetic integrity. Meaning it looks the way it functions. Have a clear single purpose for your app and make sure it looks the way one would expect to complete that task. Help people transfer knowledge by providing consistent use of common controls and on-screen elements. If they already know what a control or icon means, then they expect it to behave a certain way when they see it again. The iOS platform allows for direct interaction with on-screen controls. Allowing people to directly interact with controls on-screen as they would in their native form helps people already know how to use your app. A great example is the iPod app. The on-screen controls for playing, fast forward, and rewind, look the same as they do in their native format on the stand-alone iPod device. This means users who already know how to use an iPod, know how to interact with the on-screen controls translated to the iPhone app version. Another great example is the Compass app. It looks and behaves just like a "real" compass when you change the orientation of your iPhone device. No instructions needed because you are able to translate your knowledge of how a compass works to the compass app.

Application Design Strategies
The Application Design Strategies guidelines provide a framework for determining what it is that you want your app to do. First and foremost it's important to have a clear statement of purpose for your app. What goal(s) does it help the user achieve? And along the lines of purpose - don't attempt to do too much with your app. The best apps do one thing really well. The worst apps try to do/offer too much. To narrow what it is that your app should focus on it's important to know who your audience is. And not just general segmentation by demographics, really dig into who it is that your targetting and the common characteristics of those people. Pick 2 or 3 characteristics to tailor your app to. Then filter the features of your app tailored to those audience characteristics. Now your getting to filling a need for a very specific audience and designing the interaction in a way that delights your target. With design discipline and diligent focus you have the recipe for creating an app that is "sticky" and gains faithful followers who evangelize the app. Evangelizing = more downloads = $$$$.

Next up, Part 2: User Experience Guidelines and Element Usage Guidelines.

Immediate .NET 3.5 Positions Available

2010-12-10T14:43:00.008-06:00

Solstice is actively looking for people skilled in .NET 3.5 for several open positions on client projects. These are 4-6 months positions with potential for extention.

If your experience matches the following needs, please send your resume to :
recruiting@solstice-consulting.com today!

Position 1: Senior .NET 3.5 developer/architect

Minimum 5 years technical experience with .NET ( at least 1 year with version 3.5)
Strong in .NET application development in 3.5 framework.
Strong in C# and .NET 3.5 Framework technologies specifically Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
Designer background/skill set, able to take a concept from screen through to the backend database access.
Solid understanding of XML
Good knowledge of working with Team Foundation Server and concepts such as branching, builds, etc
Good knowledge of best practices and patterns for application architecture and development.
Experience in developing and deploying applications in large-scale distributed and shared environment.
In addition to the technical skills specified above, the ideal candidate should also possess excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to work in a team environment and flexibility to work in a fast paced environment.
Proven experience interfacing with business (non-technical) project team members
This position is mainly new development work with some light support involved.
The backend interactions are with DB2 databases and COBOL stored procedures.

Position 2: Mid-level/Senior .NET 3.5 developer

Must have very good overall view and understanding of the 3.5 infrastructure
The primary responsibility of this position is to support a collection of PowerBuilder apps
Good knowledge of WPC and WCF
All development is in C#
Understanding of XML
Be able to work in a team environment that consists of local and off-shore team members.
Be able to work with business/non-techincal people and pull out requirements
Knowledge of ASP desirable
Knowledge of using external web services desirable
In addition to the technical skills specified, the ideal candidate should also possess excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to work in a team environment and flexibility to work in a fast paced environment. This position is mainly new development with some support involved for newly developed apps.
Backend database interactions are with Oracle databases. Experience with Oracle DB required.

Position 3: Mid-level/Senior .NET 3.5 developer

Minimum 3-5 years technical experience with .NET (at least 1 year with version 3.5
Strong in .NET application development in 3.5 framework.
Strong in C# and .NET 3.5 Framework technologies specifically Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
Good knowledge of working with Team Foundation Server and concepts such as branching, builds, etc
Good knowledge of best practices and patterns for application architecture and development.
Experience in developing and deploying applications in large-scale distributed and shared environment.
In addition to the technical skills specified above, the ideal candidate should also possess excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to work in a team environment and flexibility to work in a fast paced environment.
The backend interactions are with DB2 databases and COBOL stored procedures.

Got Skills? We Have Work.

2010-11-24T12:48:00.018-06:00

Solstice Consulting has immediate client project openings in downtown Chicago for the following skill sets (details follow):

Security Architect
SharePoint Developer/Analyst
Business Analyst (Financial Services Exp)

If you are interested in joining the Solstice Team and meet the qualifications for any of the position profiles below, send your resume to Laura Cation at recruiting@solstice-consulting.com

1. Security Architect
Perform an analysis of the clients current provisioning framework(s), systems, tools, and data stores. The goals of the project are to deliver a consolidated tool set for automated user provisioning, authentication and a consistent process that meets Technology and Business risk and compliance objectives. This is an immediate contract position downtown Chicago with a Fortune 500 company.

The candidate must have expertise in the following areas:·

LDAP
Oracle Access Manager
SUN Identity Manager
SAML
SPML
Federated Identity
Enterprise Authentication Services

The candidate should have knowledge of the following products, areas:

Weblogic Application Server
WeblogicPortal 10
.NET3.5
MOSS2007/2010
SunIdM
SailpointRBAC
OracleAccess Manager
WindowsActive Directory
Oracle DB/ Sybase DB
Java
Fraud Detection Services (FDS)
RSA
Weblogic Embedded LDAP
Emerging trends in Authentication/Authorization/Cloud

2. Sharepoint Developer/Analyst

Contract or contract to hire for an immediate opportunity downtown Chicago. Job responsibilities will include developing and implementing SharePoint-based business solutions to support the automation and streamlining of various business processes. The Analyst will identify requirements via industry standard analysis techniques such as data flow modeling, workflow analysis, and functional decomposition analysis. The Analyst will also solicit requirements through interviews, workshops, and/or existing systems documentation or procedures.The primary responsibilities of this position are to provide SharePoint solutions to various functional departments within the firm. These solutions would range from simple site customization to more complex UI development. The ideal candidate is a high-caliber performer with excellent communication skills and able to execute in an iterative cycle with business users for analysis and development of SharePoint solutions.

The selected candidate will be responsible for, but not be limited to, the following:

Solution Analyst Responsibilities

Creation of iterative solutions that solve simple to complex business problems by leveraging SharePoint. Solution should be elegant, visual and integrated well with other business process and applications that are supported by the department.
Assists with gap analyses highlighting current state, future state, client needs, and best practices of SharePoint business solutions.
Participates in the selection, acquisition, configuration and troubleshooting of packaged solutions for SharePoint to support business solutions.
Offer technical expertise and sound recommendations to users and business programs wishing to leverage SharePoint capabilities.
Help define and support the overall governance and maturity of SharePoint architecture and platform.
Design training programs, create documentation and user guides, and deliver training to end users.·

Technical / Development Analyst Responsibilities

Develop and implement solutions using SharePoint and SharePoint-related technologies to solve business problems, enhance user productivity, and automate business processes o Develop and implement web-based forms using SharePoint and SharePoint-related technologies.
Provide level 2 support for any technical related questions or problem tickets open against SharePoint
Integrate, where appropriate, Business Intelligence reporting into SharePoint.

Skills/Background Required:

Two years plus .Net experience ,C # experience, SQL Server Development, InfoPath 2003 or higher and SharePoint Designer 2007 or higher
Exposure to SQL Server Reporting Services(SSRS) , SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), and Performance Point.
Visual Studio 2008 or above experience
A background and understanding of MOSS or WSS (either installation of or customization of both/each product.) minimum of 3 years experience
Exceptional skills with user interface and design; supporting technology skills: AJAX, JQuery, XSLT, XML, HMTL, Javascript, Photoshop, CSS, and DOM knowledge.
Exposure to SharePoint administration using versions SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010 Professional Skills
Experience in financial services and/or investment management, a strong plus
Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Business or equivalent field
Ability to adapt within a rapidly changing environment and has experience in Agile or iterative software development is a plus.
Experience in software quality assurance & testing of mission critical applications.· Working knowledge of systems design and architecture.
Attention to detail and concern for quality and accuracy of final product (and ability to balance that concern with deadlines)Strong analytical and communication skills to facilitate the elicitation of user requirements, challenging preconceived ideas and proposing alternative solutions, while maintaining strong relationships
Strong analytical and communication skills to facilitate the elicitation of user requirements, challenging preconceived ideas and proposing alternative solutions, while maintaining strong relationships.
Demonstrated team player, self-starter, and independent thinker.
Outstanding decision making and problem solving skills.
Ability to adapt within a rapidly changing high pressure environment.

3. Financial Services Business Analyst
Senior Business Analyst for a long term (12mo+) contract opportunity downtown Chicago. The Business Analyst is responsible for documenting, defining, designing, and modeling processes according to business requirements, as well as business strategy and business architecture. Financial industry experience required.

Key skills / Experience Required

7+ years of business analysis experience
3+ years of financial industry experience
Knowledge of the pricing process
Knowledge of how price scrubbing is handled
Knowledge of vendor management
Knowledge of Fund Accounting and their pricing requirements
Knowledge about security masters
Analytical skills - to be able to quickly understand the information they are gathering.
Communication skills – Written and verbal - able to document their finding and facilitate the discussion involved in gathering the Business requirements from the operations group.
Knowledge of business analysis techniques – familiar with standard techniques for gathering and writing business requirements.
Knowledge of process optimization techniques a plus
Self starter
Works well independently
Excellent Communication skills

Responsibilities:

Leads and co-ordinates business use-case modeling, by outlining and delimiting the organization being modeled
Details the processes for a part of the organization by describing the workflow of one or several business use cases-Specifies the business roles, and systems needed to realize a business use case
Understands the end user requirements, their strategies, and their goals-Manages requirements throughout the project lifecycle as they are realized.
Creates High Level Requirements, Detailed Requirements, UAT Test Plans, UAT Test Scripts, and UAT Test Cases, UAT Results Summary, User Acceptance Criteria, Business Benefits, Business Procedures.
Performs UAT Testing.

Solstice is Hiring! Agile PMs Wanted!

2010-11-17T16:13:00.008-06:00

Solstice Consulting is seeking highly motivated and experienced Sr. Agile Project Managers for several full-time permanent positions. In this role you will work on Solstice client engagements owning and managing plans for our Fortune 1000 clients. You will work closely with cross functional teams comprised of Developers, DBAs, BAs, highly technical Business Owners and Executive Management within the client engagements.

Responsibilities will include (but are not limited to):

Creating and managing project and program plans inclusive of project resource coordination.
Working with technologists and technology management on scoping and estimating, resource allocation analysis, risk analysis, etc.
Driving cross-functional team deliverables and schedules. Fostering a culture of accountability.
Facilitating core team discussions, and cross-functional design and status meetings.
Ensuring that stakeholders are kept fully-informed of project status and progress.
Collaborating closely with technologists and senior managers during the complete product development lifecycle.
Managing open issues and working cross-functionally to determine remedies as necessary.
Providing weekly status updates on all projects, communicating and managing priorities with development teams.

Candidate Requirements:

5 years of software project management experience with complex software development projects. This includes experience in managing all aspects of project lifecycle from concept through post-launch support.
BS in computer science or equivalent experience.
6-12 months experience as an Agile project manager. Scrum Master Certified preferred. Proven track record of leading teams to successfully deliver on multiple projects of varying size and complexity simultaneously.
Expertise in both written and interpersonal communication, in relationship building, and in collaboration in a cross-functional team comprised of diverse personalities, skill sets and levels of experience.
Experience with building products from the ground up, and knowing how to adapt process needs as a project and process matures, is highly desirable.
Compulsively organized and driven to bring order out of chaos. Attention to detail is a must.
Aggressive obstacle tackler. Must be able to proactively see project obstacles and work actively to remove them.
Comfortable with very little structure in a fast paced, energetic, entrepreneurial environment.
Ability to coach others on the best practices of Agile and the practical application of Agile principles to a specific project/client environment.
The desire to be part of a energetic and growing technology consulting firm in Chicago.
Enthusiasm and passion for keeping pace with emerging technology trends

Ready for your next career move? Email your resume to careers@solstice-consulting.com today!

m-Learning: The Next Evolution in Enterprise Training

2010-11-15T11:42:00.007-06:00

"As the bell rings, the teacher reminds students that Podcasts of the lecture are available for download, and queries that come up during study review can be messaged to her number. "

Sound familiar? If you have school age children - K through college - you are probably getting well acquainted with the new way of learning. Teaching is no longer tied to the walls of the classroom or what's on the blackboard. This is more than just e-Learning. While the concept of e-Learning was a technological advance in the way teaching is done, it is still about being tethered to a computer. m-Learning is about on-demand content delivery anywhere.

Wikipedia defines m-learning as - Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies. In other words, mobile learning decreases limitation of learning location with the mobility of general portable devices.

This is not just a concept relevant for the classroom. The enterprise should recognize m-learning as a powerful add-on tool to their learning strategy. With corporate culture moving more to toward the concept of the "deskless worker" and smartphones moving up the ranks from the "third screen" to the "primary screen" for end-users, the enterprise should re-think and refresh it's strategy for delivering training material. Here are some considerations and business drivers for taking your enterprise learning strategy mobile:

From Push to Pull Learning

m-Learning affords the benefit of contextual learning. The opportunity to get the learner in the environment they need that content. Making content available in a format and context that is most meaningful to the learner aids in absorbing and reinforcing the material.

Start with Sales Force

Looking for a pilot group to tactically test your m-learning strategy? Start with your sales force. The folks in the sales organization tend to be early technology adopters. These are the people that live outside the office, often on the road, and can be the most disconnected from what's happening inside the walls of the enterprise. They want relevant information when they need it and are sensitive to time. Time they spend training is time they aren't selling. Since individual compensation rides heavily on sales, finding time to train can be a low priority. Mobile affords your sales force with just in time training. And it shifts the perception of training from a "forced necessity" to "valuable information when I need it".

Make Mobile Part of a Blended Learning Approach

Mobile learning makes the most sense when it's part of a larger program. It supports and re-enforces the learning process and offers the learners not only the opportunity to learn both together and apart but also to learn in their optimal environment.

Build Your Business Case: Stats to Consider

Don't just take it from me that mobile is going to be the platform of choice. Industry trends are pointing in that direction already.

Mobile subscriptions are on track to hit 5 Billion worldwide this year. That means more people will have access to data through their mobile device than through TV and PCs combined.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

Deploying an m-learning strategy is as much about the people and technology as it is about the content. This feeds directly into the decisions the enterprise must make around supported mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and the people required to maintain and build-out capabilities. Technology can be a huge competitive advantage but think before you build. Here are some challenges to address before you deploy:

Connectivity, battery life, and bandwidth restrictions - know how your end-users will be connecting and device limitations before you build.
Device requirements/restrictions - Screen size, key size, Multiple standards, multiple screen sizes, multiple operating systems. Mobile platform standardization is a precursor to deploying m-learning within the an enterprise.
Number of file/assets' formats supported by a specific device - make sure your m-learning development team is aware of the technology requirements and limitations.
Content security - don't forget about encryption for any content that will reside on a mobile device. An enterprise mobile policy should address content security requirements/standards.
Reworking existing e-Learning materials for mobile platforms can be labor intensive - it's not a copy and paste exercise so plan for it upfront.

Is your company deploying training to mobile devices? Post comments and share your stories.

3 Great Resources Ready for Your Complex Projects

2010-10-19T14:23:00.008-05:00

With so many new trends with mobility, agility, and the Cloud, there are a lot of questions on which emerging technology fits into your business needs. When it comes to making those tough decisions, having an expert with a long list of successes is the way to go. Meet our list of available experts who can solve any of your business problems and help get your from A to B faster.

Nina Jagannathan is a solid Project Manager and Senior Business Analyst with over ten years of professional IT experience, spanning from Electric Utilities, Direct Marketing Order Processing, Digital Data Mapping and Fleet Management. She is successfully wrapping up the enterprise Mobile project at a Fortune 500 financial institution.

Nina utilizes her strong math acumen that she acquired from her Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, as well as her past experience as a DBA to develop and analyze a variety of compelling metrics reports, which provided clients substantial savings. She is eager to continue her tradition of pinpointing issues and spotting trending that will help increase business efficiencies. Nina is highly skilled at eliciting both business and technical requirements and developing process flows and system use cases. Nina has excellent communication and presentation skills and is able to effectively communicate to both IT and business focused stakeholders.

How can Nina help your projects? Nina has expertise in:
- Business requirements gathering and use case documentation
- Business process re-engineering
- Facilitating team JAD sessions
- Application development project planning, resource allocation, and daily tracking/issue resolution
- Data analysis and metrics reporting to feed business decision making

Sathish Chittibabu is a seasoned Senior Java Developer/Architect and accomplished technology consultant with over ten years of experience developing mission critical applications using Java/ J2EE related technologies. Sathish has a a solid understanding of SDLC and Agile methodology. In Sathish's past projects, he has successfully architected and developed custom technology solutions for his clients in the areas of Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC). Sathish has implemented key Separation of Duties (SOD), SAS70, and SOX compliance technology controls for his clients. Sathish was also integral in both designing and implementing a highly customized Identity Management solution for a multi-phase IdM/RBAC program at a Fortune 500 bank located in Chicago. Sathish is well versed in both the Sun Identity Management and Sailpoint Identity IQ products. Sathish is currently wrapping up an enterprise mobile development project for a major financial institution which will enable existing application functionality to the Blackberry platform. From his past experiences and his desire to stay ahead of the technology curve, is a team player and is a must have for any of your complex projects.

How can Sathish help your projects? Sathish has expertise in:
- Java/ J2EE technical development
- Designing and Implementing Identity Management solutions
- Porting functionality from Sun's Identity Manager product to new technology
- Sailpoint Identity IQ product installation/configuration/customization
- Custom Application Development
- Mobile Application Development

Matt Bata is a Business Analyst who is an incredibly fast learner of all technical and business terminology. With a double major in Management Information Systems and Accounting, Matt has the knowledge to exceed at a variety of analytical tasks. Matt uses his strong business sense and critical thinking skills as well as his Operations Analyst experience to identify issues. On his past projects, Matt has leaned operations processes, performed data analysis on financial reports, and created metrics for future department reporting. Matt has top notch communication skills and is able to work on and lead a team.

How can Matt help your projects? Matt has expertise in:
- Financial reporting analysis
- Business requirements gathering and documentation
- Website management
- Multiple department support
- Manage and track project budgets

Contact me if you'd like to talk about any of these resources for your projects. As always, 1-2 hour project discovery sessions are complimentary.

Meet Gregg Wheeler - Solstice's Newest Delivery Manager

2010-08-31T14:20:00.000-05:00

Solstice is pleased to announce the newest member of the family, Gregg Wheeler. Gregg’s focus is on architecting and implementing solutions to enrich a company’s business platforms and processes using emerging technologies. He builds strategic partnerships with forward-thinking clients and business leaders and utilizes his experience in consulting, technical architecture, and agile project management to deliver high performance technology solutions.

Gregg has over a decade of experience as a Technical Architect, Software Developer, Consultant, and IT Project Manager working for F100 clients as a consultant and in their enterprise technology groups. He also took his entrepreneurial spirit to two Chicago-based cloud computing startups where he led engineering teams in the creation of company websites, e-commerce solutions, and customer portals and the subsequent migration into their cloud infrastructures.

Gregg is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Project Management Professional (PMP) and uses that extensive knowledge to skillfully manage software development and infrastructure projects to implement quality products and ensure realization of benefits. Gregg has always been recognized as a high-performer wherever he hangs his hat, and his clients and colleagues recommend him highly.

What past clients and colleagues are saying about him:
“Gregg has a natural ability to inspire collaboration, creativity and efficiency for solving complex technical problems. He is a very intelligent and resourceful individual who can be trusted for his abilities to deliver real value leveraging his knowledge and experience in the area of IT solutions planning and delivery.” – CEO / Chief Creative Officer

“Gregg is a talented and energetic Project Manager and Technical Specialist who has gained the respect of his peers and management. His proactive and concise communications with his customers make him a valuable asset to the company and our technology organization.” – VP Technology

“Gregg has terrific work habits and excels at being able to juggle and deliver multiple projects in parallel with high quality. He sets the bar for his colleagues, is a quick study and is willing jump in and do all of the little things required to make his team successful. He is extremely well liked by all who work with him, is a great team player and is driven to succeed.” – Technology Manager

Past Projects:

IT Strategy: Provided targeted insight and direction to senior leadership through technical recommendations in order to identify current and future opportunities for systems architectures.
Cloud Computing: Designed and implemented new enterprise architectures to migrate legacy systems onto cloud computing platforms including such integrated solutions as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service, Database-as-a-Service, and Storage-as-a-Service.
Agile Software Development: Architected, deployed, and supported business critical financial applications in dedicated and virtualized environments.
Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects: Managed server upgrades, data center relocations/decommissions, M&A consolidations/integrations, and mainframe conversion projects.
Operational Enhancements: Improved processes and technologies for disaster recovery, application monitoring, release/change management, data management, SLA reporting, and vendor management.

How can Gregg help your projects? Gregg has expertise in:

Strategic Technology Consulting
Technical Project Management
Agile Software Development
Technical Architecture
Business Analysis & Process Optimization

Learn more about Gregg:

Contact me if you have an upcoming project need that Gregg can help with. A 1-hour discovery session is free of charge!

Welcome to Facebook Gramps!

2010-08-29T09:49:00.007-05:00

Read this article in the Tribune today about seniors getting on facebook. Some interesting data is suggesting that social networking use by seniors is growing faster than any other demographic. Senior use has doubled from 2009 to 201o.

What are your thoughts on how the growing adoption of social media by seniors will impact how that channel is used by businesses? Is there an opportunity being created by seniors getting bit by the Facebook bug? Add your thoughts and comments below.

3 Ways to Start Using the Cloud Today

2010-08-23T22:21:00.024-05:00

The cloud is big right now but it's still a difficult transition for many companies to make. Cloud hesitation is mainly related to FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) rather than based in real-life experiences. Small businesses have embraced the cloud and SaaS offerings as a great democratizing offering. Through various cloud based applications, IT infrastructure and storage capabilities, and collaboration and productivity suites, the cloud has afforded the small guys with IT capabilities that would not have been possible on smaller budgets just 10 years ago. This is allowing more innovation, faster product development cycles, and overall more time to focus on the core business and less time worrying about supporting and administering an IT infrastructure or upgrading application capabilities.

Here are a few ways enterprises can start testing the waters to find the right balance between cloud based and traditional IT:

Email

This may sound like a big leap, but along with storage, email is quickly becoming one of the biggest commodity services. With names like Microsoft in the arena, and their hosted Exchange offering, the transition may not be as daunting. These services are cheaper for the provider to run and make a great enterprise business case for migrating more capabilities to cloud provider alternatives.

Collaboration/Idea Generation/Brainstorming

All 3 of these equal innovation. Give employees quicker ways to capture and share ideas. The Google apps platform and Microsoft BPOS are examples. With remote and distributed workforce becoming the norm, these platforms let you quickly co-create and share information. Easier collaboration and co-creation can lead to more innovation faster. A great example is using Google Apps to quickly create a shared spreadsheet to capture ideas that can be shared with remote participants - no conferencing technology or screen sharing technology needed.

Knowledge Management

Let your staff organize and share what they know, what's important, and what they are working on. Sharepoint is a common example but I'm a huge fan of Google Sites. Google Sites provides simple, easy to use, pre-defined templates to get you started. Starting a project? Create a site. I've used Google Sites to manage the execution of projects as well as a repository for final deliverables. These tools provide a quick consistent way to allow staff the self-service capability to make information accessible.

What is your company doing in the cloud? Is it embracing the cloud? As always I welcome your thoughts on the topic. Please share below.

Upcoming Solstice-sponsored Meetups

2010-08-11T15:36:00.003-05:00

It's meetup time again for all three of the Solstice-sponsored meetup groups!

Hope to see you at one of the events. If you are interested in speaking on a topic related to one of our meetups let me know. We are always looking for people interested in sharing what they know!

The Chicago Agile Methodology Meetup Group is meeting on Aug. 17th at 5:30pm at Solstice HQ (641 W Lake St)

This month's topic is off of a group member posted idea entitled, Managing Stakeholder Expectations in Agile...Tools & Tactics. With the big push for Agile, you need to know which tools and tactics to use when dealing with the product stakeholders. Agile Guru Dave Babicz will lead the discussion and show you how a pro does it!

The Chicago Mobile Web and Application Development Meetup Group is meeting on Aug. 23rd at 5:30pm at ITA (200 S Wacker, 15th Floor)

Jonathan Ozeran, a fellow Mobile Enthusiast Group member, will be this month's speaker and will demo Tribune Interactive's Mobile Apps.

The Chicago Identity and Access Management Meetup Group is meeting on Aug. 26th at 5:30pm at Solstice HQ (641 W Lake St.)

Our presenter for this month is Ronel Robert, a fellow I&AM meetup group member. Ronel will be leading the discussion on Forefront Identity Manager 2010's best practices, followed up with a live demo.

Meet Rebecca Porterfield - Solstice's Newest Agile PM

2010-08-09T22:02:00.009-05:00

Solstice is pleased to announce the newest member of the family, Rebecca Porterfield. Rebecca is a certified Scrum Master (CSM) and certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She is a proven Project Management Leader with over a decade of experience in software application development and IT project management. Rebecca has broad expertise in diverse project management and software development techniques including Waterfall, Iterative Development, and Agile.

Rebecca Porterfield loves a challenge. Whether it's managing complex projects, rescuing troubled projects, or improving organizational processes, Rebecca enthusiastically steps up to the plate where ever she works.

What past clients and colleagues are saying about her:

“Rebecca's application of common sense, her thoroughness in wringing out the last aspect of the scope and her drive to deliver on the best methodology for the situation exceed that of any other” – CIO

“Rebecca proactively communicates project information and works well bridging the technical and non-technical gap to deliver the project on time and on budget. Her contributions and collaborative nature result in Executives and Project Sponsors requesting her to be assigned to their projects” – SVP

“She is able to bring to the proper mix of formal process without squelching the fast paced development needs of a web based company” – VP Application Development

How can Rebecca help your projects? Rebecca as expertise in:

· Agile – As a practitioner and evangelist, specializing in Agile adoption.

· Enterprise Agile transformation - From coaching Agile teams and to bravely leading the difficult charge of Agile roll out across entire technology organizations,

· Delivering software faster, improving stakeholder satisfaction, and tearing down the communication walls between business and technology

· Managing entire technology portfolios,

· Establishing a PMO

· Mentoring new Project Managers

· Rescuing troubled projects

· Conducting general business process improvement,

Past Projects:

· Web applications and back-end software/data applications

· M&A software consolidation

· Decommissioning data centers.

· Comfortable in fast-paced, academic, start-up, and F500 company environments

Contact me if you have an upcoming project need that Rebecca can help with. A 1 hour discovery session is free of charge!

A Product Managers Guide to Designing an iPhone App

2010-06-28T22:07:00.014-05:00

One of the biggest questions facing my clients is "What should we mobilize?". The nuts and bolts of HOW to mobilize are actually a lot simpler than figuring out WHAT to mobilize. The mobile environment creates both an opportunity and a challenge for the Product Owner - we now need to get reacquainted with our end-users, learn their behaviors in the mobile context, and what's important to them on-the-go. The opportunity is in discovering a new facet of your target customer and discovering a new way to connect with them and fill a need. (If you don't fill the customer need....... someone else will).

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule of Mobile application design: your mobile customers WANT TO FIND and DON'T WANT TO BROWSE. You want to create that eureka moment for your end-user as soon as the app loads, without requiring a lot of end-user interaction to get them there. Here's one of my favorite examples:

QVC is a large direct to consumer retailer with mainly a television based business. But they translated their TV sales approach into a highly functional and product rich online e-Commerce site. The website has a wealth of navigation options for refining the browsing experience and arriving at exactly the product you are looking for. Navigation is organized by product category, brand, type, etc... When translating the website experience to the mobile context they stepped away from navigation and just present the most relevant products based on -

what's on air now
items other customers have indicated as "top rated",
the special value of the day.

A very simple, uncluttered, page design presents the most current information most prominently with a secondary focus on searching for something more specific. QVC is an example of a company that "gets it". As tempting as it might be to display a traditional homepage with a window into the tens of thousands of products available to purchase they successfully translated the TV equivalent of "what's on sale now" to the mobile app experience. And if you want to watch TV from your mobile device... you can do that too.

Use Existing Analytics to Drive Mobile App Approach

Anticipate the end-users need, use existing website analytics info to drive this. If you have a desktop browser based site, then chances are you already have some great insight into what your visitors find most useful on the site. Use existing website analytics to determine what also might be most useful in the mobile context. Not only what features are useful but also what OS and browsers are your visitors coming from.

Make it Useful, Useable, and Delightful

It needs to be relevant and fill a need now be easy and fun to use. The example I think of is Shazam.

It answers that question "What song is that" in the moment (useful).
Simple to use(useable).
And who doesn't love watching that icon spin before spitting out the song you are listening to? And how DOES it work? How DOES it know what song I am listening to? (delightful).

There are a lot of ways to skin a cat but to make your app sticky it has to be fun to use, in addition to filling an immediate need. As described in the book Tapworthy most people use their mobile apps when they:

are micro-tasking,
want to know what's near me now,
or are bored.

Keeping these simple ideas in mind when designing your app will help give your app and your brand the contextual relevance needed to make it sticky.

Creating a Culture of Innovation: 3 Lessons on Innovation from Pixar

2010-06-21T21:25:00.009-05:00

CNBC aired a great biography recently on the story of Pixar. I was expecting the typical rags to riches story but instead, this was a story of building a culture of innovation. I learned how a few people with a passion for their craft and the confidence and willingness to push the limits of technology can not only, win the infusion of $10 million in investor dollars (from Mr. Steve Jobs) , but also win the hearts of millions of Americans -young and old - by blazing new trails while doing what they LOVE. Now, we can't all be blessed to have careers that bring pure joy to the young and young at heart, but we can take a lesson in how to foster innovation and push people to use their talent to the fullest. So what did Pixar do that we can apply? Here's what I learned:

Create a space that encourages unplanned collaboration

Even if you are bound by the limits of traditional cube-farm style office space, there can be ways to create a more open feel. Place team tables in central places. Centrally located white boards and easels are great ways to signify that this is a space where thoughts can be developed. Give the space a feeling of having a place to "squat" when the need arises instead of relying on planned meetings and pre-arranged meeting space. Keeping open collaborative space provides the canvas for impromptu idea generation and problem solving.

Treat individual office space as an empty canvas

If you've seen any stories in the news about the Zappos company culture, you'll understand this. Zappos allows employs to decorate cubicles and offices with as much style and individual flair required to inspire them. Just the fact that employees have that freedom to personalize their space is empowering to the employee. That feeling of empowerment and individuality helps create a culture where people feel safe to be themselves. When the guard is down that's when some of the best unedited ideas start flowing.

Embed frequent candid, critical feedback loops as part of your product development process

Pixar does this by having daily meetings where editing teams meet to present the movie segment they worked on to peers. The peers give candid and critical feedback. It's not sugar coated. But in an environment where people feel safe, they don't take feedback personal. This free flowing feedback early and often can help turn something that is good into something great quickly.

Innovation is not just a buzz word but is something that good companies truly work at. Apple as the poster child for innovation. Companies that see everyday things differently and create a culture where people are empowered, feel safe, and have the freedom to be themselves are the ones the others are trying to catch up to.

What does your company do to support idea generation, creative thinking, and innovation?

4 Enterprise Barriers to Agile Transformation

2010-05-16T21:11:00.006-05:00

Delivering projects (both business process and technology focused) for the bulk of my career, I have found these themes to ring true as barriers to agile transformation within the enterprise:

Resource Management

While resources are cross-functional often wearing many hats, they are often part of a matrix organization and deployed to simultaneous projects at once. This creates conflicting priorities, lack of visibility, and the inability to fully participate in the day to day needs of any one project team. The Agile solution - dedicate resources to a single team. Allow resources to fully participate in the daily team interactions, forge relationships, and share accountability for the overall project goal. Dedicated participation will speed the overall delivery and ease communication barriers. Freeing the resources to move onto the next priority rather than working on several at once.

Physical Location

Large corporations (even the not-so-large) have always been fond of cubicles. Building physical walls between people for privacy. What suffers is team communication. So meetings become the main way for talking with each other. Instead, break down the walls and allow the team members instant communication anytime it's needed. Co-located team members is also a huge issue. The business often lives in one building and the technical in another. Again, creating physical barriers to communication and collaboration. Keep project teams together and break down the physical wall for the duration of the project.

Requirements

Requirements are a huge stumbling block in large enterprises. Not only the requirements themselves but the politics surrounding them. Politics such as - who had input? who signed off? when were they signed-off? are they in scope? when is a change request required? The traditional assumption around requirements is that the business knows exactly what it wants and that it won't change for the duration. Any changes are considered risks to project delivery. The agile mindset says - keep requirements light, keep them just-in-time, allow them to evolve with the needs of the business. This works because the cross-functional team is in constant communication. As requirements evolve real-time business decisions can be made based on the current state of the product. Together, the team takes input from a product owner to help craft ultimately how the product meets the goal. The product owner isn't expected to give detailed how-to requirements. Only to know what the business needs and, through a series of product demos, collaborate with the team to make the product just right. Traditionally the enterprise has encouraged a long very detailed upfront requirements gathering phase in which everything is written in documentation prior to building. This produces nice documentation that can quickly become outdated as business needs change (and business needs ALWAYS change). The project starts swirling around creating change requests before one line of code has even been developed. Stop the madness, document what's necessary to give the team a running start, evolve the documented requirements as the product evolves, not vice-versa.

Compliance Requirements

Agile promotes just enough process to get the job done. Sometimes in larger enterprises the "just-enough" becomes too heavy weight and prescriptive in the name of compliance. This is a huge misfortune and one of the largest barriers to starting and being successful at Agile. The key to compliance is a keen understanding of what controls need to be in place and what the purpose of the control is. The enterprise must provide the tools, resources, and guidance necessary for teams to be successful in meeting the controls NOT provide a detailed how-to for doing something. Education and shared accountability with actionable recourse are keys to compliance.

What are your experiences and barriers encountered when bringing Agile principles to your projects?

A Single Trick for Remembering Passwords

2010-04-20T08:26:00.007-05:00

In both our personal and work life we are faced with remembering countless passwords - ATMs, Amazon account, iTunes, the LAN at work. I found this interesting tip for creating secure passwords that are complex to crack but easy for you to remember.

Identity Management meets Augmented Reality

2010-04-06T21:44:00.008-05:00

Imagine pointing your mobile device/smart phone at a co-worker and seeing a holographic depiction of all the system access assigned to that person. Sound far-fetched? It may be a reality sooner than you think.

Although still experimental, the technology is available. Using face recognition technology to match the person's face with a picture stored on the server, any stored information tied to that profile picture can be sent back and displayed to the requestor.

Imagine an environment where authorized people could perform spot Access Certification checks by simply pointing a mobile device equipped with a camera at a co-worker's face. System access is looked up and displayed in a meaningful way as a holographic image/text floating around that person's face. Think of the possibilities and enterprise use cases this immediate access to information could serve. Read more about this technical capability here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/24639/?nlid=2766&a=f

Sound like an interesting concept? Please comment below to let me know what you think.

5 Best Practices for Developing a Mobile Strategy

2010-04-01T15:32:00.018-05:00

Whether your company has already embraced mobile platforms as a business reality or just getting started, the "next big thing" is here. Here are some best practices to keep in mind when planning your approach to mobile.

1. Know "Why"
One of the first important questions to ask is "Why?" The mobile context is significantly different that the desktop world. What's driving your move to mobile? Simply porting your existing desktop content or creating miniature versions of existing websites for mobile is not a wise move. The content you are providing needs to be useful in the mobile setting. Your end consumer has different needs in the mobile context. As I outlined in previous blog, The 3 Cs of Mobile Website Design, visitor context is a huge factor when considering what to develop.

2. Decide what business functions should be mobilized
What functions will give you the biggest bang for your buck? When determining functionality to port into the mobile context, you want to pick something with a measurable ROI or something that gives your business a competitive advantage. Show value early to help build your business case for expanding into more mobile functionality.

Look at which applications are most important to your company, review your use cases, and re-define how those use cases look on the mobile context. How is the use case different for a mobile user? What's important in the mobile context? Keeping in mind that mobile users want to find not browse.

3. Deploy useful functionality incrementally
This isn't a 6 - 12 month initiative. You need to build and release quickly, solicit feedback, and refine. Think about how to chunk up functionality into small, agile releases. The sooner you get functionality out there the sooner you can start making it more useful. Consider piloting to a limited set of users on specific mobile devices. Start expanding audience and supported devices once it's been around the block a few times and you've had a chance to kick the tires.

4. Develop Standards
As an enterprise it's important to have technical standards in place before they get decided for you. Once the enterprise has momentum with mobile, it's not time to start figuring out what your standards are. Security standards, supported devices are all up for consideration when defining mobile guidelines.

Adopt and adhere to common body of knowledge development best practices. Organizations like the W3C have developed thought leadership and application development standards for mobile.

5. Decide How
App or Mobile website? The answer to this question is important and based on the device capabilities of your end users. If you are targeting an audience that will be using a common device than the robust offerings of a native device application may be the right answer. Native apps allow you to fully exploit the capabilities of the device for an optimal end-user experience. For supporting cross device compatibility a mobile website be the best approach. Although more testing time should be factored in, a mobile website offers widest range of possibilities for a broad user base.

In summary, Mobile is hot, but as with any emerging trend, don't implement technology for technologies sake. Know the audience you are serving, what they want, and what you expect to get out of it - your ROI. Strategic thinking and systematically rolling out mobile capabilities are the keys to success.

5 Tips for Giving a Great Presentation

2010-03-05T07:41:00.006-06:00

In my role at Solstice Consulting, I do a lot of presenting on topics that interest me, case studies on project successes, and Solstice's domains of expertise. While my audience has ranged in size and background and the content is different each time, I have found a few prensentation techniques that seem to apply to all situations.

Be confident no matter how unprepared you feel. Projecting confidence is a sure fire way to build credibility with your audience and help ease your nerves.
Dress smart and confident. What you wear impacts how you feel about yourself. Splurge on that smart suit or stylish shirt.
Be interesting and engaging. Pull people into your world with stories, anecdotes, and humor. The more they laugh, the more they'll like you, and the more they will remember you.
Read the room and get a pulse on the audience. When you feel things are going south and people loosing interest, start asking them questions to keep them engaged. Get them talking and learning from each other. Your audience will appreciate your facilitating knowledge sharing. And they might have the content or answers that you don't.
Keep the slides light on text. The more text the more tempted you are to read directly from the slide. Use key phrases and words. This helps keep the presentation conversational when you use your own words and stories to deliver the content.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What are some techniques that work for you?

The Information Security Profession: Today and Beyond

2010-03-02T20:00:00.004-06:00

The information security profession is changing. I've been asked to present my perspective at NetSecure on how the profession is changing and what's driving the change. If you can't make it to the event, here is a sneak preview of my presentation.

The Information Security Profession: Today and Beyond

View more presentations from kmanthey.

Shedding Light on the Information Security Landscape: An Interview with Sandra Toms LaPedis, Area Vice President and General Manager, RSA Conference

2010-02-01T22:37:00.009-06:00

The Information Security landscape is changing. In the face of dealing with more sophisticated threats, these recessionary times are driving innovation like never before. Sandra Toms LaPedis, Area Vice President and General Manager, RSA Conference , sheds light on information security challenges, technology trends driving the CSO agenda, and how today’s environment is creating opportunities.

1. What are the top organizational challenges facing security professionals today?
The number one challenge is that IT departments are currently working with fewer resources. While Gartner research shows that IT budgets will be up in 2010 by 3.3 percent, the industry will still be playing catch-up with 2009’s 5.2 percent decrease. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9.4 percent of the population is currently without a job – with California being hit particularly hard at a rising 12.4 percent. Unfortunately, many security practitioners are in these ranks.

With these limited resources and the loss of talented security professionals in IT departments across the country, no one is minding the proverbial store. Many organizations are left with stripped-down departments that have fewer people watching for threats. We know more issues can occur during these times of economic hardship, so having more eyes on the security posture of an organization is more important than ever before.

2. What are the top three technology concerns for organizations?

Based on the abstracts that were submitted and the agenda we have set for RSA Conference 2010, we see that three particular areas of concern are cloud security, security in the face of consumerization and mobility and cyber warfare.

3. How is today's business environment impacting how security challenges are addressed?

In July 2009, we surveyed nearly 150 C-level executives and professionals charged with directing, managing and engineering security infrastructures within their respective organizations to find out their pain points for the coming 12 months. Fifty-seven percent of respondents cited budgetary constraints as their biggest concern. This means organizations have to get creative with the way they protect their infrastructure since they have fewer dollars to spend. This may include finding new tools that address multiple issues, learning how to make what they currently have adapt to changes in the landscape or architecting new solutions.

4. How has the current environment created opportunities for security-focused service providers? Is today's environment driving innovation?

Recessionary periods drive the most innovation. Especially today, when entrepreneurs and developers have so much technology to get them started, industrious individuals are required to be more creative and resourceful. You can simply look at events like TechCrunch50 and DEMO to see that technology professionals are capitalizing on missed opportunities by debuting truly innovative products and solutions.

The information security industry is no exception. Codes are becoming more malicious, botnets are getting smarter and attacks on corporations and nation states have become more frequent – such an environment is ripe for information security innovation. At our Innovation Sandbox program we showcase and honor companies and individuals that are at the cutting edge of security innovation and have the most promise for offering a solution to the information security industry’s most pressing issues. On February 8 we will select 10 finalists from a pool of 40+ submissions to compete for the title, “Most Innovative Company at RSA Conference 2010.” With this program we plan to highlight the entrepreneurial spirit of the security industry while also giving early stage companies a venue to be seen by their peers.

5. What have you seen in terms of innovation in security?

In the last year we’ve seen new companies address the security concerns associated with the proliferation of cloud computing and virtualization in IT architectures, as well as significant advances in the way organizations can secure their employees’ mobile devices. The list goes on and on, but there is a need for so much more – which is why Innovation Sandbox is such an important program, and why information security professionals sharing best practices at RSA Conference becomes a business imperative.

This year we’ve had companies submit products that can emulate a phishing attack on an employee to provide education on how to identify risks via email, solutions that address the security risks associated with password resets and products that have turned authentication as we know it on its head by integrating image recognition to the fold.

Sandra Toms LaPedis, Area Vice President and General Manager of RSA Conferences, joined the company in 1998 and is responsible for the global promotion and successful execution for the Conference. This includes content, strategy, logistics, industry relations, brand extensions and partnerships.

4 Point Plan for Testing Mobile Websites

2010-01-25T20:51:00.003-06:00

When building a website targeted for mobile platforms, having a good testing strategy is one of the keys to ensuring end-user satisfaction. The mobile context is different than desktop. With so many different devices with varying capabilities it can be challenging to develop functionality that works well on all. Here's a 4 point strategy to use when determining how to test your mobile website:

1. Define testing scope
There are many variables at hand when considering the mobile context - device capabilities, operating system, propietary browsers, carrier network performance - it's difficult to test every aspect thoroughly. Mobile testing is about focusing your efforts. Hone in on your intended audience, do your homework on devices the majority of your end-user base will be using. Build a testing plan around your target audience's device hardware, operating system, browser, and network. Utilize alternatives to native device testing to cover other user populations (i.e. mobile test emulators, see below).

2. Test functionality first on a desktop
Get the functionality working first then focus on cross device, cross operating system compatibility. Dealing with all the possible issues at once - basic functionality, OS and browser specific graphic design issues - can be time consuming. Keeping your testing focused on functionality first then look and feel and navigation will avoid wasted energy.

3. Utilize mobile emulators

Once the functionality works as expected, test the user experience on emulators. Emulators exist to test specific operating systems, browsers, and devices. If you aren't familiar, emulators run on your desktop and emulate the mobile OS and mobile browser environment. Here are a few of the most popular:

It's not always a slam dunk installing these so be sure to allocate time for installing all required components and configuration.

The W3C also has a great resource for validating the mobile friendliness of a website. As mentioned in my previous blog - 3 C's in Moble Website Design - The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is founded on the principles that the web should be accessible to all and on as many devices as possible. To realize this, the W3C body of knowledge has developed technical standards and best practices for the development, design, and content authoring. Simply enter your website URL into the W3C MobileOK checker and the checker validates your site against the mobile best practices as defined by the W3C.

4. Test on native devices
Finally, execute testing on the native devices, operating systems, and browsers outlined in your testing plan. At this point all functionality issues should be worked out and your testing is focused on user experience and useability on specific devices.

The basic principles of desktop application testing apply to the mobile web context as well. A good plan and focused execution will help reduce post-production issues and eliviate end-user frustration.

What are you doing to test your mobile websites? Comments and discussion welcome!

The 3 'C's in Mobile Website Design

2009-12-11T15:22:00.021-06:00

One of the key movements in ensuring a consistent, meaningful, and overall enjoyable mobile website user experience is subscribing to the principles developed by the W3C - The World Wide Web Consortium - for mobile application development. The W3C is founded on the principles that the web should be accessible to all and on as many devices as possible. To realize this, the W3C body of knowledge has developed technical standards and best practices for the development, design, and content authoring. These standards are in the spirit of creating a "One Web" environment that is available on any device.

Creating mobile-friendly user experience can be challenging . The hardware and network capabilities of the end-user create constraints that should be considered when creating mobile content. The "One Web" principle attempts to level the playing field for all. Remember the 3 "C"s for mobile web development:

Content - the page layout and information architecture
Context - the reason a visitor is coming to the mobile site and their environment at the time of visit
Capabilities - the functionality native to the device for viewing the mobile website

Here are a few best practices to consider before building your next mobile website:

The type of content relevant to the desktop user may not be as applicable to the user on-the-go. Visitors on a mobile device aren't interested in browsing. Forget the notion of the "web browser" and think "web finder". Page layout, information architecture, and content syntax are the pillars of keeping a mobile website relevant and accessible for the mobile user.

Minimal navigation (preferably a top nav bar) is a best practice, so is keeping content as accessible with as few clicks as possible. Don't bury content too deep in the site. Keeping in mind that the mobile visitor has a very specific goal (i.e. an address, account information,traffic reports) put that content up front and make it easy to navigate. Less really is more when navigating a mobile website.

What is the mobile site visitor's goal? Understanding who the visitor is, why they are coming to the site, and the context in which they are arriving at the site is critical. Even the best mobile user experience fails if the content and context aren't spot on. For example, a bank cusomter accessing their bank account from a mobile device are probably not interested in learning about new product offerings. But rather, quickly locating a balance, performing a funds transfer, or paying a bill on-line. Keeping the content layout goal oriented and specific to the goals of a mobile user will create a useful web property for your customers.

Keep the site entry point URIs (Universal Resource Identifier) short. Typing a long string can be cumbersome on a mobile device. And it's important to consider that entry points may be from an email or text received on the mobile device.

Device capabilities are a huge consideration in mobile web development. While the W3C guidelines are based on device-neutral practices they also recognize the importance of checking for device capabilities (whenever possible) and fully exploiting them to enhance the end-user experience. Just as in the desktop world where all sites don't function the same in all browsers, the device a mobile site is accessed on can have a huge impact on the quality of the end-user experience if not handled programmatically. A few things to consider:

Not all devices support style sheets. Organize content so that it can be rendered in a an easy to navigate way without style sheets

Graphics and scripting capabilities- create text based alternatives for all embedded images and plug-ins

Color contrasting capabilities- information should be able to be conveyed with or without color.

Bandwidth is another consideration. The more graphically rich and content intense the longer it may take to render the site (and quite possibly,the more it will cost the end-user).

Limit user input requirements as input mechanisms on mobile devices can be small and cumbersome to use. Tabbing and creating pre-selected values are best. Where possible avoid free-text fields.

I've been in web development for most of my career and though the mobile outlet creates new challenges and opportunities, the basic planning and due dilligence required to make a site successful are the same no matter the outlet. Would love to hear about the challenges you've overcome launching your mobile website. Please add your comments below.

Security sells: leverage your security program to boost sales

2009-12-03T13:26:00.005-06:00

In today's competitive environment, with the increasing need to show a unique value proposition, a stellar information security program can offer a company a unique differentiator to discuss with their prospective customers. The information security function (along with IT) is typically viewed as a cost center, not a revenue generating arm of the organization. Security tactics are often viewed as a must-do line item to check off the list, not as a competitive advantage. Well, I'd like to change that mindset.

As an information security professional, it can be frustrating when achievements aren't recognized outside of the immediate team (let alone external to the organization). The problem isn't that security achievements are less important than other project achievements. On the contrary, security projects are often mission critical to helping companies avoid negative press, million dollar fines, and the loss of customers. The problem centers around lack of understanding of the value of security initiatives, and how they tie to servicing customers or generating company revenue.

Here are some thoughts on how information security professionals can shine a light on achievements, and position their work as differentiators a company can use to use to generate more revenue.

Sell Your Strengths: Think about what your company's security strength is and sell it. I'm not talking about giving away the keys to the farm and talking about HOW you are doing things. That would defeat the purpose of having security controls in place. But the basic standard of keeping the bad people out and enabling the authorized users to securely do business has many interesting facets, and there are many ways to achieve this level of security.

I like to call this the art of information security: What your company is doing + How they are doing it = The differentiator

Is it a sophisticated physical security turnstile badging system leveraging the latest technology to reduce manual intervention? Is it enabling your company's regulatory compliance through cutting edge processes and technology? Whether you are in the business of securing bank account information, human resources files, medical records, or customer credit card information, talk about what you are doing that makes your information security program a key to reducing operational waste and gives employees the time to focus on meeting customer expectations.

Case-in-point, one of my clients, a Fortune 500 bank for high net worth individuals and corporations, has a world class access control program in place. Their information security group designed a set of identity management (IdM) processes based on securely enabling business functions. To gain operational efficiencies in system access request and set up, they customized a leading IdM technology and automated much of their IdM workflows.

Why is this important to a bank customer? The SVP of Information Security can tell you why. He can articulate the value that this brings to a bank customer in terms that are meaningful to a customer -- speed of access to critical account reporting applications AND the reassurance that only those authorized are seeing the account information. He's called on by relationship managers to help sell the value of doing business with this bank and communicate the edge this institution has over another. The SVP has the soft skills necessary to navigate a conversation with clients and prospects. And the instinct to know what aspects of the information security program matter most to each client. These soft skills are really the differentiator for his company's information security organization. It's not just about what a security organization is doing but also about how they tie it back to meeting customer expectations.

Develop Soft Skills: Let's face it, information security is technical, and as a result the people that are really passionate about security tend to be very technical. But when that passion comes out in a way that's easy to understand and meaningful to those on the receiving end, you've got a value proposition worth telling would-be customers. The challenge is developing the soft skills necessary to communicate that value proposition. As an information security manager, it's just as important to develop the communication and soft skills in your staff as it is to keep them technically trained and abreast of the emerging threats. These soft skills also come in handy when communicating to executives the funding required to execute your security program goals and why they are important.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Sara Santerelli, Chief Network Security Officer at Verizon, speak at a conference in October. Sara spoke about the duty that information security managers have to articulate a security program less in terms of tactics and more in terms of long term strategy. This helps executive management understand the drivers, which in turn gains their support and the funding necessary to execute. She also hit on the importance of alignment of your security plan with business goals and defining the trade-off between the cost associated with your security initiatives and the risk of not doing them. All of this articulation requires soft skills and big picture thinking.

Information security is a compelling value proposition if communicated in meaningful terms to prospective customers. In some situations, the CSO can be viewed as an extended arm of the sales team. Whether the title is CSO or VP of Information Security, the people within an information security organization can really help sell the benefits of doing business with the company. In a climate where standing out in the crowd matters, companies should look to their CSO for the extra push needed to turn a prospect into a customer.

How does your information security program help differentiate your company? Comments welcome!

How Information Security Can Help You Sell More Business

2009-11-30T15:23:00.003-06:00

As an IT professional, have you ever thought of the Chief Security Officer function as an extended arm of the sales organization? Maybe you should. Whatever the title - CSO, VP of Information Security - these guys and gals can really help sell the benefits of doing business with your company. The number one value prop they can tell your existing clients and prospects - Here's why your sensitive information is safer with us than the competition. These guys can explain why. In today's competitive environment, with the increasing need to show differentiation and a unique value proposition, information security seems like a no-brainer to talk about. Here are a few tips for developing your Information Security Organization into a key differentiator for your company.

Sell Your Strengths: Think about your company's Security strength and sell it. Now, I'm not talking about giving away the keys the farm and talking about HOW you are doing things. That would defeat the purpose of having security controls in place. But the basic standard of keeping the bad people out and enabling the authorized people to securely do business has many interesting facets and there are many ways to achieve security. I like to call this the "art of information security" - What your company is doing + how they are doing it = differentiator. Is it a sophisticated physical security turnstile badging system leveraging the latest technology to reduce manual intervention? Is it enabling your company's regulatory compliance through cutting edge processes and technology? Whether you are in the business of securing bank account information, human resources files, medical records, or customer credit card information you can talk about what you are doing and how you are doing it that makes your Information Security Program a key in your company's ability to meet customer expectations.

Case-in-point, one of my clients, a Fortune 500 bank for high net worth individuals and corporations, has a world class Access Control program in place. Their Information Security group designed a set of Identity Management processes based on securely enabling business functions. To gain operational efficiencies in system access request and set up, they customized a leading IdM technology and automated much of their IdM workflows. Why is this important to a bank customer? The SVP of Information Security can tell you why. He can articulate the value that this brings to a bank customer in terms that are meaningful to a customer - Speed of access to critical account reporting applications AND the reassurance that only those authorized are seeing the account information. He's called on by relationship managers to help sell the value of doing business with this bank and communicate the edge this institution has over another. The SVP has the soft skills necessary to navigate a conversation with clients and prospects. And the instinct to know what aspects of the Information Security Program matter most to each client. These soft skills are really the differentiator for his company's Information Security organization. It's not just about what a security organization is doing but also about how they tie it back to meeting customer expectations.

Develop Your People: Let's face it, Information Security is technical. The people that are really passionate about security tend to be very technical. But when that passion comes out in a way that's easy to understand and meaningful to those on the receiving end you've got a value proposition worth telling would-be customers. The challenge is developing the soft skills necessary to communicate that value proposition. As an information security manager it's just as important to develop the communication and soft skills in your staff as it is to keep them technically trained and abreast of the emerging threats. These soft skills also come in handy when communicating to executives the funding required to execute your Security program goals and why they are important. I recently had the pleasure of hearing Sara Santerelli, Chief Network Security Officer at Verizon, speak at a conference in October. Sara spoke about the duty that information security managers have to articulate a security program less in terms of tactics and more in terms of long term strategy. This helps executive management understand the drivers, gains their support, and the funding necessary to execute. She also hit on the importance of alignment of your security plan with business goals and defining the trade-off between the cost associated with your security initiatives and the risk of not doing them. All of this articulation requires soft skills and big picture thinking.

Information Security is a compelling value proposition if communicated in meaningful terms to your customers. I would love to know how you are talking about your Information Security program and how it helps differentiate you. Comments welcome!

Business Innovation Blog Tag Cloud

2009-11-16T19:23:00.001-06:00

created at TagCrowd.com

Google Apps For the Family "Enterprise"

2009-11-11T00:18:00.005-06:00

My family runs on the Google platform. The same tools that I use every day at work managing projects have proved very effective at home.

We have a shared family Google calendar through Gmail that contains appointments, birthdays, and weekend plans. Some weeks my husband and I are like two ships passing in the night, if it's not on the calendar , it doesn't happen.

I have a 1 year old with a few different baby sitters and nannies. I quickly realized that it was more effective to publish his developmental milestones and instructions once rather than remember who knew what. I didn't have time in the morning to bring someone up to speed. Babies change too quickly! So I created a Google Group especially for my son. Fondly known as "Jack's" Portal. I invited his caretakers to join and instantly had an group email address I could use to reach them all at once (which comes in handy when I need to send an emergency babysitting request). I use the Discussion Group to store eating habits, nap schedules, and important contact information.

I've also created a shared nanny/babysitting calendar where each person can self manage the dates they are available to watch my son. This gets me out of the business of managing a schedule and acting as middle man when someone needs to change days. It's brilliant! The caretakers just pick the dates that work best and add it to the schedule.

Thank you Google for giving me tools transferable between work and home life, that are practical, and easy to use!

Would love to hear comments on how your family uses technology to make life easier.

How to Improve Your Current Project: Comunicate

2009-10-07T21:39:00.002-05:00

How to Deliver Successful Projects: Have a Dialogue

2009-09-15T21:44:00.027-05:00

Talk, talk, talk, and then ... talk some more. You cannot talk enough when you're leading any type of change management effort. And that's what a technology project boils down to -- implementing a change to the way things are today. So how do you manage your change efforts? What should you talk about? And to whom should you talk? My company uses John Kotter's Eight Stages of Change as a framework for structuring the conversation with those involved in projects. Here are some guidelines for getting your conversations started.

Do your homework before you start talking ...
Create Urgency: You may have communicated the purpose of your project, but does it have teeth? Paint a picture of what happens if you don't complete the project. What happens if the status quo remains? And what are the benefits that can be realized when the project is done? Often the improvement is crystal clear to technologists, but murky for others. Especially if the project is something ambiguous to a non-technical business counterpart, such as an infrastructure upgrade or an information security tactic.

Create a Vision: Realized benefits are a great way to frame how your project will make the world a better place (at least the world inside the walls of your organization). Give thought to the bigger picture of your project, so that you can paint the "future state" for your stakeholders. Whether your project will result in internal or external customer facing deliverables, painting a picture -- early and often -- is critical for gaining acceptance.

Form a Guiding Coalition: Formally organizing internal support is extremely important, because it helps sow the seeds of change. We've all heard of steering committees. Well, let's put them to work. First, it's important to get the right people on-board -- those who will help you sow the seeds of change. Ask yourself: How can they help spread the message about the project vision? How can they help contribute to defining the vision, so that it speaks to and resonates with the needs of a particular business area or customer segment? A guiding coalition is important, but the team won't work without a sponsor, leader, or visionary enlisted for the long haul. This is the person continuously driving the vision forward and helping the project team stay the course.

Start Talking ...
Communicate the Vision: Talking about your vision isn't a one-time event done via a mass e-mail. You need a plan that identifies who, when, how, and how often they should hear your message. Look for opportunities to get your vision in front of people -- status meetings, town halls, or messages and alerts in an existing system of upcoming milestones. This is not only an opportunity to communicate, but also an opportunity to sell. And like it or not, your vision is for sale. Your buyers are the people impacted by the changes, and also those individuals whose help you need for the project to be a success.

Get others talking (and doing) ...
Empower Others to Act on the Vision: You may be wondering who is the "you" that I keep referring to in this post. It's anyone and everyone who has a role in contributing to the goals of the project. The guiding coalition helps define the vision and pushes it forward. But in order for the vision to be a reality, others need to get on-board. If people feel boxed in, not supported by management or peers, or lacking access to the necessary tools, your project will fail. Make sure the barriers are removed so others can act on your vision.

Plan for and Create Short Term Wins: This is a great way to start showing progress and proving your theories. It also helps everyone realize that their effort is valuable while keeping momentum going. Think about your project plans in terms of, "how quickly can I get something useful out?" "Useful" doesn't have to mean "perfect"; you can always fine tune later. But showing visible progress sooner, even with a few warts, will provide great insights early-on into what is really important to your stakeholders. This allows your team to correct the course sooner, so be sure to create a formal feedback process to capture stakeholder input.

Don't Declare Victory Too Soon, Sustain the Momentum for Change: We've all experienced it – the anticipation of the much celebrated release party. Celebrating milestones is important, but equally as crucial is being cautious to not signify "it's over". The real work begins when the initial visible change is released outside the project team. That's when things really get started and when it's important to keep up the momentum. Change isn't easy and it's not a static, one-time event.

Institutionalize The New Approaches: We call this "business as usual". If you are implementing something new (technology, process or both), you want it to become the new method of operation. Repetition and reinforcement makes something new feel natural, as if it was the way it had always been. So, you haven't talked enough until you feel like a broken record, and others are repeating your messages and finishing your sentences.

As always, looking forward to any comments and knowledge sharing on the topic!

RBAC...Why Bother? 4 Reasons to Start an RBAC Program Today

2009-09-02T20:42:00.021-05:00

Role Based Access Control (RBAC) is the process of granting people within similar job functions the same access to resources (systems, data etc..) required to do their job. The concept centers on putting into business friendly terms the logical grouping of resource access. These resource access groupings are called "roles". It's a daunting task when you consider all the various systems that can exist within an enterprise - there are the common applications everyone uses like email, the company portal, conference scheduling systems. And the one-offs that are very specific to performing a job function - HR payroll processing apps, CRM tools for Sales personnel, other business specific applications... So why do it? What are the benefits?

Simplification

The process of ensuring that new hires have access to what they need when they need it on day one is not easy. Often it requires several system set up requests before the right access is granted. Not to mention decomposing what someone else in a similar job function has access to. Wouldn't it be easier to have access automatically granted based on the job function someone is in? It's not an "auto-magic" process. There is upfront work involved in establishing the link between job function and system access needs. But once it's done (and the maintenance process is established) the on-boarding of new hires and department transfers becomes a lot easier and quicker.

Action: Get a sense for how much work you are in for. Look at a slice of the enterprise - one job function within one business unit or department. Analyze the system access granted to a few people within the same job function.

Consistency

Even if you know what access is required to do your job the process for getting that access established may vary. You make a phone call to so-and-so to get access to system A, send an email to a mail group to get access to system B, and submit a request through an intranet based system to get access to system C. Sound familiar? With all of these disconnected and differing processes for granting access, how can an organization know that the appropriate scrutiny is being applied to verifying who SHOULD have access to certain applications and information? Is the same approval required for all resource access? In an RBAC environment the role setup process is defined and can evolve as necessary. Based on the specific requirements of an organization the proper controls required for assigning access by job function area established and consistently applied each time that role is requested for a person. Ensuring the right level of approval is applied.

Action: Pick a set of applications and for each ask the question "Who needs to know who is accessing this application?". If the answer results in a Visio diagram, consistency is important.

Accountability

Central to an RBAC model is the governance. Governance takes the form of placing accountability for role definition with those most appropriate to validate what a role should have access to. For roles mapped to job functions that means accountability is placed within the business unit or department where that job function exists. Using business friendly terminology to link a system access permission to a job function is also key. Those accountable for making sure people in that role have what they need to need to understand what the underlying components of a role are.

Action: How easily understood is the system access terminology within your organization? Take one application and create business friendly descriptions to describe the access levels. This will kick start the analysis necessary for establishing a framework to maintain these business friendly descriptions.

Risk Mitigation

If it wasn't apparent already, all the of the above are risk mitigation tactics. The easier and more consistently something can be done, the more predictable the outcome. Predictability helps control risk. An RBAC model reduces the risk that inappropriate access is granted to or retained by someone that shouldn't have it. RBAC is a key control in information protection.

What benefits has your organization seen from an RBAC? implementation?

How Mature Is Your Identity Management Program?

2009-08-21T00:38:00.003-05:00

Identity Management maturity can be defined by 4 levels that include aspects of people, process, and technology. Because of this, moving along the continuum requires the commitment of senior leadership to support the organizational changes required. The following presentation summarizes the framework for determining maturity and provides suggestions for advancing between levels.

Identity Managment Maturity Model

View more presentations from kmanthey.

Stop Wasting Money Writing System Requirements

2009-08-20T10:13:00.009-05:00

IT has long been looked to as the technical solution providers for business problems. But the assumption that often is made is that the business problem is already well understood and the business processes that drive the technical requirements are known....by someone. I continually run into the situation where a team is beginning the business requirements definition effort and developing system Use Cases only to discover it's not that straightforward. The entire business process that the technology will support has not been thought through and there are gaps in knowledge around some areas of the business process. How can this be addressed before valuable time and money are wasted spinning on requirements? Here are a few suggestions:

Every IT project should start with business process definition. It's no longer IT's responsibility to only handle the system requirements definition side of the equation. Start thinking in terms of process steps, roles, and responsibilities. Once these are defined the role of the system and how it should behave becomes more clear. The same skill set that it takes to identify system requirements is highly transferable to defining business process. Stakeholder engagement, meeting facilitation, communication skills, clear concise documentation abilities are all the qualities of solid business AND process analyst.

Run an agile project. By adopting the basic principles and philosophy of the agile scrum framework your team can get to "doing" faster with "just enough" documentation in place to make it productive. Once the business process is well understood, create a backlog with the goals the system should allow each type of system user to achieve. Define requirements in more detail as part of each development sprint. Start the sprint with a few upfront requirements tasks then continue to refine the requirements as a team through the build-demo-adapt process. The role of the BA in the demo meetings is to capture requirements and decisions made. By the end of each sprint you can have a requirements document that matches exactly what was built. This avoids spending months in lengthy requirements gathering sessions trying to predict in excruciating detail today how you want the system to work a few months from now.

These are a few ideas that have worked well on my projects. Join the conversation! What are you doing that's worked well(or not so well)?

SaaS - Making the Right Choice for Your Company

2009-08-12T15:13:00.018-05:00

Software as a Service (SaaS) is gaining more ground as a viable option for addressing IT needs in all sizes of companies. No longer looked at by only SMBs as the low cost alternative to expensive custom software solutions. Before you jump into a SaaS solution, it's important to do your homework, both on the SaaS provider and within your own company. Here are a few things to consider:

Know what SaaS is (and is not)
In basic terms, SaaS is subscription based software accessible over a network (i.e. the Internet). The SaaS vendor assumes maintenance responsible for all hardware and software components. The obvious benefit is that a company or subscriber gets the functionality they need without the IT overhead associated with an in-house application - hardware costs and maintenance, software support. The downside is that the customer does loose some control. As a customer you may be limited to the customization options available within the base software solution. You also need to be aware about how your data is stored and how accessible it is to you.

The SaaS Vendor's Maturity
In a recent Forrester research report, SaaS vendor maturity can be defined as:

Level 0: Outsourcing is not SaaS. In outsourcing, a service provider operates a major application or a unique application landscape for a large enterprise customer. As the outsourcing company can't leverage this application for a second customer, outsourcing does not qualify as SaaS.

Level 1: Manual ASP business models target midsize companies. At level 1, a hosting provider runs packaged applications like SAP's ERP 6.0, which require significant IT skills, for multiple midsize enterprises. Usually, each client has a dedicated server running its instance of the application and is able to customize the installation in the same way as self-hosted applications.

Level 2: Industrial ASPs cut the operating costs of packaged applications to a minimum. At level 2, an ASP uses sophisticated IT management software to provide identical software packages with customer-specific configurations to many SMB customers. However, the software package is still the same software that was originally created for self-hosted deployment.

Level 3: Single-app SaaS is an alternative to traditional packaged applications. At level 3, software vendors create new generations of business applications that have SaaS capabilities built in. Web-based user interface (UI) concepts and the ability to serve a huge number of tenants with one, scaleable infrastructure are typical characteristics. Customization is restricted to configuration. Single-app SaaS adoption thus focuses on SMBs. Salesforce.com's CRM application initially entered the market at this level.

Level 4: Business-domain SaaS provides all the applications for an entire business domain. At level 4, an advanced SaaS vendor provides not only a well-defined business application but also a platform for additional business logic. This complements the original single application of the previous level with third-party packaged SaaS solutions and even custom extensions. The model even satisfies the requirements of large enterprises, which can migrate a complete business domain like "customer care" toward SaaS.

Level 5: Dynamic Business Apps-as-a-service is the visionary target. Forrester's Dynamic Business Application imperative embraces a new paradigm of application development: "design for people, build for change." At level 5, advanced SaaS vendors coming from level 4 will provide a comprehensive application and integration platform on demand, which they will prepopulate with business applications or business services. They can compose tenant-specific and even user-specific business applications on various levels. The resulting process agility will attract everyone, including large enterprise customers.

Your Requirements:
How flexible are they? Do you know what your must-haves are? The benefits of many SaaS options can also be a drawback if you haven't taken the time figure out what you are really looking for. There are often limited customization abilities and some of your business processes may require specialized features/functionality. Make sure your business process is well defined and understoond before looking at vendors. Regardless of how flexible your business process is there are always a few requirements that must be met.

Vendor Evaluation Criteria:
Give careful thought to the specifics you will rate a SaaS vendor against. Categories that should be part of any SaaS vendor evaluation include (but are not limited to):

Price

Alignment with functional requirements and business process requirements

Useability

Technical Requirements such as
–Security
–Data Storage and Accessibility
–Disaster Recovery
–Custom Reporting
–Integration
–Customization

Support SLAs

Professional Services

Vendor Viability

Regulatory Compliance

Before you make an investment in a SaaS solution, do your homework and take the time to internally discuss what your must-haves are. Having a clear idea of the business problems a SaaS solution should address will make the selection process more clear.

I'd love to add to this list of SaaS vendor considerations. What was helpful in your SaaS vendor evaluation?

What is a Solstice Consultant?

2009-07-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

Identity Management: How to Get Started

2009-06-05T16:01:00.015-05:00

We are in a constant state of change. Mergers and acquisitions, re-orgs, new hires, and terminations are creating a lot of change to keep track of. This is creating new opportunities for information security threats. It's difficult to control all the pieces. To further add to the complexity, the workforce is changing. Workers expect remote capabilities, are collaborating in virtual teams, and teams are made up of internal employees, external contract/temporary workers and strategic business partners. Physical walls don't exist anymore making it even more difficult to control things. Identity Management (IdM) solutions can help companies manage change and control the chaos.

What Is Identity Management

View more OpenOffice presentations from kmanthey.

In the simplest terms, Identity Management is the process by which user access is assigned to technology assets (hardware, software, services, files, collections of data etc..). This process can be done manually, automated, or some combination of both.

In environments where the people and technology assets are constantly changing it’s important to have the right controls in place for ensuring that the right people have access to the right information at the right time. So... are you ready to get started? Here are some guidelines to get the ball rolling:

Develop a Business Process Driven Solution
Good Identity Management solutions are business process driven, not IT driven. Meaning, the processes for creating and maintaining identities should align with the on-boarding and off-boarding processes already in place. Or the way you want the processes to work. It should also support the full scope of "people" within your organization i.e. employees, temporary workers, customers, business partners. Different types may require different processes. A well thought through IdM process considers how the following will be executed:

1. Identity creation and maintenance – the creation and assignment of an identity entity to an actual person.
2. Access Request – the information required to determine the access to grant an identity
3. Approvals –those required to approve requests for access to information
4. Provisioning – the actual granting of access to the identity
5. Certification - the periodic review and validation of access granted to an identity

Identify Your Data Sources
The only way to protect the information is to know where the information resides. Identify the critical information, determine ownership, and begin the process of cleaning the data. Start with the highest risk areas first to manage scope. It’s easier said than done but it’s a critical first step.

Secure the Right Support
Identity Management has to be a strategic priority to be successful. It’s going to require funding, at some point, and people’s time – outside their normal day-to-day responsibilities - to make IdM successful. You can’t get buy-in for something that’s not well understood. Educate people on what IdM is and speak in terms that are meaningful to them. How will this make their job easier? How will it make them get from point A to B faster? Don’t expect people to make the leap on their own to connect all the dots. Make sure executives and management understand the benefits and what’s involved. Give them the information they need to evangelize the solution.

Create an Oversight Function
IdM is not something that get's implemented and hums on it's own. Like most processes it takes care and feeding. It takes someone focusing on the big picture and periodically assessing how well all of subprocesses are working together and when changes are needed. This function maintains the requirements of the IdM solution and see that the solution evolves with the needs of the business.

Develop an Onboarding Process
Consider how you handle bringing new access permissions and applications into the process on an on-going basis. Define the work required to on-board a new application and the resources required to make it happen.

Evaluate Automation Tools
Based on the needs of your organization, consider the technologies that exisit to automate the access request process and automate the provisioning of access. Or is a custom built solution more fitting? More to come in a future blog on the IdM vendor landscape, how to pick the right tool, and determining buy vs. build.

Identity Management is a growing space that has become even more important in today's regulatory environment. Review these guidelines with your organization in mind. Take what seems appropriate and adapt it to your situation.

Something to think about.....

2009-06-03T09:44:00.001-05:00

Managers manage a budget, leaders inspire innovation.

Win an iPod Touch!

2009-06-02T21:34:00.001-05:00

Win an iPod Touch!!! Solstice Consulting is conducting a social media experiment and we want your participation. Our goal is to get 500 fans added to the Solstice Consulting Facebook fan page in the next 5 days. What's the hook?? Besides staying in the loop on all the latest and greatest Solstice news and being part of an elite fan club, all those that become a fan are eligible to win one of 3 iPod Touches! The winners will be announced on the Solstice Facebook Fan page on Monday June 8th. Click here to become a fan of Solstice Consulting: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Chicago-IL/Solstice-Consulting/80947639113

Evolving Your Identity Management Program

2009-06-02T21:19:00.004-05:00

Not able to attend my presentation at Financial Information Security Decisions on June 9th in NYC? Check out what I'll be talking about:

Evolving Your Identity Management Program

View more OpenOffice presentations from kmanthey.

Doing More with Less

2009-04-30T10:42:00.009-05:00

WITH COST CUTTING EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS, PRIORITIZING IT SPEND HAS BECOME MORE CRITICAL THAN EVER.

To survive, IT managers need to find creative ways to meet customer expectations while keeping an eye on the bottom line. Many companies look at Open Source, SaaS and the Cloud for alternative software/hardware/development solutions to achieve strategic goals.

Yes, there are still some negative perceptions associated with implementing these options within the enterprise. Security, support, and customization capabilities are a few of the concerns that top the list. However, if a thoughtful decision making process is followed when working with these solutions, the perceived risks pale in comparison to the cost-benefit realization.

In a recent blog post my colleague has offered up some great guidelines for choosing the right low-cost or free technology alternative for your enterprise. We are also publishing some guidelines for ensuring that you a thoughtful decision making process is followed. Stay tuned or send me an email (kmanthey@solstice-consulting.com) if you’d like an advance copy.

So while Open Source, SaaS, and Cloud based solutions gain momentum as viable options for the enterprise, no matter the technical solution, the question of business impact and the costs associated with transitioning the enterprise from old to new needs to be considered. What can you do to minimize end-user impact when implementing these technical alternatives? Read on….

First, change the things the end users never see. Dip your toes in the water by transitioning lowest level infrastructure pieces first. Transitioning to an open source database solution or building a testing environment in the cloud are not likely changes that end-users will notice.

Take a lesson from Google…use the beta labeling to your advantage. When introducing a new technology look to your end-users are co-creators. Acknowledge that it’s not perfect yet but with some help from those that use it most it can be. The effect of end-users seeing their suggestions become functionality will be infectious. The positive internal PR generated by these people will help promote the tool, ease it’s adoption by others, and help bring a more intuitive application to the enterprise that in-turn requires less hand-holding and end-user training.

Enlist champions and give them responsibility. You can use beta labeling to organically create product champions or you can identify and enlist people upfront. Whatever your trying to implement –an OSS application server, SaaS CRM tool, or whatever – identify people from the stakeholder community that can help sow the seeds of change within their area of influence. Give the champions the responsibility of helping their functional area/business unit embrace and understand the new technology. You’ve now gained subject matter experts in each area that can lend the personal touch to helping with adoption issues.

Thoughtfully embracing low/no-cost technology alternatives coupled with strategies for leveraging your own resources to minimize end-user impact creates an unbeatable value proposition.

How are you being creative about your IT solutions so that you can achieve your goals while going easy on the budget?

The Art of Software Development

2009-04-02T22:38:00.008-05:00

My company and our consultants have been using Scrum and Agile techniques on both internal and client projects for years. Our adoption has been in an ad-hoc manner and often times behind the scenes without anyone knowing that's what we were doing. Things just got done. I have had the pleasure of taking 2 days to formally learn the Scrum framework and become a certified scrum master. I am using the training to pull all the techniques together and gain a better understanding of how to best use the Scrum theory of delivery with my client projects. During the training I had an "AH HA" moment (as Oprah puts it) - software/product development is an art NOT a science! The principles of scrum center on communication, collaboration, and using a feedback loop with stakeholders to produce a quality product in a short period of time. Notice I didn't mention anything about stages, gates, documentation, or sign-off. Not that a paper trail can't be produced along the way but Scrum is more about focusing team energy on getting a usable product out the door than hashing through getting the right requirements in a document. With Waterfall there is a certain amount of risk mitigation built into the formality of the sign-off process. If the requirements are written down and stakeholders sign-off, the risk of not getting requirements right shifts from the development team to the stakeholders. From the development team's perspective "They (the stakeholders) told us what they wanted and here's the proof". In Scrum people collaborate and come up with the requirements together. The stakeholders provide some high-level product requirements/priorities to set the direction and the team uses demos and stakeholder feedback to make sure they get it right. It's so simple and uncomplicated! The Scrum Master is really more team psychologist than Project Manager. Tasked with enabling each individual team member to speak his mind and foster a sense of shared ownership to complete the team's goal. Not pouring over the Help documentation in MS Project to figure out how to do resource leveling. Team members and stakeholders (via the Product Owner) get to communicate directly instead of through the formality of requirements documents and change requests. Imagine what is possible when everyone is collaborating and developing solutions together. All the innovation that the different perspectives can bring! I'll admit, I may be a little drunk on the Scrum kool-aid right now, but what were thinking taking the human element out of software development and communicating through documentation that quickly gets outdated?

Agile or Waterfall - What is your company doing?

2009-04-02T22:25:00.003-05:00

Take my LinkedIn Poll and let me know your thoughts:
http://polls.linkedin.com/p/30879/kgncy

What I've Learned

2009-02-17T13:37:00.017-06:00

So I've been talking to thought leaders, technologists, and subject matter experts in Identity and Access Management for a little over a month now. I wanted to share some of what people are telling me. In researching the answer to how IT can help the business embrace IAM and sell the value, a few common themes have emerged. Here's a sneak peak:

IT should lead and wants to lead - no one denies IAM projects are technically complex and, frankly, not that interesting to the business. Most folks I talked to agreed that it's the role of IT, more specifically Information Security teams, to explain the risks of not doing the work and talk about the benefits in terms of value to the customer

Technology doesn't solve problems...people do - business process drives what IAM technology supports. If your identity administration processes were unclear and lacking accountability prior to implementing a new technology, your process gaps will only become more painful rolled into a slicker workflow technology. Devote the time to define processes, include the right people in process design, and establish process ownership.

Perception is reality - if people don't see the value right out of the gate, IAM initiatives can can be viewed as just another "IT project" guzzling capital dollars. Involve those impacted right from the start, give them a voice in how the solution evolves, ask them to get others on board by helping to sell the value within their own functional areas.

More to come.....it's getting interesting........

IDENTITIES ARE PEOPLE TOO

2009-01-05T11:16:00.010-06:00

There’s a people side of the equation that’s all too often overlooked when companies implement a new IT solution and expect it to be embraced. The people impacted may not want to use it because they don’t know how or they don’t fully understand the value. Sound familiar?

I have spent the past two years working in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) space – more specifically the user Administration and Auditing aspects of IAM. These areas of IAM allow for the requesting, approval, granting or provisioning, and verification of system access for an identity. When you consider that these aspects of IAM are the most visible to the organization and have a direct impact on the ability to carry out day-to-day responsibilities, it seems that any improvements to these processes and technologies would be embraced. However, this isn’t always the case.

How many business folks really understand IAM and how these concepts impact them? IAM can be very ambiguous to those on the business side, and therefore just not that easily embraced.

Identity and Access Management projects are most often driven by technology departments. Business sponsorship may be weak or completely non-existent. Business drivers aren’t always well communicated. The actual "people" impacted by IAM initiatives are often forgotten as the concepts and terminology of IAM are more technology focused. The constant reference to “identities” instead of “people” can further de-humanize the IAM effort.

The outcome of an IAM project should be viewed as a win-win for both the IT and business sides of an organization. Information Security has a centralized point for maintaining the "keys to the kingdom" and the business users are provided with a slick web interface and processes for requesting system access, as well as ensuring access remains current.

But when and how should the "win-wins" be communicated? And, am I accurate in suggesting that this communication will make or break the success of an IAM implementation?

To support an article on this topic I am writing for industry publications, I'd like to solicit your comments and help me to find answers to these questions:

1. What role does the IT organization play in breaking down the techie speak and ambiguity associated with IAM?
2. How can IT help sell the value of IAM to the business users?
3. How can business engagement be secured and maintained throughout an IAM effort?

The goal of my research is to define best practices for overcoming these implementation issues, helping to make IAM initiatives successfully deployed across the enterprise.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

CH,CH,CH,CH, Changes......

2008-02-27T09:33:00.008-06:00

I recently made an observation in my daily work life, 9 times out of 10 I am the only female in the meetings at work. I am a project manager for an enterprise system implementation. I have a 21 person team and only 3 women are on the team (including myself). So I started to wonder if this was just my experience or if this is a wider norm. I polled a few trusted (male) pals and they shared experiences that contradicted mine. In fact, my polling prompted a discussion on the following topics:

the seemingly male dominated IT world - perception or reality?
the dynamics of a the working relationship between males and females vs. same sex workplace interactions
and the future of application development (and IT in general) with the looming certainty of total offshore development.

Each of these topics really peaks my interest and I plan to devote several blogs to exploring each. I would love to hear any initial thoughts to get my creative juices flowing.

Always Know "Why"

2008-02-22T23:24:00.008-06:00

I had the pleasure of having a conversation with the CIO of a leading fortune 500 company at a recent LEGG event. I was immediately struck by his attitude and philosphy toward leading his organization. When I asked him what his biggest challange is he said "getting business engagement and the expectation from the business that IT can fix their problems". He told me that he coaches his team to "always know why". It's the responsibility of the business to determine the best solution to their problem, it's the resposibility of IT to design technology that automates and facilitates executing that solution. He teaches his team to keep asking questions of the business until they have the solution. IT should feel comfortable drawing the line in the sand between the business's role and IT's role on a project.

Are you a CALM person?

2008-01-14T10:32:00.000-06:00

Change is difficult. What makes it difficult is often the change to a normal routine that follows. At the root of this is how we deal with change as individuals.

Whether it's a job change, situation at work, or an unexpected life even the question to ask yourself is -"how can I get in control of the change?". Once the change happens and the impact is felt, think about how you can get in control. When we are in control we take ownership for results - both positive and negative. Ownership means that things aren't happening to us anymore, we are making them happen. The key is to stay CALM:

C - Get in Control

A - Adapt to the environment

L - Learn something from the situation

M - Maintain yourself

Those that look at a forced change as a catalyst for opportunity know how to stay CALM. They quickly adapt to the situation and take control by getting into the driver's seat of their own destiny. The change is an opportunity to learn and not a catastrophe to weather. A person in control maintains a certain status quo and isn't on an emotional roller-coaster often associated with the uncertainty of change.

Find your "back edge"

2008-01-03T17:13:00.000-06:00

I learned to snowboard 3 years ago. At first it was by choice but succeeding at it was purely based on survival. A colleague who ended up turning into my best friend first introduced the sport to me. Watching from the bottom of the mountain it looked so simple. Much less complex than skiing. Skiers have all those moving parts - 2 skis, 2 poles. Boarders strap on and glide down the mountain. Pretty straightforward stuff. Not to mention the selection of cool gear. So to the bunny hill I went for my lesson. And what a slap in the face, literally, I encountered. I couldn't stay up. Once I got some speed I was too afraid to keep going. I fell backwards, forwards, sideways, and walked uphill for many weeks during my first snowboard season. All the while my friends were having a blast and not breaking a sweat. I was so tired, sore, and frustrated. I convinced myself I just wasn't cut out for this. But I kept going. Why did I keep trying? Because I didn't want to get left behind on the mountain all by myself! I didn't want to miss out on the good times my friends were having on the mountain. So I tagged along that first season, usually the last one down the mountain, the one everyone waited for, the one my friends took turns looking out for. And I took it one step at a time. When you are in the back of the pack you get to see what other's are doing. I mimicked what everyone else was doing. Once I was comfortable staying vertical on the board I had to tackle my fear of speed. I learned to love the back edge of my board. I could ride down any trail on the back edge to control my speed. There I was on a double black diamond full of moguls plowing down hill on my back edge. I wasn't snowboarding, I was surviving. Long story short, I did learn to really ride. By the end of the season I was carving and comfortable with speed. Since then I have tackled some of the finest mountains in Utah and Vermont. And I now have a hobby that I can say with confidence I am good at and I truly love. No more back of the pack rider. I don't worry about the terrain ahead anymore because I know I can handle anything as long as I use my back edge. In life, work, and love I have learned to bring this same philosophy to many situations. Who knows what lies ahead, but if you find the back edge to help you manage through it you'd be amazed what you can accomplish.

The Enterprise as a Social Network

2007-09-27T22:10:00.001-05:00

How will social networking be embraced within the enterprise? The enterprise is already a network of sorts bringing people together that all share the objectives and goals of the enterprise. People are coming together online outside of the work place to share common interests and opinion. Why not carry this over to the enterprise as a way to build collaboration across teams? One of the key success factors in popular social networks is organic growth. Let your end-users determine the reason connect. In an enterprise, they already have at least one common reason to connect......they showed up for work at the same place! But if the enterprise provides a platform for social networking will people use it? And should there be standards in place to use these networking tools as management and communication tools for a project? Project success or failure can be directly tied to the strength of the communication across a project. I am anxious to see how companies start using the tools that work so well outside of the office within the enterprise.

Add Market Research to your Project Plan

2007-09-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

The number one mistake I see repeated time and time again is the project team assuming, within a vacuum, they already know what’s important to the end-user/consumer of a technology or a process.

A project equals a change within an organization. Whether you are talking about a new process or new technology it’s a change. The most effective change management strategies are those built on the basic principals of Marketing. The first rule of Marketing is “know your customer”. The same holds true when promoting your project. First, understand who the change impacts. Marketers do research before introducing a new product or message. They identify their target audience then talk to them to find out how they might use a new product or perceive a new message. In marketing this process of getting to know your customer is used to make what they are selling relevant to consumers. Conduct “market research” within your organization and get answers to:

Who does this project impact?
How is what the project will replace perceived today? What kind of baggage exists?
What are the issues today?
What are the real needs of those impacted?

Using a “Market Research” approach to engage those impacted during the planning phase of your project will help ease their transition into the new world and sets the stage for end-users to embrace the changes to come.

Think Outside the IT Box

2007-09-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

Complimenting the traditional system development lifecycle with the best practices in product and change management enables IT stakeholders to “swim further upstream” to understand the real goals of the business and to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that a new technology is required to accommodate.

The Product Development Lifecycle
Concept and Design -> Growth -> Maturity -> Decline

The following best practices, when applied during the first phase - Concept and Design, can be repeated in each phase of the product development lifecycle to ensure an alignment of vision and to keep the lines of communication between stakeholders open throughout the life of a product ( in the case of an IT project, product = system).

Step 1: Idea Generation Brainstorming

A pie-in-the-sky approach to getting to the real customer need.
Participants should include product owners (that represent the customer) and key IT stakeholders (those responsible for delivering the customer needs).
End-user Market Research should feed this process.
Benefits: This represents the initial alignment of business (those generating the demand/need) and IT (those fulfilling the demand and assessing feasibility)

Step 2: Create a Short List

The scope is narrowed from the brainstorm session.
Feasibility assessment is done
A formalized plan is developed for delivering product functionality.
Benefits: Further alignment of IT and the business; Clear and realistic delivery expectations.

Step 3: Proper Engagement in Concept Design and Development

Design and develop the new functionality.
This is where the IT project hits full capacity.
The Product Owner/Business should be engaged in each design and development iteration
Benefits: Further alignment of IT and the business; Continued product owner engagement allows for quicker remediation of unexpected changes to requirements; Further refines delivery expectations

Step 4: Promotion

Concurrent with design and development, the product owner/business should be promoting the new concepts/functionality to those impacted.
Benefits: Generates awareness and excitement about changes to come; Plants the seeds early with end-users and allows them to prepare; Presents the opportunity to establish and initiate the feedback loop with the larger end-user population.

Step 5: Testing

Formalized review and sign-off from product owner/business.
Benefits: Confirms what is delivered from IT meets product owner/business expectations.

Step 6: Roll-out

The new functionality is introduced outside the project team.
The next phase of the Product Development Life Cycle (Growth) is initiated with roll-out.
Benefits: The foundation for feeding the rest of the product development lifecycle has been established.

Quote

2007-08-27T19:36:00.001-05:00

"Good developers create good technical solutions to problems. Good consultants find that delicate balance between being themselves and not being themselves that enable them to get the job done for the client."