Actually, that title is misleading. Summer school Session I starts soon after Spring semester…

Anyway the theme for this quick post is “Summer.” It’s a crucial time for us here at Technology Services (that’s going to take some getting used to). So below is a list of things I’ll be working on.

1. Finish the multiple tutorials videos for IAM as part of their project completion and service launch. These will range from “how to change your recovery options” to “how to find your netid/UIN in this new system.”

2. Train the help desk consultants on the new IAM tool. Hopefully this product has a seamless transition, otherwise, we could see a lot of calls from confused/annoyed customers. I’ll create documentation on how to update recovery options, generate activation keys, and look up customer information.

3. Apply my new certification to improve customer service. Fingers crossed, I’ll be a Certified Associate in Project Management by the end of summer. I’m working the knowledge I’ve received during my study into my SMART goals for the year.

4. Roll out the new knowledge base. It’s finally, almost, close to being ready to launch. With a few minor tweaks to article titles, and app sun-setting, we’ll have users searching for answers on this platform in no time. ITPM has been working hard for months leading up to this, and hopefully we can put this one to rest very soon.

That’s about it for now. As more things pop up, I’ll update my page.

This will be a comprehensive guide to making your way through what is sure to be the toughest few weeks of your year. There are performance evaluations meetings to be had, project wrap ups, new student admits coming through the system for the Fall semester, and of course… MARCH MADNESS.

So get ready to take notes and prepare for the best, most complete and fantastic braketology you’ve ever read. And if you think it’ll take over your life, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll balance it all, and continue to stay on top of work. Let’s be honest, it’s difficult to concentrate with games online for free playing all day. But fear not; after reading this, you’ll possess the knowledge to successfully pick your winners, meet your deadlines and impress your boss.

Are you ready? Are you sure? This is going to be a splendiferous culmination of months of research neatly packaged just for you.

I’ll bet you can hardly contain yourselves! Time to be enlightened.

This one might need two posts just to adequately support all the tips you’re about to receive. But you’re lucky, it’s coming up right now, and all in one post!

Here. We. Go.

Step 1 – Forget about the tournament. THE ILLINI ARE NOT PLAYING.

Step 2 – Double forget the tournament because the many BigTen teams that were selected lack the color orange…

Step 3 – Focus on work 100%

Enjoy March Sadness…

Need I say more?

Well I guess I do have to say something. No, I haven’t been asleep since the holiday break. I actually took the advice in my own blog post, and stayed on track once work picked back up. Let me give you a quick update on what I’ve been doing, and a few details on posts to come. My apologies for the absence.

I’ve kicked my CAPM study into high gear. I still want to have my project management certification by the end of March (at the earliest). I’ve gotten a little over 16 hours of study done on Lynda.com, with less than 10 hours left to sit for the exam. I’ve taken to doing an hour or two each day with some time slotted off on my calendar. Point of interest, that is a great tip if you’re interested in professional development: mark off time on your calendar for study! This will give you a reminder to keep focused, and also let others in your team know what you’re doing. Get this approved by your manager first.

IT Problem Management is moving along well. We’re working on imports for the thousands of knowledge base articles to go into the external/internal versions of the new KB. With this service set up by Wisconsin-Madison’s system, we’ll have a campus-facing knowledge base for the future, making IT more accessible to users.

I’ve also been keeping my side projects afloat.

-New and updated netid claim and enterprise ID claim video

-Midpoint/Identity Access Management help desk tutorial video

-Sympa basics how-to videos

-Service manager meetings for improved case reviews and escalations

The final update is that I proposed to my girlfriend of 5 years. We’re very happy together, and I’m glad she said yes.

She likes taking pictures with the ring now…

Here’s what’s up next:

How do you get money to attend conferences when the budget is low in your department.

How to keep up with March Madness while keeping up with your work deadlines.

Making the most of your lunch break; power lunch vs. social lunch benefits of both

So you’ve seen how to stay focused before the break begins without loads of coffee, now let’s see what you can do to make your holiday vacation restful, and productive. Doing so will allow your transition back into “work mode” a bit easier.

Staving off “the coma effect.”

Coming back to work from a long off period can be both good and bad. It’s common for employees to find themselves a little lost, while others come back refreshed and ready for action. It’s important to find a happy medium when you’re away from work so long, and practicing good habits while away allows you to get back in the groove with little lag. The “coma effect” is when you’ve been mentally asleep, that is, not thinking about work at all. Imagine trying to do long division after only watching Dancing With the Stars and the terrible Chicago Bears for 2 weeks. Imagine trying to lead a board meeting after spending half the month in bed, or on the beach. You need time to adjust to your routine again, and your job might not give you the day you need to acclimate yourself. There could be a outage to deal with and an after action report needed the same day you return from said beach!

Be this guy…

Not this guy…

Here are some suggestions:

1. Peek at work related stuff in short bursts everyday

It’s understandable that you will not always be in a position to remote in, and check things out if you’re buried in holiday activities with family. But take an hour or less out of you day to look at a couple things from work. It’s really not that much time, but it’ll keep your muscles warm. For example, going for a bench press max after two weeks of doing no kind of exercise may not yield the results you were hoping for. You could be sore, and that weight could feel much heavier now.

2. Keep a small and manageable to-do list

I’ll just use an example from my position.

• Check emails every other day
• Watch 5-10 hours of project management training
• Look over CA queue for 10 minutes everyday for urgent tickets
• Read CIO.com and other technology articles in free time

See? That isn’t daunting at all. And the point of doing this keeps the important things from work fresh in your mind, and also prevents you from forgetting the key points you’ll need to know once you return. Keep your list short, and timely- that is, put a restraint on it as not to wear yourself out, or forget to check-in entirely.

3. Exercise

In keeping with the theme from part 1, don’t get stagnant. A quick workout to start your day gets the blood pumping and will lead you in the right direction.

4. Set goals for your comeback

Understandably, you have performance review goals and such set in place already. However, this is your own reflection time. Think about this past year for a little while, and see how far you’ve come. Then without reviewing the goals you’ve surely forgotten by now, think up one more personal goal for yourself that you’d like to reach. the new year is right around the corner- so consider this your new year’s work resolution. There has got to be at least one thing you want to get soon; whether it’s a certification you’ve been studying for, reaching to a project benchmark, or planning to hold more positive conversations with co-workers, write it on a little sticky note, and let that remind you of whom you’re going back to work for… yourself. This is not about reaching the quota or getting the boss off your back, this is all for you.

It’s almost time for “the big break.” You know what that means? Time to be lazy. Time to endure family visits and school/church performances of “The Nativity Story.” Time to eat like a pig, or any other farm animal you identify with. Time navigate stores for gifts at the last minute, because we all know you forgot… again.

It’s also time to prepare for the inevitable drop-off in productivity, both before and after vacation. In my own personal experiences in the workforce, I’ve noticed that this happens a lot. We’ve all been there- it is so very close to a long awaited week that focus on that instead of the assignment at our desks. It reminds me a lot of college; finals are approaching, but that family trip to Miami is also approaching. Ahh, let’s get distracted for little while planning all the snowless activities right around the corner. We’ve worked so hard, and the impending rest is much more appealing than the 2 o’clock board meeting.

This is bad.

How does one combat this problem. Well, the first step is admitting there is a problem. Fatigue sets in and sometimes catches us off guard. Over the course of a project, or a long span of days without a break, your body tells you cool off. And the result could be that you’re dosing off during the day, becoming forgetful throughout the day, and perhaps even losing motivation to do anything work related in general. Dealing with fatigue involves a lot of different things. Below is a short list of changes you can make to get over the hump:

1. Take vitamins – Many studies say that the “winter slump” can be attributed to a lack of sunlight during these months, which provides much needed vitamin D to your system. I’m actually very vitamin D deficient, so I have to take 5000 units per day, even in the summer. I’d say start with a basic multivitamin tablet like Centrum to help with this- your energy levels and ability to concentrate will improve. http://www.today.com/video/today/46025130#46025130

2. Exercise – Don’t allow yourself to become stagnant. Performing a short 10 minute workout in the morning can wake up your body and mind better, and give you the energy you need to sustain your day. This can be a short series of squats, pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups, lunges, etc. Your endorphins will release and BOOM, you’re feeling fine.

3. Make short lists – Don’t overwhelm yourself with tons of tasks. Focus on getting through a few things a day or for a say number of hours. In general, it’s easy to lose motivation when you see a huge list of unfinished items to do, so break them up into smaller, more manageable assignments. With this tip, you’ll feel relief from crossing things off a sticky note, and it’s actually quite therapeutic. Don’t let the things you need to get done next wee cross over things you need to get done today. Divide and conquer.

I have more tips, however, I’ll save those for PART 2 of the holiday productivity suite. You’ll learn how to keep busy DURING the break, as not to come to work suffering from “the coma effect” (I made that up). Find out what that means next time.

I don’t have a very long post planned here. Rather, I hope you’d all further enrich yourselves and read some of the articles CIO.com has written over the past few weeks. They’ve done some stellar coverage, and posted some great articles.

http://www.cio.com/article/2843702/social-enterprise/piazza-helps-companies-recruit-female-tech-talent.html

http://www.cio.com/article/2841636/staff-management/6-ways-to-attract-and-retain-female-it-talent.html

http://www.cio.com/article/2825293/careers-staffing/women-in-it-no-longer-a-nice-to-have.html

And for those who are savvy in social media: #womenintech when you post around!!

Enjoy!

For those who weren’t able to attend last week’s CCS meeting, you missed a good one. The topic: Project Management

I’m actually quite interested in project management. I’m sure many of us have our own projects, whether they be “official” or by your own declaration. There’s a lot of work that goes into managing people in a team, and delegating responsibilities. One must also be aware of time, costs and impact for any number of groups involved. With so much to cover on the topic, I will not attempt to do it justice in one blog post. However, if you’re interested in getting a certification, read on!

The Goal

I’m going to begin studying for the exam to become a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). As it states on the Project Management Institute (PMI) website, it’s a “valuable entry-level certification for project practitioners. Designed for those with little or no project experiences, the CAPM demonstrates your understanding of the fundamental knowledge, terminology and process of effective project management.” In comparison to the Project Management Professional certification (PMP), it’s a lot easier to obtain because of the requirements to sit for the exam.

CAPM Certification Requirements

To apply for the CAPM, you need to have:

• A secondary degree (high school diploma or the global equivalent)AND
• At least 1,500 hours of project experienceOR
• 23 hours of project management education by the time you sit for the exam.

PMP Certification Requirements

To apply for the PMP, you need to have either:

• A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree, or the global equivalent) with at least five years of project management experience, with 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.OR
• A four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or the global equivalent) and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

How Do You Study?

There are a lot of ways to study. However, I’m not interested in spending hundreds of dollars for official PMI study materials (sometimes thousands). There are courses, videos, webinars, text books, and all kinds of on-demand practice suites available through PMI. I intend to learn at my own pace, and utilize Lynda.com through the university. At least 60 of the 140 available video sessions count towards an established category in professional development units (PDU). You need at least 23 PDUs to sit for the CAPM exam, and each hour spent in courses count as one unit.

More info on PDU categories:

https://www.offpeaktraining.com/free-project-management-resources/about-pdus/

But Why?

Professional development, that’s why! If you’re like me, you enjoy learning and challenging yourself. The IT Pro Forum is also coming up, and there are workshops related to this topic. I suggest you go. In addition, there are benefits to being PMI certified. Check it out.

http://www.gocertify.com/certifications/pmi/capm.html

Keep this list for when working on your next project to keep yourself in check (thanks Alex Breen).

Have your previous projects been successful? Are the items listed below features of your current projects? How’s the process going with these in mind?

Your Project | Improve the value proposition for those we serve | Improve the way we do work | Improve decision making | Communicate and collaborate better

This will be a fairly short post today.

Sometimes I find it a bit difficult to focus at work. Who hasn’t had that problem before, right? Here are some ways I believe will be useful in keeping your attention on a project, and general daily tasks, whether you work from home, or in a formal office.

Get Outside, Or Bring The Fresh Air To Your Space

This may seem counterproductive to many of you. Why leave your project and come back with less time to get stuff done when you can just sit there and fight your way through it? See that’s just it, you don’t ever want to be fighting your way through any project. That’s no good for you or your users/audience. Sometimes you just have to take a step back from what you’re doing: walk around the building, or get some fresh air to clear you head for a minute. You’ll find that your productivity increases when you look at a particularly challenging assignment with refreshed eyes. We don’t always have the luxury of taking days off of something to rid writer’s block, but a few minutes out the sun, or hanging out  by the water cooler can mean a world of difference.

Interesting TED talk on how indoor plants can improve your productivity in tight work spaces.

I lied about this being a short post. Sorry.

Musical Inspiration

I’m a bit of an audiophile, and I love music. However, it’s rare that I’ll get much work done when I’m enjoying the music so much. So something I started trying was a genre many of you may not have considered: video game music. Now of course, the obvious choice for calming music to help you focus is classical. I agree wholeheartedly. I just got into Franz Liszt, and it’s helped. But don’t sleep on tunes you grew up with. Granted, many tunes before 1988 were bleeps and bloops and synthesized garbage for the most part. I tend to stick with tracks from games that had a bit more complex sound production, like Super Nintendo era games. Think about it; a lot goes into making a game track. It’s not just to fit the environment or situation, but a theme that also matches the pace at which your character progresses through the game. So it can be argued that they are designed to help you focus and maintain concentration through a stage. If you need to talk yourself through a task, you’ll find that video game music is unobtrusive, and repetitive as not to throw you off mid-thought.

Some tracks I’ve tried:

Fight The Sitting Disease

Yes, it’s a real thing. No actually, you could die. It sounds ridiculous, but take a look at the article below. Briefly, try a standing desk and see how you feel. Hunching over a computer all day is not good for you.

http://www.juststand.org/tabid/674/language/en-us/default.aspx

Well, I guess it’s my turn. And yes, I do have things going on…

I’ve been working on VPN resolutions and troubleshooting. That’s the big ticket item this past week, and what I anticipate will be the next couple of weeks as well.

• Ticket crunching – trying to sift through the queues in CA to find the workable VPN tickets for escalation.

• KB article writing and tweaking – mainly for VPN

• Working with CIR to calm down some of the more unhappy customers dealing with VPN

• Helping to make the transition for the new additions to team ITPM

• Planning a trip back to campus soon to beat you all in the Halloween costume contest

• Professional development- research on project management certification for the future

• Personal development- expanding my classical music library – it helps keep me focused working from home.

I can get used to this…

Routine is very important to my job now. Before, I could get to the office, slide through the queues in CA and work on my individual projects when it felt right. Then I’d walk around a bit, networking with coworkers, and stop by the help desk and assist where they needed me.

Now things are different. There is a lot more structure in my day now, believe it or not. Contrary to what many people would think of telecommuters, you actually can’t just sit around in your pajamas and goof off. I have a schedule to keep if I want to make sure my work gets done. And considering that many of my current projects are on-going, I have to set goals for myself and keep my own personal progress report. In addition to the set work schedule and activity log created by my boss, I made a visual calendar with ideas and tasks to complete and expand upon each day, week, and so on. It’s worked out very well so far.

Don’t get me wrong; I still had a traditional work schedule in the office at the DCL too. I wasn’t slacking off and doing my own thing. I think that I’m just feeling the structure a bit moreso  now that I have complete and utter autonomy. It’s a true test of working independently when you telecommute. Oddly enough, I find that I’m more productive here than at the office.

Again, there are just some things I can’t get from home that the office provides. I can have those conversations that matter, and clear things up much easier with customers in Champaign than I can remotely. I can get questions answered quickly if I stop by someone’s office and hear a straight response I’m looking for there as well. Unified communication provides the ability to talk without being present, however, there are still limitations. I’m learning that something like Google Glass could exponentially better for telecommuters. Yep, I’m sticking to that argument.

That’s all I have for today. I promise my next post will have pictures.