Wrap IT Up!

Transformation
There is always buzz at conferences when certain people are scheduled to speak and Cisco Live was no exception. This having been my first time in attendance I wasn't aware of some of the names being talked about at the snack stations, but a couple names continually came in conversation, one being Guillermo Diaz, SVP.CIO of Cisco. The ITM hall was filled when Guillermo took the stage for his "Harnessing the Power of Transformation and Why it's Good for Business and You" presentation. Guillermo is not an overly exaggerated bouncing around the stage kind of presenter, but quite the opposite. He has a very calm demeanor with what appears to be a genuine personality. Change and digital transformation continued to be the on-going topic and Guillermo and his guest speakers provided more takeaways worth noting below.

• IT is at the foundation of any business
• Change will happen by us, with us, to us
• Change is changing
• Digital transformation is the #1 thought of every manufacturer in the world
• 3% of the Cisco manufacturing budget is spent on sustained transformation and experimentation
• Transformation is not an event, but a perpetual leadership task
  

Each of the takeaways I have listed above could be broken down, discussed, and written about for quite some time. Take a little time to process and decide what they have in common, how do they relate to you as a leader, and your organization.

Captain Mike

The last keynote for the IT Management group was Captain Michael Abrashoff, motivational speaker and former commander of the USS Benfold. Michael is definitely an amazing speaker with a quick wit and experiences that are very relatable and inspirational. I quickly found common ground when he made a statement about getting caught up in trying to change things not in our control. He used an example that he could have blamed the Navy for giving him command of the lowest ranked ship in the fleet, but he knew that if things were going to change, he had to focus on what was in the crew and his control.
Often when things are difficult or in disarray we get caught up into looking for something or someone to blame things on, instead, look inward, evaluate, and focus.  

• Transformation is about putting yourself in the right position to control your own destiny
• Engage people to have the same sense of urgency as you have
• Provide sense of ownership
• Stop obsessing over what you can't change
• No one is a born leader, it's a lifelong journey
• Excellent without arrogance
• It's your ship (you'll have to read his book for this one ;)

Cisco Live A++

I had a great week at my first Cisco Live event and have many takeaways from both the product side and the leadership track. Combining both areas and learning about the operating strategies and road map of a 50 billion dollar company was educational and highly recommended. I look forward to the continued partnership with Cisco and our journey in Gilbert Public Schools with the implementation of Webex collaboration tools, transformation in the making. 

World of Solutions

Ask Chuck!
Another exciting start on Tuesday with Chuck Robbins, Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems, having an exclusive Q&A with the ITM group. Many CEO's of organizations as large as Cisco would shy away from this type of situation, but he did not, and answered all questions directly. His answers were filled with great takeaways, here are a few.

•  Find some place you love and work there
• If you want people to believe in the destination, they have to believe in you today
• Leaders are responsible for making sure the right strategy is built, then reverse the org chart and support the team

Cognitive Collaboration

I'm sure you are wondering if the day two keynote gathering started off with an amazing series of music and lights and the short answer is yes. If every gathering of employees could start off with this same pre-show, your staff morale would definitely improve :). However the light show wasn't the main reason, I was interested in listening to Amy Chang, the SVP/GM of Collaboration for Cisco Systems. One of the challenges in K-12 education in my view is finding ways for teachers to easily get out of the four walls of their classroom and connect with other educators, attend professional development, and collaborate efficiently. Gilbert Public Schools is beginning to implement Webex and the changes and integrations are of great interest right now to provide our end users the best experience possible. Amy is a dynamic speaker, has great energy and provided valuable information on the roadmap for Webex. I appreciated her statement that her team is building bridges not islands, as it reinforces my broken record phrase I like to use with my team, you can not be an island as it keeps growth from happening.   

The Abyss
If you have attended any large conference you have visited the sponsor area that can be overwhelming and often intimidating as you try not to make eye contact with the sea of vendors. I found the World of Solutions to be a nice mix of vendors and Cisco product area demonstrations and talks. I was able to speak with Google about their future Webex integration that will be key for our organization. Being a G Suite for education district, the integration with Webex would greatly enhance the collaboration ability for our teachers and staff. Another area of great interest is with Cisco's Room Kit products and a nice demonstration was done to highlight some of the capabilities. I also walked out with a couple pairs of socks, how can you go wrong!

Ready.....Go!

"You Make Possible"
My first day at Cisco Live was off to a great start with arriving for the opening keynote from Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, Chuck Robbins, to an exciting setup using what else but technology to choreograph music and lights to hype the crowd. Shortly into his address, he made the statement, "technology is at the heart of everything", which is hard to disagree with. A  number of top Cisco leaders spoke on different areas during the keynote presentation including enterprise networking, IoT, innovation in DNA center, and how AI and ML will assist with the complexity in our networks.

"Pace of Change"
As the day has quickly rolled on, the IT Management track fired up and has been filled with thought provoking sessions and speakers. One in particular that I enjoyed was Susan Gueli, SVP/CIO of Infrastructure & Operations and Digital Transformation & Enterprise Applications for Nationwide. She started with discussing the exponential pace of change by using a grain of rice example, which says to take a checkerboard and start with two grains of ride and double every other square and after 64 squares, she threw out a number I can't even pronounce, but let's just say you have lots of rice. It puts into perspective the challenges in front of us as we deal with the rapid pace that technology continues to change our landscape. Another takeaway from Susan's talk that I appreciated was "focus first on what you know, not what you don't know". Her point was to let what you know propel you forward and tackle the "what you don't know" along the way.

Girl Power

A first for Cisco Live was a group of high school girls from Arizona's Paradise Valley School District presenting on cyber security. Their knowledge and wisdom was very evident and one of the girls comments on how it is going to take the perspective from more than just one group of individuals to solve problems was very profound.   

Employee Tenure
The last session I attended today was Leading Talent in the Digital Age, presented by Steve Cadigan, Talent Expert, Collaborated End Users. Steve's a great public speaker and was very engaging in his delivery and content. His shared examples of today's workforce and the challenges with employee tenure were relevant and informative. One of Steve's examples of retaining employees was a company that reversed the bring your child to work day and instead had a bring your parents to work day. Think about that for a moment, he said the companies retention went up.

First BBQ: Cisco Live

Newbie

This year will be my first visit to Cisco Livc, taking place in cool San Diego, California! Although the dry AZ heat has not fully kicked in yet, the thermometer has been on the rise and it is always nice to visit any city on the coast. As you have probably already deduced from the post title, this is my first time attending Cisco Live and from what I have been told, it is a fun filled learning experience that should not be missed. 

The Track

Having attended ISTE for many years, another very large conference with more of an educational technology focus, I understand how easy it is to spend time aimlessly walking around lost if you don't have somewhat of a plan. Instead of spending endless hours looking through the session catalog I was given a tip to sign up for the IT Management Track as a starting point. This turned out to be a great piece of advice as the schedule actually fell very in line with sessions I would have chosen. The session filter has also been beneficial in filtering by category and allowing me to find collaboration and security sessions that I am interested in for this maiden voyage to the event. 

Keep Posted

I am going to do my best to post a daily update from the event as a way to do that quick reflection that is key to getting the most out of any event or professional development. With the enormous amount of content being presented this week, it is easy to be exposed to much and remember little, so use a system that works for you. 
In the short time I have been here I have already had the opportunity to build my very own lego dude, that is a sign of great things to come. #clus @CiscoLive 

Password Envy

123456

Marco Verch CC By 2.0

You guessed it, "123456" is the most commonly used password of 2017, followed by "password" in the runner-up spot. SplashData releases their annual list of the worst passwords based on their collection of over 5 million passwords leaked by hackers, according to a Fortune article posted in December of 2017. Although the 2017 list has been out for a while, it hardly changes from year to year and the struggle to educate users on a good password seems to never go away.

How Often?
Another piece of the password puzzle that is open for debate is how often should we change our passwords. A little research will show that best practices have moved over the years from every 30 days to 90 days and most recently in a released document by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, are recommending the removal of periodic password change requirements. Is it better to never require a password change or require frequent password changes that lead to habits that ultimately make our passwords meaningless? We all know the quickest way to retrieve a password in an office or classroom setting is to first check for the sticky note under the keyboard or in the top drawer of the desk. One step better is when the password is written in Sharpie on the bottom of the keyboard, and if there is a requirement to change passwords often, the previous passwords are crossed out with the newest in plain sight.

Passphrase or Password?
Another practice that NIST recommends moving away from is complex passwords with multiple special characters and number combinations. Extending the number of characters to 64 and encouraging the use of a passphrase to make it easier for the user to remember a passphrase unique to them. I agree with the logic behind this recommendation, however, it must be accompanied with some basic rules to ensure that the passphrase isn't easily compromised by context clues around the user's desk or office. A quote on the wall or a sticky note with my favorite animal in the desk drawer can still be a give away for someone physically looking for a password.

CC BY-NC 2.0 Duncan C

Weakest Link
There are numerous studies that show people are the weakest links in cybersecurity breaches. Generic passwords, standard new user account passwords, not having a way to require global password changes, and the lack of password education are all areas that we need to address. Each area has its own unique set of challenges but starting with our organization's users will provide a strong front line of defense in the cybersecurity battle. Don't wait, have the conversation today! 

Island Life

Tropical Paradise
I want to talk about island life for a moment and full disclosure, I have never lived on a remote island, so no offense to those who have. Living on a remote tropical island really sounds good though, at least for a short amount of time, but long-term, being on an island can become isolating. Not interacting with others, sharing, and working alongside peers that challenge you, will keep us from growing as individuals and we can become stale.

Stay Fresh
It is easy to become isolated on internal islands within our own technology departments. With the grind that comes with answering help desk tickets and trying to maintain normal daily responsibilities while pushing ahead with additional projects, communication between our peers becomes increasingly more difficult. If we layer on top of that the rapid pace that technology changes and the amount of content generated on a daily basis, the island starts feeling like a safe place to be. We all know however that isolation will not help us solve the problems in front of us, keep us fresh with new ideas, and increase collaboration amongst our peers to better serve our students and staff. 
 

PLN Strong
The concept of a professional learning network has been around for quite some time now and still, in my opinion, the most effective way to connect with peers. The power of a PLN is the informal manner that a person can participate, share content as well as consume, and take advantage of a global community. Having a staff that has strong PLN's will benefit our internal technology teams that often struggle with getting out and allows that isolated island feeling to creep in. Although the PLN and PLC terminology is synonymous with teachers and administrators, there is a vast community of technology-related professionals waiting to connect. A few places to connect with other technology-related professionals.

• Twitter: Search hashtags, ie. #itdirector, #networkadministrator, #datasecurity, #programmer
• LinkedIn
• COSN: Consortium for School Networking
• ISTE: International Society for Technology in Education
• State and local listservs 

Creative Time
I am not sure that creative time is a thing, my point here is that time is the magical piece that there is never enough of. Instead of using the old saying that you will find time for what is important, be creative with time and find different ways to get together other than the traditional meeting. A recent post on Engage, an employee engagement blog, on "7 Fun Ways to Host Team Meetings", points out a variety of simple common sense ways to make meetings not boring. Three of my favorites are mentioned below that I have added some ideas on how to make these easily happen with minimal time involved in preparation. 

• Use grouping: We know birds of a feather flock together right, so instead of having everyone count off from 1-5 then split up, which is boring, pass out different pieces of candy to everyone when they arrive and find their table of like sugary fun. Substitute anything you would like if candy isn't your thing. 
• Change the scenery: This one is very self-explanatory and why not meet at the local coffee shop, nothing makes a meeting more enjoyable than sitting in a comfortable chair with an iced coffee. One notable mention here is as the leader, you need to reassure your leadership team that this is OK. Let them know your expectations, traveling an hour across town to a nice speakeasy is probably not what counts as productive for most organizations. 
• Switch up positioning: This is similar to grouping in moving people out of their comfort zone by not having them sit in the same exact chair every week. Here is where you need to lead by example, the next time you walk into the meeting room, you start it off by sitting in a different spot every time. If we expect others to venture out of their comfort zone, we must lead by example.
  
  

Sharing is Caring

I would love to hear what others are doing with their staff for staying fresh, building their PLN's and being creative with time. Leave a comment, tag me on Twitter @jcastelhano, share the great things you are doing!

Soft Skills vs Tech Skills

Dark Cave

One of the most common things I have heard from business owners about high school students is the lack of soft skills they possess. The technical skills are there and they can learn, but it is difficult to teach the soft skills. The issue is not specific to high school students, but in the tech world, that generalization has been there for many years. The dark caves stories that make up an IT shop exists for a reason, many are like that. If you only know that your help desk ticket goes into a secret cyberspace and eventually someone assists without any human contact, is a giveaway that your IT department is operating under the dark cave model. This model does not promote soft skill expectation or development.

Tech Savvy?

Make no mistake, hard or technical skills are necessary to keep any environment running smoothly for the end users. Problem-solving, project management, coding, and technical writing are all important hard skills that make this possible. Under good leadership, mentoring, and training, these hard skills can be learned by a motivated person. The question becomes can someone be taught the soft skills necessary to balance and provide the best customer support possible to the end user? In January this year, LinkedIn released the "The Skills Companies Need Most in 2018-And The Courses to Get Them". Top four soft skills include leadership, communication, collaboration and time management. According to LinkedIn, 57 percent of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills, makes sense in a customer service focused environment. 

Organizational Chart     

We know the dark cave model does not work in today's world, but what organizational structure best works for an IT department to provide the best end-user support with customer support as the ultimate goal? If we are working to shed the stereotype of the dark cave, then our IT team needs to be visible and accessible to the end users. So where do we start with setting the customer service expectations desired?

Job Description
When researching job descriptions recently for technicians that are in the field with our end users I noticed that technical skills are still the priority. It was not until I searched for "customer care representative" that I found the soft skills listed on job descriptions that are needed for any technology department to be successful. If we are going to set an expectation that relationships are the number one priority for our teams, then soft skills should be on the top of any application.

• Positive attitude
• Build and maintain positive relationships with students, staff, and stakeholders
• Go the extra mile to engage end users
• Greet customers warmly 
• Customer orientation and ability to adapt/respond to different types of users
• Resolve end-user issues via an in-person visit, phone, help desk, or email, based on the individual needs of the user

Get Out
It is not a new concept that creating an environment that places end-user support at sites, allows access and relationships to develop between end users and technical services support. Knowing that shoulder to shoulder support is nearby is comforting for those that still feel they are not good with technology and at the same time gives the early adopters a place to bounce ideas and be innovative knowing someone has their back when needed.

Soft skills and relationships are not an option, they are key to a successful customer care environment. Take the time and step out of the dark cave and look around, you may find it is a great place to be!