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Author: adaptiman

  • How will work change?

    How will work change?

    Stones stacked on each other on a beach.
    Stones balanced on a beach.

    After reading this article in the WSJ today, I was struck by the reason given for missing work;

    … as the pandemic obliterates any hint of work-life balance, many are seeing the office for what it really was: an escape from domestic life that helped to more fully define them.

    ​(Feintzeig, 2020)​

    Is that what work really is? An escape from domestic life? Is that why we work?

    Don’t get me wrong. I have five children. My parents-in-law and brother-in-law live next door. My domestic life runneth over. While I like to get away from the crush of the brethren occasionally, it’s kind of what I signed up for. At the end of the day, I don’t mind my domestic life and, frankly, am thankful for it.

    But if I’m totally honest, work does define who I am to a certain extent. I like to think that I work so that I can focus on the things that truly matter – family, friends, service to others, worship. But pride in my job also defines who I am. I’m proud to be in a role that I think can make a difference. My job helps me fulfill my life goals.

    In light of COVID-19, it begs the question – what role will my work life have in the future? Is my contribution less valuable because of the method or location of my work? There’s no doubt in my mind that our work is going to change. As I read articles like this, I’m struck by the angst many people have about the future. Many of us are truly fearful of a changing workplace. But we can choose how we approach this situation, and look at it as an opportunity rather than a problem.

    What will change?

    As the article points out, working from home (WFH) weakens the boundaries between work and home life. This suggests that we have to assess whether an appropriate boundary can be established at home. This boundary is defined by things like good space in which to work, reliable technology, appropriate supervision of children, and demarcations between work time and home time. Some of us will NOT be able to achieve these at home, and so are not good candidates for WFH. That’s OK.

    With more remote work comes more conversations and meetings remotely. While technology affects this issue, the greater issue, in my opinion, is effectiveness in remote communication assuming technical requirements are met. Case in point; most of us have learned to mute our microphones during meetings. But this has a tendency to encourage multitasking, lack of attention, and less engagement. The good news is that we can acquire the skill of being present in remote meetings through training and discipline, even with a muted microphone.

    If WFH becomes more prevalent in the future, the consequences of reduced transportation will have effects at both the micro- and macro-levels. At the micro-level, spending less time in my car going to and from work decreases my costs and increases my available time to do other things. It eliminates desirable down-time that I may need to decompress and set demarcations between work and home. At the macro-level, decreased transportation results in less pollution, fewer collisions and fatalities, and less economic activity, just to name a few. For us, it could also mean an increase in transportation research questions that need to be answered, i.e., greater opportunity.

    At the macro-level, it also seems obvious that WFH will change the distribution of our economic sectors. It’s hard to predict what permanent changes in our economy will happen, but it seems reasonable to assume that as more people WFH, the economy will change. We can be fearful of this change or embrace it.

    1. Feintzeig, R. (2020, May 19). It’s OK to Miss the Office. Wall Street Journal, p. A12. Retrieved from http://ereader.wsj.net?publink=039e0f678_134366b

  • I promise I will never again send a link to a “great article” – by itself!

    I found a great article from the Harvard Business Review on managing remote employees effectively. I know what you’re going to say – “I don’t have time to read ‘yet another article’ on what I should do.” I’m with you. I’m getting a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of resources that I’m getting. I don’t have time to read even half of them.

    So I’m going to apply something I studied during my dissertation on audio learning – an advance organizer ​(Ausubel, 1960)​. Basically, this is a summary of the main bullets placed at the top of a longer pedagogical piece. It allows a learner to do two things. First, the learner can quickly determine if the piece is relevant to them. Second, it scaffolds the information allowing a learner to better organize the material in a meaningful way, thus increasing retention and comprehension.

    So here are my takeaways from the HBR article:

    1. Productivity – while managers generally believe that employees are less productive at a distance, the literature indicates otherwise.
    2. Distractions at home – while dedicated workspace and childcare during work hours are recommended, in the current situation, these may not be possible. Managers should understand this and adjust expectations.
    3. Daily Check-Ins – yet another source extolling the value of daily check-ins, either one-on-one or groupwide.
    4. Video vs. Text – video is better when you need to gauge a person’s reaction – text is better when simpler, less formal, and/or time-sensitive communication is desired.
    5. Setting clear expectations – define a routine cadence of meetings, and “rules of engagement” for contacting you and other team members. For example, I prefer MS Teams chat to email. I prefer MS Teams audio/video calling for detailed discussions. I set my “status” in MS Teams, and if I’m available, you can call.
    6. Morale and Culture – the message you convey to your team sets the tone. If your tone is stressed and helpless, this will have a “trickle-down” effect on employees.
    1. Ausubel, D. P. (1960). The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 267–272. doi: 10.1037/h0046669

  • Homemade Mask Resources

    Homemade Mask

    Karen Dixon, Sue Chrysler, Beverly Kuhn, and Kay Fitzpatrick have put together some homemade mask resources. Thanks, TTI Quilters!

    This is a link to a PDF from the Great Falls Clinic on how to make homemade masks:
    https://tti-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/d-sweeney_tti_tamu_edu/EblTou2RYFRHmpovNfqBq48B_oP520Wr-lJ0qs4phOujrw?e=VRjBeS

    Additional instructions from Great Falls: https://www.gfclinic.com/approved-pattern-info-for-homemade-masks/

    Other mask-making sites:

    The Crafty Quilter site has a nice variety of options with good step-by-step photos. The list of tips way at the bottom is good.
    https://thecraftyquilter.com/2020/03/versatile-face-mask-pattern-and-tutorial/

    Craft Passion has a pattern that requires a pattern template. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBR98YKAr7w

    Sweet Red Poppy has a style with ties, rather than elastic. https://sweetredpoppy.com/how-to-sew-a-bias-tape-surgical-face-mask-with-flexible-nose/

    Missouri Start Quilting also has video tutorials for styles with elastic and with ties.  https://www.missouriquiltco.com/msqc/tutorial/DIY-face-mask

    The Centers for Disease Control has information on washing your mask. There are also instructions there for a gathered mask.
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

  • 10 Things

    My 10-year-old brought me popcorn yesterday as a snack while I was working. It reminded me how much I love her and my family. As negative as this whole COVID-19 experience has been for our jobs, communities, nation, and world, there are some positive things to be gleaned. Here’s a list of 10 things I’m thankful for:

    1. I get to see my family more often.
    2. I’m saving all kinds of money on eating out, gasoline, toilet paper…
    3. My work team has developed an even deeper respect for each other.
    4. I don’t spend an hour driving back and forth to my office.
    5. Trips to the grocery store are fewer and shorter.
    6. My garden is looking fantastique!
    7. I can play music in my workspace – loudly.
    8. I’ve bonded with my chickens.
    9. I’ve learned everything there is to know about WebEx – the good, bad, and ugly.
    10. I have a job with a paycheck and an organization that needs me.

    For all of these things, I feel that working for my organization is a privilege and a pleasure. What can I do to repay my employer and my team for the great things they are doing?

  • Managing Effectively When You’re Working Remotely

    Mark Horstman

    One of my favorite resources is Manager Tools. I’ve been listening to their management advice for more than 15 years. No matter what the topic, these folks are all about actionable management advice.

    This week, MT released a freely available audio podcast on how to manage effectively during a pandemic. Here’s a link to Part 2. I would encourage you to check it out. Some of the larger points included in the cast;

    • Working remotely increases employee’s fear, anxiety, and mistrust.
    • The best way to combat this is through increased communication. You can do this by:
      • Continuing (or starting) weekly one-on-ones with your directs
      • Start a daily 10-minute morning “standup” via video call.
      • Communicate Aggressively
        • video call each of your directs briefly each day
        • don’t settle for text-only communications, even if your direct says it’s what they prefer

  • HOWTO Be a TTI Ghost

    Teleworking can be very caffeinating.
    Teleworking can be very liberating.

    I’ll admit it. As much as I like my office and my TTI fam, my boss told me that I’m “not part of the skeleton crew.” and so I need to work from home for the duration of the COVID-19 situation. I thought I’d share my thoughts and trials of becoming a TTI Ghost so you, too, can share the fun.

    Voice

    The first thing I did was make sure when people call me, they get me. After all, they don’t know that I’m sitting in my backyard watching the chickens dig for worms.

    This is actually pretty easy. I headed over to our Cisco Unified Communications Page and logged in using my TTI username without the @tti.tamu.edu extension and my regular password. From there, I selected “Call Forwarding”, checked the box that read: “Forward all calls to:” and entered 9 and my 7-digit mobile number with no parentheses or dashes.

    IMPORTANT Notes:

    1. You can only access the Cisco Unified Communications Page if you’re on the TTI network. This means that you have to do it from your office computer OR initiate a VPN connection.
    2. I tried to enter my number with the area code included and that didn’t work. I found out that there are three different use cases with different patterns of digits:
    • For TTIHQ, use 9 and your 7-digit number (e.g., 95555555)
    • IF your area REQUIRES 10-digit dialing such as Austin, use 9 and your 10-digit number (e.g., 95125555555)
    • IF your number is NOT in the same area code as your TTI number, email the Service Desk at helpdesk@tti.tamu.edu. This requires an exception to forward to a “long-distance” number.

    One more thing. Since I transferred my TTI line to my personal line, I changed my mobile voicemail message:

    Howdy! You’ve reached David Sweeney with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. With the Covid19 situation, I’m working remotely. It appears that I’ve missed your call, so please leave a message and I’ll contact you as soon as I can. Have a great day, and good health!

    Team Communications

    Since I’m not going to be in the office, communicating with my team members is an issue. WebEx has a texting application called WebEx Teams. This app is integrated tightly with the main WebEx application and allows you to do much more than just individual and team messaging.

    WebEx has a COVID-19 Resource Page with great information about how to work remotely using their tools.

    https://www.webex.com/webexremoteessentials.html

    Currently, a minority of TTI employees have the WebEx Teams app on their TTI computers. If you don’t have it, you can install and use the WebEx Teams app on your computer by clicking here. There is also a Web version of Webex Teams that can be accessed from any Web browser at https://teams.webex.com/signin.

    A very complete tutorial on using WebEx Teams can be found here.

    Meetings

    The next problem was meetings. Obviously, WebEx was the solution, but how would I use it? I’m used to opening Outlook and using the Webex Button to schedule meetings. When I click it, it adds a little WebEx thingy at the bottom of the meeting request.

    Outlook for the Web doesn’t have the WebEx add-in. Was scheduling a WebEx meeting possible in Outlook for the Web? Sort of. I found a “hack” that works relatively well. Basically, I created a WebEx “boilerplate” that I could paste into meetings created and/or managed through Outlook for the Web. Here’s how I did it:

    HOWTO create a WebEx Meeting using Outlook Online

    Documents

    What about documents? Because I’m a relatively new employee, most of my documents are in Microsoft OneDrive. Even so, I found this great video from the LinkedIn Learning library about using One Drive. As you may know, LinkedIn Learning is a service that TTI pays for. I’ve embedded the introductory video to this course below. You can access the full course by clicking on the link below it and signing on with your TTI credentials. This video taught me everything I needed to know about OneDrive (except one – see below).

    Welcome from OneDrive for Business Essential Training by Jess Stratton

    How I Added My TTI OneDrive Files to my Personal Computer

    On my home computer, I don’t normally have access to my TTI OneDrive files. This is one task that is NOT in the OneDrive course video referenced above. So here’s a little instructional video about how I did this.

    HOWTO add TTI OneDrive files to your Personal Computer

    Installing OneDrive

    How do I install OneDrive. It turns out that if you have Windows 10 on your computer, OneDrive is already installed and integrated. Even so, if you have problems, you can install the OneDrive app by clicking here.

    Using TTI’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

    So, there are a couple of programs on my TTI desktop that I don’t have on my laptop. To use these programs, I can use Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect to my desktop computer. When I do this, it’s as if I’m sitting at my computer in TTIHQ. While the connection does “jitter” a bit because I don’t have a great network connection from my home, it works pretty well in a pinch.

    NIS has a good HOWTO document detailing how to use RDP to connect remotely. Using this document, I was able to “remote in” to my computer at TTIHQ.

    What about Virtual Private Network (VPN)?

    I was surprised to find out that, of the services that I set up so far, only forwarding my phone required the use of VPN. Another significant resource I found that required VPN was accessing shared files that were within the TTI domain and NOT on OneDrive. I was able to copy the files I needed to work with from those drives to OneDrive using the tutorial referenced above.

    While VPN may be required to connect to some IT resources within the TTI domain, all of the main communication components could be used without it. Even so, NIS has a document on using the VPN here. To install the Cisco VPN client on my personal computer, I downloaded the file from https://vpn.tti.tamu.edu and then followed the instructions in the first link.

    Other Stuff

    NIS sent out a great howto that combines lots of good teleworking tips. Check it out for detailed information.

  • Technology: Then and Now

    Recently, one of the Executive Team members asked me for comments on how Information Technology has changed in the last 20 years. The Computer History Museum is a great resource for this. Here are some IT-related things that happened in 2000:

    • First Camera Phones Introduced – 0.11 megapixels with 256 color display
    • Sony PlayStation 2 Released – this was the first system that would use DVDs for games
    • USB Flash Drive Introduced
    • Y2K Bug Addressed – this was a storm in a teacup hyped up by the media

    As CIO, I tend to think about how the provisioning of IT services has changed. Here are some observations:

    IT Demand – In 2013, Forrester released a report emphasizing that IT demand had increased to the tipping point:

    “Business leaders are driving the speed of execution and adaptation to astonishing levels because customers demand such performance… Demand has irreversibly exceeded the capacity of traditional IT…Entrenched behaviors are hampering the ability of IT to accelerate the speed of delivery. Technology solutions are now profoundly valuable, but they are useless unless the people are prepared to exploit their capabilities. Behavioral inertia causes IT practices to change too slowly [emphasis added].“

    Consumerization – IT services like storage, email, and video conferencing no longer require provision by IT support staff. Users can simply create a free account with Dropbox, Gmail, Skype, or any other cloud service to fulfill their needs. This creates complexity in data security and may not align with organizational IT rules.

    Security – Security spending has doubled in the last 10 years. I couldn’t find information prior to 2010, but I don’t remember Cybersecurity being a “thing” in 2000. We paid attention to patching and virus scanning, but ransomware didn’t exist and known security incidents were much less prevalent. Data breaches and security incidents are big business since the amount of generated data users produce increase 4300% since 2009.

    Virtual Machines – VMs have actually been around since the 1960s within the context of mainframes, but the provision and management of a VM infrastructure wasn’t prevalent until about 2010. VMs and Virtual Networks form the basis of most modern IT infrastructure. This introduces new costs and capabilities that IT must acquire.

    Mobile Computing – desktop computers, while still widely used, are becoming less prevalent as laptops, tablets, and mobile devices get more powerful. This progression is mostly a function of power requirements, partially a result of devices that consume less power and batteries that hold more power.

    Tragedy of the Commons – Explosion of network devices continues to stretch the capacity of our networks to support them. This was not an issue 20 years ago. The average number of networked-enabled devices has increased from 0.08 in 2003 to 6.58 today.

    Bottom line: The infusion of IT in our daily work and lives has exploded. Customer expectations have changed. Provision of IT services requires new capabilities to be developed in shorter cycles of time.

  • Succession Planning

    Last week, I picked up (for the third time) one of my favorite books: South!: The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914-1917. One particular passage piqued my interest:

    Sir Ernest Shackleton

    “We had eighteen fur bags, and it was necessary, therefore, to issue ten of the Jaeger woollen bags in order to provide for the twenty-eight men of the party. The woollen bags were lighter and less warm than the reindeer bags, and so each man who received one of them was allowed also a reindeer-skin to lie upon. It seemed fair to distribute the fur bags by lot, but some of us older hands did not join in the lottery. We thought we could do quite as well with the Jaegers as with the furs.”

    Why would Shackleton defer? Shackleton was the second oldest member of the expedition and the leader. If anyone deserved to have one of the warmer bags, it was him. One could argue that the younger members of the team were better fit to withstand the hardships of their situation.

    I believe they deferred because, quite simply, Leaders Eat Last. This mindset is one way leaders demonstrate care and commitment to their teams. Simon Sinek puts it this way:

    “Marine leaders are expected to eat last because the true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.” It’s a visual presentation of the value of the team.”

    The reason this passage stood out to me is that I’ve had some recent conversations about succession planning within TTI. In my opinion, succession planning is really about demonstrating care for those we lead. Coaching, mentoring and guiding those who will someday replace us are primary skills for effective leaders. And not only planning for my own replacement but also helping my subordinate managers understand the value of succession planning creates success across the organization. Because, at the end of the day, it’s never about me, but about making my team successful and in so doing, making the organization successful.