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…
Category: features
Managing Effectively When You’re Working Remotely
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…
HOWTO Be a TTI Ghost
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…
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: “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…
CISO In a Box?
When Nick McLarty resigned as TTI CISO in December, it was a significant blow to NIS because Nick was (and is) a valued and highly skilled team member. While I’m proud that Nick went on to become an Assistant Information Security Officer (ISO) for the TAMU System, I’m now tasked with providing a quality level…
Top 10 IT Issues
EDUCAUSE, the mothership for higher education IT, has published their top 10 issues for 2020. Interestingly, the top three issues are Information Security, Privacy, and IT Funding. Another interesting issue is #10 – “The Integrative CIO: Repositioning or reinforcing the role of IT leadership as an integral strategic partner of institutional leadership in supporting institutional…
Copier Refresh
Out of the 23 copiers across the agency, 21 of them have contracts expiring in December. As a result, NIS has requested proposals from all of the current TAMUS vendors who provide multi-function printer (MFP) services. Our intention is to refresh the majority of agency’s MFPs in the fall. What does that mean for you?…
Tri-Agency Retreat
Today is the anniversary of the death of Winston Spencer Churchill, the architect of the Grand Alliance between Britain, America, and Russia during World War II. It’s fitting that we hosted the Tri-Agency Retreat for TTI, TEES, and TEEX today. The purpose of the retreat was to get the leadership of the three agencies together…