‘Work’ postings
AURIL 2010 – Some Brief Notes
by andystew on October 7, 2010
Apologies if I misrepresent any of the talks given today :-S
Colin Whitehouse gave the first main talk of the day about building a critical mass of research expertise to drive forward innovation and investment. He spoke about individual universities having small pockets of expertise here and there, which alone may struggle to deliver real benefit. By bringing those pockets of expertise (and therefore experiences) together in one place you begin to build a critical mass resulting in innovation and investment. Colin has done exactly that at the STFC with the North West Development Agency, Lancaster University, the University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool and Halton Borough Council. This co-location and open innovation model was seen as highly ambitious but has delivered on what it set out to do.
Chris Hale (Universities UK) then provided us with his thoughts on the challenges facing Higher Education in the tough economic climate we find ourselves. As you’d imagine Universities UK are interested in efficiency, an area I believe they should be working closely with JISC on. JISC could feed in their findings from the Flexible Service Delivery programme, particularly around Shared Services, allowing the Universities UK to concentrate on other areas under that umbrella. There were lots of interesting thoughts during this presentation but it’s probably easier to wait for the presentation to be made available.
The RCUK introduced a requirement to discuss pathways to impact as part of their application process for funding nearly 18 months ago. Simon Jackman provided some findings from a review they’ve recently undertaken. Generally speaking poor bids had the following characteristics: no specific deliverables; bids weren’t project specific, generally seen as routine activities that would happen anyway; and activities were too narrowly focused. There still appears to be major issues within Universities with regards to rewarding a mentality that focuses on impact. Various delegates highlighted the need for Knowledge Transfer Specialists to be on the RCUK board (I’m not sure if it was the main board or a sub-committee).
Neil Lee battled through some technical problems which really didn’t affect his presentation at all. That said it was a little grim, reinforcing problems resulting from the current economic climate. He did however highlight that Higher Education is key to driving innovation forward and therefore the British economy. He voiced his concern that public cuts will destroy the infrastructure we’ve worked so hard to build, Knowledge Transfer being the umbilical chord tying public research to the private sector. An interesting question was raised towards the end of the session regarding the amount of private sector contracts funded by public sector organisations but no definitive answer was given.
The focus after lunch focused on Shared Services and the idea of sharing risk which made reference to the JISC study of Shared Services. 3 case studies were given although there was some discussion amongst our table as to whether they were examples of Shared Services. Given the definition “…the convergence and streamlining of the sector’s or parts of the sector’s functions to ensure that they deliver quality services as effectively and efficiently as possible, with potential for economies of scale and synergies through multi function working (such as the linking of human resources (HR) and Finance functions). Such services can be delivered wholly within an organisation or can be delivered by another organisation or through joint working” (JISC, 2010) I think you could argue two were but I’ll say no more.
After lunch I sat in on the JISC session looking at the management of information for strategic partnerships. Simon Whittemore (JISC BCE Programme Manager) provided a brief overview of JISC highlighting the support it offers in terms of innovation and services. Simon then explained the Business and Community Engagement (BCE) programme, a key aspect of which is knowledge transfer. That said the programme also focuses on three other dimensions (employer engagement, lifelong learning, public and civic engagement) and although all four can be quite different they all face similar challenges such as relationship/information management.
Hugh Look has been working on a piece of work looking at how online systems can help to promote research expertise. Hugh noted that university websites just aren’t very good at doing this. Generally speaking they’re monolithic beasts created with too many stakeholders in mind. I liked they way he described them as being built to represent university structures rather than for the needs of the user. The most effective ways of promoting research still remains open days, regional development agencies and other networks. Hugh mentioned that it might be more useful to highlight how-to information on university websites e.g. how to contact people and the types of agreements people might get involved with – supporting information. He mentioned that searchable expertise databases were useful.
Paul Hollins (JISC CETIS) gave an overview of the Self Analysis Framework developed by Nottingham University (Funded by JISC) to support FE/HE institutions through the complexities of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The framework focuses on Business Processes which was a key feature of discussions at the end of the session. Simon Whittemore noted that “CRM is a business philosophy, not a vendor system”. Another delegate highlighted the need to determine both the “As is” and “To be” state before even considering a system. It seems that this session will be followed up with a more focused half/full-day session.
Organising 27 x 15 Minute Bi-Weekly Meetings
by andystew on September 21, 2010
The Problem: How to organise 27 x 15 minute bi-weekly meetings effectively and efficiently.
You will need: an internet connection; a Google Calendar; and if you want your personal/work calendar updated, Google Sync installed working 2 ways.
My Solution: YouCanBook.Me
After a few attempts with various tools, including Doodle and SuperSaaS, I settled on YouCanBook.Me. Doodle is a great tool for organising meetings and is a tool I’ll continue to use however I don’t find it easy to use to organise multiple meetings where only one person could choose a particular time slot. SuperSaaS allowed me to easily create time slots that individual projects could sign up for. But it was YouCanBook.Me that offered all this and easily synced with my Google Calendar and work calendar.
To get started go to the YouCanBook.Me website. Enter your Gmail or Apps address and click the ‘Go’ button. This will create a calendar for you that highlights all of your available time (anything you aren’t already marked down as busy for).
If you’re anything like me you won’t have time blocked out for everything but the great thing about YouCanBook.Me is that you can then set certain days when you’re available, change the length of time slots available, set a time when your day starts/ends and block out time for lunch.
It even has more advanced functions like the type of questions you want users to answer when they book a time slot with you. For the calendar I’ve created I’m asking for a contact telephone number or Skype username.
Once a user has booked a time slot with you, your Google Calendar is updated automatically, you receive an email update (to your Google Mail account) and they receive a confirmation email. There’s even a link for the user to cancel the booking if something crops up at the last minute. If you have Google Sync installed it also updates your personal/work calendar automatically. I’m seriously impressed with this service, it’s so simple to set up.
Thanks to: Sharon Perry, Kirstie Coolin, Doug Belshaw and SuperSaaS for your suggestions!
Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh B.C.E
by andystew on May 27, 2010
I’m at a cross programme meeting today learning and sharing information on employer engagement. Should be a great day with people from across UK further and higher education. If you haven’s seen it yet, I created a video for the day that gives an overview of business and community engagement. Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh B.C.E
Minute Taking with Google Docs
by andystew on May 19, 2010
I work in a team of three with quite a broad range of activities to undertake and so time is a precious commodity. We have a weekly team meeting where we discuss the latest news, updates and future commitments; with no administrative support to take notes and synthesise actions. Having a meeting that lasts an hour, sometimes taking the same again to write up and prepare for is an absolute waste of time.
To get around this problem our team began using Google Docs. We have one version of our minutes which is in perpetual beta (constant development). Our team updates this document as and when things happen during the week. When we get to the team meeting we have an almost complete document, and one that is much richer than quickly filling it in five minutes before the meeting is due to begin.
After an in-depth discussion about what we’ve been up to, we finalise the minutes with actions. A copy of the minutes is saved as a PDF and stored on a shared drive (or space). We name each file using the same naming convention YYYY MM DD ‘Team Name’ Team Meeting – Minutes.pdf, the reason being so that you can order by date neatly in folder view on the shared drive. This acts as a firm record for future reference although we could always use the history control if required ;-)
What is Project Management?
by andystew on May 16, 2010
Project management forms a major part of my working life. I started off as a “Techie” albeit pretty light touch with a focus on multimedia development, web design and usability. Working in a small team I needed to have a good understanding of the broad range of activities our service was involved with. Here and there I was asked to help out with projects before starting to manage them myself. I’m now part of a team that coordinates a range of larger projects (in some cases programmes themselves*) that form part of a larger programme (portfolio).
I’d really like to reflect on what I’ve learned in a series of blog posts and explore lessons I’ve learned to date. To start with I thought it was worth gathering a few definitions, albeit pretty well known. Please feel free to add any you might have using the comments facility below.
“Project: An enterprise carefully planned to achieve a particular aim, a piece of research work by a school or college student.
Management: The process of managing – be in charge of; run, supervise (staff), administer and regulate (resources), succeed in doing or dealing with, succeed despite difficulties; cope.”
(AskOxford.com, 2010)
“Project management is the process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled and delivered such that the agreed benefits are realised. Projects are unique, transient endeavours undertaken to achieve a desired outcome. Projects bring about change and project management is recognised as the most efficient way of managing such change.”
(Association for Project Management)
“…project management is not a ‘black art’, nor does it need to be a minefield of jargon and bureaucracy. Most of project management is plain, common sense…”
(JISC infoNet, 2009)
“Project management is much more than the tasks carried out by a project manager. Project management is a combination of the roles and responsibilities of individuals assigned to the project, the organisational structure that sets out clear reporting arrangements and the set of processes to deliver the required outcome. It ensures that everyone involved knows what is expected of them and helps to keep cost, time and risk under control.”
(The Office of Government Commerce – OGC, 2009)
“A management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case.”
(OGC, 2005, p.7)
“A temporary organisation that is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome or result at a prespecified time using predetermined resources.”
(OGC, 2005, p.7)
At a recent conference on Mediating Boundaries I had the fantastic opportunity of listening to Etienne Wenger who spoke passionately about 45 degree walkers and social artists which really captured my imagination. In essence people who can communicate effectively between senior management and operational personnel, and those that can really manage/facilitate change effectively. For me, these are key attributes of project managers and an area I’d like to investigate further.
If you closely analyse the definitions above there is a lot of repetition: temporary; change; unique; outcome; and the one I must emphasise, common sense. Something I’ve found over the past six years is that communication is vital. The 2009 OGC reference above pays particular attention to this and I really couldn’t agree more. The last point I’d like to make is that projects are fun! As many of the above definitions allude to; projects are unique, temporary structures to achieve a specific outcome that allow you to work with people you might otherwise have never met. To me that’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of.
*Pardon the PRINCE2/MSP blasphemy :-S
References
AskOxford (2010) Manage. Available at: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/manage?view=uk (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
AskOxford (2010) Management. Available at: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/management?view=uk (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
AskOxford (2010) Project. Available at: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/project?view=uk (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
Association for Project Management (No Date) Definitions. Available at: http://www.apm.org.uk/Definitions.asp (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
JISC infoNet (2009) What is Project Management? Available at: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/project-management/index_html (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
The Office of Government Commerce (2005) Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2. 2005 edn. TSO (The Stationary Office).
The Office of Government Commerce (2009) Project Management. Available at: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/delivery_lifecycle_project_management.asp (Accessed: 6 May 2010).
