The Beginning
This holiday morning I looked back at the beginning for IT Manager Connection. I was invited to co-found the blog with John Oxley and Barnaby Jeans, expressing my thoughts in my first blog in late 2005. I am the only one left out of the founding trio with my blogs still occupying many of the “Most Views” – you can sort the blogs by Most Recent (default), Most Views, Most Comments. When I first blogged, I would submit to John or another MS Canada team member and they would post for me so some of the early posts appear as published by another however the blog content has my signature.
In December 2005, good fortune followed where I was the first and only recipient of the Computing Canada IT Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award noted in this blog by John. The same month, I was nominated as a founding fellow of CIPS and a founding distinguished fellow of the NPA. The father of computing in Canada and internationally, a founder of CIPS and IFIP and early pioneer with the ACM, Kelly Gotlieb was also a CIPS founding fellow and this was instrumental in doing my first interview with Kelly. When I first approached Kelly, there was a short delay until I got an e-mail back where he agreed to the interview after finding I was a CIPS fellow. This led to over a dozen interviews over the years. Take a look at the link above for Kelly! In December, I did my first podcast with training, complete resources/files/technology and full support from Microsoft Canada. I spent over 200 hours preparing for the first podcast with Maria Klawe, now Microsoft and Broadcom Board Director and President Harvey Mudd College. That one interview (ranked in the top 3 in most views, top 4 in most comments) led to eight with Maria and over 300 podcasts overall (at 70 hours each to produce = 21,000 hours).
Since 2005, IT Manager Connection received a top 7 ranking worldwide with a spotlight at the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Summit in Seattle, a top 10 individual blogger ranking from Computer World Canada, featured in every issue in Computing Canada’s Blogged Down editorial column and much more.
Microsoft continues to be generous in their support for IT Manager Connection and having an independent voice—this is my role.
IT World Blogger
I am blogging at IT World as of last week and will reference interviews and blogs in IT Manager Connection. IT World editor, Howard Solomon introduces their updated blogging platform and new CIPS bloggers.
I am frequently asked what I do and I provide an overview in my first IT World blog.
There is a fine first blog on “Creating Computing Professionals” from Daryl Hepting, an associate computer science professor at the University of Regina.
Global Industry Council (GIC)
I am the founding chair of the Global Industry Council which is part of the UN-rooted body IFIP IP3. Our meeting was most productive last week and just prior to my trip to Poznan Poland. The GIC consists of notable authorities in ICT globally and their insights, active participation are most valuable to the global community.
IFIP GA Poznan Poland
IFIP is the UNESCO founded ICT body consisting of national ICT societies and affiliates representing members from over 90 countries. For example, CIPS is the official national body for Canada and the ACM is the body for the USA. I’m participating at the IFIP General Assembly (GA) in Poznan Poland and will be flying out soon. While in Poznan, IFIP IP3 will be holding their AGM and board meeting where I will be presenting. It will be a busy seven days.
ACM Practitioner Board (PB)
Mid-September, I am back from Poznan for a few days in Canada and then off to New York City for the ACM Practitioner Board meeting where I will be presenting on the work of the PDC and participating in the lively brain storming sessions where we forecast trends and practitioner needs. The board members are notable pioneers and global influencers in computing. If you Bing the board members, you will discover, they have created much of the foundation technology in use today.
ACM Practitioner Board Professional Development Committee (PDC) meeting
Coming back to Canada after the ACM PB meeting, I am off again to New York for the ACM Practitioner Board PDC meeting which I am chairing. The PDC is responsible for providing guidance to the ACM and ACM Learning Center and its myriad of products and services including courses, books, podcasts, webinars, Techpacks, case studies, digital library (1.5 million users), SIGS (36), publications (78+)… The ACM PB PDC is an operational arm of the ACM Practitioner board responsible for supporting the implementation of valued products and services plus forecasting new tends and needs of practitioners—this means you. Subcommittees of the PDC include the Webinar Committee and Professionalism and Certification Committee. Webinars from the world’s best experts are announced regularly in IT Manager Connection and free to all. If you Bing the PDC members, you will discover they are significant contributors to ICT worldwide and represent a valuable resource and think tank to the ACM and to you. Searching for committee members in IT Manager Connection, you will discover their interviews appear in IT Manager Connection too bringing you deep insights.
FEAPO Board Meeting
FEAPO held their major planning summit in August hosted in Chicago. In August, I am newly re-elected to the FEAPO board officially taking my seat in September and in time before the FEAPO board meeting in LA in late October. FEAPO will be releasing two new publications shortly on Enterprise Architecture (one that defines EA and another that centers on EA career paths) and I will blog about them when they are released. FEAPO is the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations.
Upcoming
I have a host of interviews upcoming with top experts in ICT where they will share many insights. For example, you will find the interview with Terry Coatta of great value since he is one of the top executives and developers leveraging Microsoft Technologies.