Bird migrations just happen naturally. Data center migrations… don’t. Few projects in IT are as big of a deal as a data center migration. This is one of the most complex, highest risk, and potentially disruptive things IT can do to a business. I’ve had the opportunity to do several data center migrations over my career, two of which in the past two years at CHS. Traditionally, data center migrations involve trucks. You dismantle systems in your old data center,…

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DevOps is a big buzzword in the world of enterprise technology nowadays. I won’t get into the history and methodology, so you are unfamiliar with DevOps, you can read all about it here. As with all subjects I discuss on this blog, I will be looking specifically at the leadership aspects of DevOps. Why do we need DevOps? Well, DevOps is basically about Development and Operations working well together. Who wouldn’t be in favor of that? Why is that such…

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Note to my non-techie audience: This article is a bit more technical than usual, but as always, there’s a leadership lesson. This week, I’m reflecting on my time as an engineer and am considering what that means for my leadership practice. There are things that I did back then, that I now oversee. The technologies and times have changed, but a lot of the principles have not. 20 years ago, I worked as a senior systems engineer for a financial…

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Ownership. It means, “I’ve got this.” It’s the words, actions, and attitude. It’s the competence and the confidence. It’s not associated with any particular job title or level. When it’s there, we feel good. When it’s not, we’re lost. In the world of information technology, ownership can be elusive. Development blames operations. Operations blames development. The business blames IT. IT blames the vendor. The vendor blames the other vendor. People suffer. At the end of the day, all we want…

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We’re going big on the cloud. All in. It’s exciting. It’s futuristic. However, it’s downright difficult. I talk with leaders at other large enterprise organizations, and everyone is grappling with the cloud. Some are grappling better than others. Our “why” is simple. We can be more efficient, secure, resilient, agile, and sustainable in the cloud. Our cloud technology platform is an enabler to just about every other strategic initiative at the company. The “how” is not simple. It’s taken a…

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Our organization is going through a transition from a project operating model to a product operating model. Many enterprise organizations are pursuing a similar path and are at various stages of the journey. I’d like to use this article to explain why I am so enthusiastic about this change. In so many ways, this pathway helps me realize some career-long objectives. Before I get into that, we should define a few terms. What is a product? In this context, a…

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I had a great opportunity to be a guest on the Change Agent CTO Podcast with Nathan Lasnoski. Nathan is the CTO of the technology consulting firm, Concurrency. We covered the CHS journey through DevOps and the Cloud. We mostly covered the leadership issues surrounding transformation such as change management, servant leadership, and vision casting. We talked about building diverse teams, embracing geek culture, and dealing with resistance. I think you’ll enjoy this episode. Many of you read my writing,…

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Once upon a time, Minnesota was known for bad weather and more than our fair share of lakes. For the past 11 months, we’ve become world-renown as one of the most divisive places on the planet. 11 months ago, following the tragic death of George Floyd, I wrote a series of articles about my observations and how these events influenced my leadership philosophy. You can read them here, here, and here. Now, this week, a new tragedy occurred. This one,…

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Four years ago, I published one of the most popular articles I’ve ever written: So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance: The Joy of Buying Technology. I repost it from time to time and continue to draw reactions. Since four years have passed, I thought I might be due for a follow-up article on the subject of the buy-sell dynamic in enterprise technology. In this article, I’m not going to discuss annoying sales tactics and gimmicks. I’ve covered that before….

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I used to directly hire a lot of technical talent. Now, that’s mostly done by my management team. When I did that, I asked a behavioral interview question that went something like this: “Tell me about a time when you were called upon to solve a high-pressure and complex technical issue where the solution was not immediately obvious.” The answers I got were usually pretty telling. Typically, this question elicits a bit of a pained smile, as if I just…

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