The more NPTech changes, the more NPTech stays the same

A few of my last posts have been about how things have changed and all of the differences.  But in the midst of all these changes and progress, it amazes me how so many things haven't changed at all. Back in the late 90s I was hired at to do Software Support because I had an understanding of fiannce and accounting with a knack for technology.  The real need wasn't a technical one, it was a business process and financial management one.

Today it seems the same. We have better technology than yesterday, but I talk to so many nonprofits who understand technology is important but don't seem to know how to change their org to use it.  This was a big part of why YMCAs came together to help with the IT Alignment model.  We needed a way to express the types of changes needed as you mature how you use technology. You can read more about IT alignment on a special section of my blog.

But understanding how to mature your use of technology was just a first step in this for me. But the next step was in this was how to think this trhough in terms of your technology plan.  So the next evolution was to focus on how it relates to your technology plan. Focusing on how to pull it all in to a strategic plan just didn't seem to work. If your tech is just starting out in Chaotic or Reactive a strategic plan is just too much. And at some point a strategic plan just doesn't seem to be enough.  This lead to a session called Tech Smackdown: Tactical, Strategic vs Mission Planning.

But rather than tell you about it, here is a recording of a session I did on Tech Smackdown: Tactical, Strategic vs Mission Planning. This was recorded at the 2015 Legal Services Tech Conference.

Custom Software! We are so unique and complicated!

I can't count the number of times I have heard nonprofits say:

"Our needs are very unique, most systems won't work for us."

"We have a complicated model and process, it is hard to explain."

"We have limited tech experience, so we just do it all in Excel."

"We are too busy, we need to hire more staff to keep up."

There seems to be this peer pressure to brag about how unique a nonprofit's needs are. (This isn't any different than everyone bragging about how over busy they, like that is a good thing.) You aren't cool unless you are complicated. I don't get it. I know the problems nonprofits are trying to solve are massive and messy. Funders and donors exaggerate this on occasion by favoring those with a new approach, all while requiring unique reports and often not funding technology. The problems nonprofits have are real, but are we taking the time to rethink how we work to match the opportunities technology brings

Over the next few posts I will cover some of my thoughts on complicated process combined with custom solutions.

1. Complicated vs Complex
2. Custom Software = Custom Problems
3. Custom Process vs Best Practice

These ideas have been growing and changing in my head for years, but my new job has finally brought it all full circle. I finally have some close to complete thoughts on this. Which is good because some of these things have been driving me crazy for years.

Standalone Technology Strategy Is Dead. Long Live Stand Alone Tech Strategy

Every now and then I read something which sends me in a time machine chuckle.  I think to myself, "Self, haven't you read this already, like 20 years ago?"

"The days of building a standalone technology strategy are over."

This is the final line in a post on Outsource Magazine.  The idea is some orgs have moved all of their tech to the cloud, so there are no systems in house requiring tech support. SO hey, we don't need no stinking standalone tech strategy. Let's just completely integrate our tech plan into other areas.  It'll be great, THEY say. Everyone will help drive tech strategy and it will rock, THEY say.

I say get over it. The need for a standalone tech strategy still exists even if all of the systems are in the cloud.
If you have more than one system, who will think about integration?
If you have devices to access the cloud, who will think about those?
If you have staff using the technology, who will think about support and training?
If you want to re-engineer processes, who will do the mapping, solution planning, etc?
If you have new features released, who will think about how to use them?

I could go on and on. Not to mention, the need for someone to step back and have a vision for technology across the org.

Let's jump back to 1993. This model about Strategic Alignment from Venkatraman summarizes things for me.  We will always need technology thinking to happen from four different perspectives.

You can read about the model, but in essence it shows a need for technology strategy to:

1. Start with Business Strategy, drive process, end with tech implementation 
2. Start with Business Strategy, involves IT in definition, end with tech implementation
3. Start with IT Strategy, suggest Business Strategy change, end with change process
4. Start with IT Strategy, implement tech, end with change process

There are real needs for each of these types of strategy and without a standalone tech strategy to harness, drive and push these, how well do you think things will end? I picture a skyline consisting of a city of half built buildings without a tech strategy.  As long as you are in the middle of the city with your eyes down, getting the daily work done, you never notice the buildings don't get finished. But someone stepping back to view the horizon can see it clearly.

Emerging Technology Decisions (Nonprofit Examples)

This article was originally posted in Dimensions (a journalist publication from the National Catholic Development Conference). I redid a bit for a better read on a blog and threw in some pictures for fun.


I have a few stores I enjoy shopping at, but those stores also seem to know exactly how to get me to buy things I don’t want or need.

• The hardware store has amazing sales and rebates on items which drive me to spend more time in the store, buy things and return for more when I get the rebate. 

• The big box warehouse I shop at encourages me to buy everything in bulk. So an impulse buy turns into 30 items I don’t need, instead of 1. 

• Then there's my favorite gadget store, they have the coolest things I never knew existed and the kid in me just wants to buy them. 

I think it is pretty easy to relate how we evaluate emerging technology to how we shop, which may result in efficient use of funds or unused technology. We need to have a purpose and framework to evaluate emerging technology.

Emerging technology is the wrong thing to focus on. It is only a means to an end. The real end goal of emerging technology is to drive innovation. So it makes sense to follow the steps for Unleashing Innovation. Luckily MAP for nonprofits, Idealware and NTEN have created a great resource to walk you through Unleashing Innovation. I will refer to the steps they have outlined and would encourage you to go read the full report. But I want to use some examples of how to approach emerging technology with two nonprofits I have personal experience with.

The steps from the Unleashing Innovation resource are:

• Understand your Needs - Assess the things you could be doing better or differently 
• Know what Technology is available - Take time to educate yourself about the technologies available (resources like Idealware and NTEN can help) 
• Connecting the Needs - What is the catalyst or driver for exploring emerging technology 
• Make the Change Happen - Get leadership support, staff buy-in and drive adoption 
• What Success Looks Like - Define the planned outcomes and how you will measure it 

First a quick overview of the two organizations:

The Cara Program

I am the Manager of Technology at The Cara Program. The Cara Program is a workforce development organization focused on homeless or nearly homeless. We help them get and keep a job. We use a series of transformations classes, internships at social enterprises and professional development to prepare our students. Then a team of staff work with employment partners to identify job opportunities and match students to ensure a right fit. This is followed by a team of staff to stick with the student throughout the first year of employment. The culture is one of innovation, data driven decisions, tolerance for risk and ongoing change.

Leap of Faith Arts Ministries

My wife is the Executive Director at Leap of Faith Arts Ministries, a nonprofit focused on using arts to worship, and I volunteer to help them with their technology. Leap of Faith:

• Much smaller and has limited resources.
• As a Faith based organization their culture is rooted in their beliefs and impacts all decisions. 
• As a newer, smaller organization their tolerance of risk is less and they need to focus on building a stable base. 
• Their staff consists of an Executive Director, Dance Director and instructors, this small team has to focus their efforts on running the program.

These two orgs are different enough to illustrate how to approach emerging technology.

The first step is to understand your needs. 

The Cara Program	Leap of Faith Arts Ministries
Stable technology infrastructure, strategic technology plans, formal business process management and sophisticated data analytics. They have needs to improve their workflows, innovate programs, build sustainability and drive long term change.	The technology needs are more focused on operations and supporting a smaller staff with limited budget.  They have needs around creating efficiency, enabling communication, increasing awareness and establishing a stable foundation. This is the best time to involve others from your organization to build buy in during adoption.

This is no different than my example of the stores I enjoy. If I wander in to browse, without knowing what I need, I may leave with some cool stuff I will never use. Offering samples at the big box warehouse is no mistake, it purposely feeds on our impulses. Knowing what you need before you go to the store can help avoid the impulse buys. Now the exception may be if your need is to get new ideas, going to a store to browse and explore is a great idea.

The second step of finding available technology can happen in a number of ways. As a volunteer I help Leap of Faith Arts Ministries know what technology is available to them. They also belong to an organization called More Than Great Dancing which allows them to learn from similar orgs about the technology they are using. At The Cara Program we have a technology team of three staff, each taking time to learn about their perspective areas, as well as leveraging a group of volunteers in a Technology Advisory Committee. This committee provides an outside perspective and additional insight into emerging technology.

The trickier third step is connecting the technology to the need. It is easy to fall into the shiny object syndrome with emerging technology. You see an awesome technology and an opportunity, so you jump in and try it out. But having an opportunity is not the same as connecting to a need. Every organization needs to allow room for experimentation and pilots, however there should be a strategy behind it to avoid ending up with a collection of unconnected tools.

The other danger with emerging technology not rooted in a real need is experiencing a hype cycle ending with an unused toy. The technology hype cycle from Gartner shows the excitement when it is new, which quickly declines then levels off when the tool meets a real need (often way below the peak it originally reached).


I don’t buy too many things on a whim in bulk at the big box store. If I am going to try something new, I buy it in smaller quantity to try it out. And I know what my family typically likes, enjoys and needs before I go. Then I base my shopping on our budget, upcoming plans and what we already have. Much easier than trying to pick the right technology to meet the need and make sure it is useful.

Making the change happen is the fourth and toughest part of this process, especially if you haven’t done your homework in the first few steps to include your organization. A key to this step is defining what success looks like before the technology gets implemented. At The Cara Program a key to our adoption has been tying it to documented business processes and needs, taking the time to understand how we will use it before we buy it has been very effective. We also try out technology in small pilots while steering mission critical technology to integrated technology. At Leap of Faith it has been important to make all technology as easy to use as possible since there is no tech support. All technology is tied directly to a function, while balancing the faith based culture and limited resources. The innovation is really driven by cost savings and efficiency.

To close the loop (final step) you should compare the outcome to what you thought success would look like. Did the technology have the intended impact? Is the original need being met? Have things changed? Is the technology being used the intended way and is it sticking? This is a time to ask these questions.

Innovation driven by emerging technology can be a powerful way to radically change the way a nonprofit meets its mission and changes the world. It provides new ways to do old things, new opportunities and new ways of thinking, but without context on how you will use them or how they are needed in your organization, they will just be shiny toys. The way you approach emerging technology needs to be unique to your organization, goals, culture and mission. Be sure to read the full Unleashing Innovation resource to learn more about this process, then make it happen!

Does it have to be Innovation or Sustainability?

Are sustainability and innovation enemies?

Is sustainability the opposite of innovation?

It always seemed logical to me, sustainability is working to keep things going while innovation is all about change. They appear to work against each other.

Recently though I attended an innovation workshop one day and a sustainability workshop the next day. And something clicked, which I had always known, but it brought it back. Innovation is required for sustainability. When things are going well or when you are trying to go beyond success, sustainability is the foundation you build. Sustainability is not about status quo, it is about actively taking measures to ensure stability and growth. Innovation is key to growth.

It struck me as interesting when I heard Thomas Kuczmarski say something like -Innovation isn't always looking for a solution. Often it is just understanding & looking at problems differently. Not about idea generation, identifying the right problem to solve is the key to innovation.

And when I think about sustainability it is being able to see your potential problems and reduce the risk of them happening. So the key to both is knowing the problem.

Thomas Kuczmarski continued to talk about innovation as not the same thing as continuous improvement. Innovation is all about creating unique benefits, differentiation from competition, being valued by the customer, creating economic value = key to innovation. Of course I had to translate those to nonprofit terms like mission impact, serving the constituent and such, but you get the drift.

Nonprofits have a responsibility to their donors and supporters to be responsible with the organizations funds. Too many nonprofits see a need & act on it or come up with an idea (innovation), without first understanding the sustainability, which can waste resources. Every organization should have a conversation about sustainability to gain understanding about where you are having impact balanced against the cost. Not to say efforts which cost a lot need to be cut, the trick is to have a balance of efforts and cost for sustainability.

You should know exactly where your organization's contribution to intended impact & excellence in execution = assessing mission impact. If your org is doing something with low impact & you aren't the leader, maybe look at off-loading that to a partner. (Thanks to Steve Strang, MPA from Spectrum Nonprofit Services for the sustainability thoughts in the training)

In the end innovation is a big key to sustainability. Innovation is just an idea until it is defined, actionable & has measurable outcomes (and oh yeah, sustainable).

(The thoughts in this post are based on presentations from Thomas Kuczmarski and Steve Strang. Big thanks to your thoughts and inspiration, it will have an impact on org and me.)

Start with an Inventory - A Rule in Tech to Live by

When you go grocery shopping, first step? See what you have already.

Photo credit Kiri on Flickr

When you go on a vacation, first step? Well, I guess a list, but then you use the list to do an inventory to make sure you bring everything.

When you cook or bake, first step? Well, I guess a recipe, but then typically it is a good idea to make sure you have the ingredients. (Having been sent on last minute trips to spend too much on something we could have gotten cheaper at a time when we didn't really have the time, I can say... you want to make sure you have the ingredients...)

Bringing this back the tech now. Many, if not all, tech strategies and projects start with an inventory. Besides, my analogies were way too much of a stretch anyway.

Tech Replacement. First step in creating a technology replacement plan, take an inventory of your technology. Then use the inventory to determine what needs to be replaced and when. Then look for areas you need upgrades and expansions. Come up with a timeline and bingo. Of course it is a bit more complicated, but you get the idea.  Read this Article from TechSoup to learn more! Plus look at a tool like Spiceworks to build your inventory.

Security. Understand your current security, network, software and setup first. Best way to do that? My opinion is to get an outside security assessment, you can read more about my opinion in this post on Community IT.

Choosing Software. Most people would run out and look at the features or explore choices. But again, start with an inventory. This inventory is different though. It is no longer about a physical count. This inventory is best started with understanding your processes. Yep, good old business process mapping. You could try to jump to business requirements, but it will end up backfiring. The type of information uncovered and discovered when you document how you work is much different than jumping to how do you want the software to work.You must read this article from the Brilliant Peter S. Campbell on Idealware! Read this article from IT For Charities! Then dig through good articles on Idealware.

Websites. OK now you are going to say, start with the audience! Yes agreed, the audience is a key. But a close tie here is an inventory of your content. Shouldn't there be a balance of what you want to say, who you say it to, what they want to hear and what content you already have? Another good article from TechSoup.

Email and Social Media. Too many of the social media conference sessions I have gone to jump straight to the tool, seriously the tools are just tools. A real communication plan is needed first, know what you want to say to who and what you want them to do with the info.  Best place to start? Do an inventory of your current communications. Which leads me to a point going back to the website. Why have a website without a communication plan? Without a plan to communicate, your website is probably just a brochure. Another good article on TechSoup.

This probably all sounds logical and a good idea, but it still surprises me on how many times I hear about org's who skip these steps or even blog posts who just gloss over this.

Anyway, I think you get my not so hidden thought in this post. Start with an inventory. There is a reason most people know about gap analysis and how it starts with an inventory. It is because it works. And if you don't what Gap Analysis is, you might hang around and see if I post something about it next.

Please share any other good articles you have on these topics!

4 Easy Steps to Missional Tech Planning

This post is a follow up to a Tech Planning Smack Down: Behind The Scenes post on the Community IT blog about a Session at the Nonprofit Technology Conference. Be sure to go read that post first!

Intro

A silver bullet for technology planning does not exist. There is no right way to do it for everyone, your job is to find the way which works best for you today (might be different later).  But it actually goes even further, you may have to use multiple technology planning methods to build a single plan. We will walk through Tactical, Strategic and Missional technology planning.

In order for technology to meet staff and organization needs, support the organization’s strategic plan and provide innovation for program delivery and mission impact, it will need to implemented in a range of ways. Each style of technology planning requires different information, people, time, resources and skills. Each of them is also used to create different plans over different periods of time.  The first key is to have an overview of each type of planning; Tactical, Strategic and Missional.

So first an overview of each type.

Tactical: focuses on using quick timelines with small teams (even one person) to get all of the technology working correctly, establish a replacement plan with improvements and begin to address problems, not symptoms.

Strategic: Shifts to meeting the operational and strategic needs of the organization. Relies on cross-functional teams with a need for business process changes, staff training and change management. As strategic technology improves it gets tied to and even can be integrated into the organization’s strategic plan.

Missional: Scope shifts beyond the goals and plans to the mission and vision of the organization. This often requires expertise, insight and collaboration from outside the organization. Identify gaps between your ability to meet the mission and the capacity of the organization, then march technology to the gaps.

Make It Happen

Just understanding the types isn’t enough though, you have to know how you create and implement the plan too. But the real trick is that there is no one right way to do the planning.  Here are just some ideas, but you have to make it your own.

There are plenty of resources out there to show you how to do the tactical and strategic planning. I would suggest reviewing the Tactical Tech Planning course from Idealware, attending the Nonprofit Tech Academy from NTEN and reading the Unleasing Innovation paper from MAP Tech Works.  You should also consider working with a consultant to run the process and bring in outside expertise.

But I have not found as many which focus on the mission focused technology.  Which is why we ran a session on it at the 2014 Nonprofit Technology Conference.  So here is our idea on how to do it. (Lindsay Bealko from Toolkit Consulting and Andrea Berry from Idealware were key in planning and running this)

Who: Pull together a diverse group of people from inside and outside of your org with a wide set of experiences and expertise (including some who may not know your org well, but understands the cause). Have this group break into small teams and the activity we did in our session.

1. Mission or Vision Statement
Review your mission and\or vision statement and look for the phrases or concepts which:

• extend for many years
• exceed the capacity of your org
• requires collaboration across the sector
• reflects the big hairy audacious goal of the org

2. Identify the barriers
What stands in the way of acting on or in completing the selected part of your mission or vision statement? Create a list of these barriers.

3. Brainstorm with technology
Use a set of cards with different types of emerging and core technologies (prepare these cards ahead of time).  These cards should have a range of things from e-learning, emails, websites, mobile apps, text messaging, tablets, computer labs, CRM, big data, wide area network, etc.

Have the group brainstorm possible technology approaches to each of the barriers you identified in the second step. To make it tougher we had the group pick the technology which seemed like the least likely match. Challenge the group to look for ideas which do not rely on staff intervention, extend past the reach of the org, have a direct impact on constituents, etc.  Come up with your own rules for the group based on your style, culture and cause.

4. Bring it back
You may or may not come out of this exercise with a real and actionable idea to act on. But what you will get is a whole new conversation. Find a way to collect the info and then build on it.

Presentation Slides:

Here are the slies from the presentation.

Tech Planning Smack Down! Tactical Vs. Strategic Vs. Missional from Steve Heye

Technology Committees - Meetings can have Value

I have long been a fan of Technology Committees, but I don't hear a lot of others talking about it. In my role at The Cara Program, we have a fantastic Technology Steering Committee. I can't begin to state all of the benefit this group has brought. They have provided assistance, advice and insight, but have also helped us make connections, find resources and accomplish things we couldn't do alone. But before I go into a little information about our Technology Advisory Board, a few thoughts about committees.

Purpose. I suggest starting with defining a purpose for the committee. You have to come up with something meaningful for the group to work on. This needs to be bigger than just whatever comes up and you need help on immediately. There should be a tie to a real need in the organization and if possible, a long term set of goals.

Structure. What type of committee will you have?

• Policy - similar to the Board of Directors where they will set policy and make decisions. This could be called a review or approval committee also. But the key is you make the recommendations, they make the decision.
• Budget - this group is really meant just to help guide what is feasible and what is the best use of your funds.
• Steering - this type typically drives the process and comes up with the recommended solution, but brings it to another group or person to make the final decision.
• Advisory - this role is more about opinions, advice and collaboration. The group comes in knowing they are there to help, support and be involved in a meaningful way, not drive and decide. There is still great value and involvement for everyone, but the decision stays inside the org.

I prefer the later of these (Advisory) for my technology committees. There are many times when I don't have all the answers or where technology decisions are just too complex for internal staff. I Plus with outside input, real innovation is even more likely.

Regularity. This group needs clear expectations and a regular schedule, but you can set the schedule. Our committee meets each quarter for our full meeting, but is in regular contact between those. And sharing updates with the group, without a request for help, can go a long way.

Commitment. Before you begin, make sure you are ready to do it for the long haul. You will need to put in the work to keep the group alive and active, but the payoff for them and your org is worth it.

Return on Investment. No, I don't mean for the org. I mean, make sure there is return on the investment of the time of your volunteers in the committee.

Further Reading!

• Read my next post I will share some thoughts on who to include and what to do at the meetings.
• See the overview for The Cara Program Technology Advisory Board on Slideshare.

What I learned at #14NTC (NTEN Nonprofit Tech Conference)

People were the best part of #14NTC, which always seems to be true. I met so many new people and got to see so many I have known for years!

Kudos to the NTEN staff for a great event and for keeping a smile on their faces the whole time! (or close to the whole time)

Weds, March 12

Pre-Conference: How to Succeed in Technology Failure without Really Leading (check out the slides)
I was on the panel for this session, but learned a bunch of things before and during the session from the other amazing members of the panel.

• Awesome report from Standish group on project success\failure
• Creating a shared vision of success: • Everyone must have a shared understanding of what success looks like • Without it, you cannot get to a successful outcome • Senior leadership with tech fluency and IT leadership with mission fluency • The entire organization must be involved 
• If leadership manages technology like Captain Picard where there is no discussion, it is just "Make it so," your tech staff will stop being creative and innovative.
• If tech staff doesn't take the time to learn the business, programs, mission, etc., they won't be able to help the org's goals.
• Investing in your tech staff is key. Don't spend all of your budget on an outside consultant and leave your staff without any training. I added a quote I heard about investing in staff: "What if I invest in staff and they leave? The real question is: What if you don't invest in staff and they stay?"
• Rose shared how she used the IT Alignment Model I had a role in creating, plus talked about the value of doing an alignment assessment.
• Great conversation between the leadership staff in the room and the IT staff in the room on how to improve communications-collaboration. Leadership should give IT seat at the table, give authority, share mission information, involve tech early, learn to involve tech in problem solving instead of order taking, etc. Techs should stop using geek speak, learn about the business, stop over-complicating policies, involve users in decisions, 
• Talked about how to fail without collapsing the whole org. Learn to identify level of acceptable risk, do pilots, control the scope, build in go/no go checkpoints, set realistic expectations, etc.
• Accountability and Authority are key elements to a successful project, consider using a decision making model like RACI.
• Good quotes:
• “Unfettered Quasi-Illuminati Fueled Social Engineering Conducted by Out-of-Touch Foundations Seeking Self-Aggrandizing Strategies.”
• "Obfuscate stuff with Gobbldy Gook"
• "Reviewing old tweets is not the best way to figure what staff knew after they leave"
• "Funders need to leave room for failure to allow for success"
• "IT Alignment doesn't happen because it is too easy for nonprofits to say "We Don't Have the Resources" or "I Don't Understand the Tech""

#NTCBeer!
I learned about the value of taking time to be social, this may seem easy for me, but it often isn't. I find ways to stay busy and avoid social events. It was proven worth while when a couple people from #13ntc approached me and we both immediately remembered a personal connection we had shared the year before.

Thurs, March 13

IGNITE! Plenary
I heard so many people just loved the Ignite Sessions! It was a fantastic way to kick off the conference:

My heart went out to Sue Anne Reed in the Ignite session! She showed amazing bravery sharing her personal stories of hard challenges, life lessons and outlook on life. She really stole the stage and engaged the audience, plus provided great thoughts for everyone to consider in their own life.

Huge THANKS TO Peter S. Campbell and Dahna Goldstein for being brave enough to bring part of Scope
Creep The Band into reality!

Here is a portion of my ignite session in a pre-recorded format:




Head in the Clouds: Real world experiences and recommendations for moving technology infrastructure to the cloud. 
Whether you’re working with a provider or building your own, moving to the cloud is an important step that takes planning, staff and dollars. This panel discussion looks at the whys and hows of moving to the cloud, as well as how two organizations approached their moves to the cloud.  Session specifics will include strategic planning, cost-benefit analysis, infrastructure planning, migration paths, best practices and more.

• The cloud is not just one thing, need to understand some of the different models out there -- public, private, hybrid. Public are outside your network, often big services such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure. Private cloud is a function provided within your own firewall. Something you manage and control. Hybrid - moving to the cloud isn’t a binary choice. Can combine some services in cloud and others on-site, and integrate them.
• Meeting user expectations are good reasons to consider cloud services: availability / access / mobile
• Cloud combined with virtual desktop can create equal access to all tools across staff & org.
• Cloud contracts are CRITICAL to read! When you migrate off, how do you get your data, in what format and when?
• A few things for smooth cloud move: do homework, build a team, communicate vision, plan, test, distinguish need v want,

Marriage Counseling for IT and Communications: Get Better Results Together
From strategy planning to case studies following implementation, gain insight into how a strong partnership between IT and Communications can create a smarter, more sophisticated approach to your communications. (The Amazing Peter Campbell playing the role of IT)

• Leadership must take a role in breaking down silos between IT & Marketing. Too often org chart & leadership builds tension.
• Create a regular format for Communications and IT staff to meet on an ongoing basis
• focusing on business goals gets everyone pulling in one direction. Take out the personal and advance the mission.
• Make help desk process as easy & fast as possible to make tech friendly to mktg & more
• View tech support as relationship not as service to users
• Tip to have better relationship with IT  -  don't wait for computer problem to be in touch

Fri, March 14

Disrupting the Nonprofit Sector
 If we are going to truly solve the world's toughest social problems and obtain the necessary resources to do it right, we need to examine how the nonprofit sector can evolve to create more innovative and efficient organizations. This involves disrupting the nonprofit sector as we know it today.  Drawing from Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward's book Social Change Anytime, Everywhere, topics will range from 'Thinking Like A Start-Up' to exploring 'Reducing Competition and Consolidating Resources.'

• Interesting idea: charge for a service, but refund the money if they show up. 
• Striking that most orgs invest less than 3% in #nptech
• Disappointment=reality minus expectations. A key to innovation is realistic expectations & know when to quit
• Grow a culture of "we all succeed together" & "we all fail together." Don't allow all compliments to go to any one staff person, nor all of the blame (including leadership).
• Need to delineate between Fail & Screwing Up. Accountability still needs to exist. 
• Be purposeful on how much you experiment. Create innovation budget (not just dollars, but risk tolerance too)
• Using run, grow, transform is a good budgeting framework to distinguish operations from innovation http://shar.es/RZndS 
• Saying no to an opportunity, even when money is tied to it, let's you say yes to a better opportunity
• If you want to spur change in your org, but you have no authority, figure out who influences the influencers in your org
• Leadership should be cheerleader of staff ideas, not be the creator of all ideas.

Network Security for the Non-Profit: Beyond PCI Compliance
This session is for nonprofit tech professionals who have an interest in network security. Learn about various security options that scale keeping in mind limited time, expertise and budget.

• Security matters b/c "damaged reputation/donor lack of confidence in organization could be catastrophic"
• “you can transfer risk to a vendor…but you can’t transfer responsibility for your data”
• Look for ways to tie your security plans to ongoing strategic & capacity needs.
• Patching is 95% of the battle
• definition based security is on its way out b/c threats are so dynamic, that means heuristics are the new it.
• Ken shared a ton of tools and ideas on setup as well, but it is impossible to show without his presentation. (Here is a link, but not sure it will work)

Requests for Proposals: Making RFPs work for Nonprofits and Vendors
This session is for people who either purchases software and services as well as people who provide such things. RFPs are controversial, with good reason: a poorly written RFP does little to help the buyer or seller forge a successful transaction or engagement. (The Amazing Peter Campbell Presiding). Read the great session notes to see more, bunch of my notes in there.

Sat, March 15 (how did both of my sessions end up on Saturday?)

Balancing Project Management and Business Process for Long Term Success - I Presented
Business Process has invaded my career, my life and now my dreams. I will be sharing my experiences plus a lot of thoughts on Methodology, plus Betsy will bring her PMO skills to the table. I don't think I have ever seen a session like this one at NTC, it will rock.

Read the good session notes for this one too! To get an example of part of my session, you can take 10 minutes and watch the video below or check out the slides. NOTE though, the video misses our main point of the session, which was how to make Project Management and Business Process a part of your everyday work, not just during projects.

View the slides!



Tech Planning Smack Down! Tactical Vs. Strategic Vs. Missional - I Presented
THIS WAS FUN! I haven't presented with Lindsay in YEARS, but we make an awesome and fun team, this will not be boring or a slideshow! This will get you thinking and involved. Seriously though, you will learn all new ways to approach your boring, old tech plan.

View the slides.

Read the session notes, but they can not accurately describe the amount of fun we had in this session. Nor can they accurately describe the type of thinking we encouraged in the audience.

SUMMARY

All in all, it was a great conference! I was so excited to hear so many people talking about how to match technology to the mission throughout the conference, it's like music to my tone deaf ears. I think the key point I learned this year, was to keep pushing to learn more, each time I feel like I get comfortable with a topic I find out there is so much more to know. NTC serves to solidify my love of the #NPTech community, so many knowledgeable, generous and passionate people! Let's get out there and use the tech to meet the MISSION!

Tech Planning Smack Down! Tactical vs. Strategic vs. Missional

I am preparing for a session I will be presenting at the 2014 Nonprofit Technology Conference.  I have been having an internal battle for 15 years on the topic of Strategic Technology Planning.  I have read books, blog posts, case studies and articles proclaiming the best practices of a Strategic Technology Plan. But as I often repeat, “Best for you, isn’t best for me. Let’s talk about Model Practices.”

This leads me to a topic I have seen bounding around recently. Maybe we don’t all need a strategic technology plan. At first, you have to focus on a stable infrastructure.

As a terrific example, Idealware has created their Tactical Technology Training, which I LOVE!

But we all know a strategic plan is needed for deeper impact of our technology. Which I would recommend the Tech Leadership Academy from NTEN.

However, the contender I want to bring to the ring is MISSION.

Sure our Strategic Technology Plan is tied to mission via a close tie to the organization’s overall Strategic Plan. But what about stepping back to find ways for technology to directly impact the mission, not to support the org in meeting the mission. Do you see the distinction?

Here are a couple slides to illustrate this, but I would love for a few people to watch the video embedded below and give me some real feedback.  I will be refining the concept, slides and presentation between now and March 2014.  This is just a sampling of what will be discussed there, but I could really use your feedback!

In 2014 Don't Let Tech Turn into SOS. #TechRevival

SOS - Save our Ship (ok, it doesn't really stand for that, but we all recognize SOS to mean something like it)
or
SOS - Same Old Stuff (or SOSDD- Same Old Stuff Different Day, yeah, I know most people say something besides stuff)

If our Tech Language and Management is centered on SOS, we will fall into the following traps.

Distress - If DISTRESSED times are the only time we talk about our technology, it will be nearly impossible for technology to have a real impact or make real change. It is seen as a necessary evil, instead of opening new potential.

Save Us - If the Tech Team is only included or called when things are broken, all we can do is treat the symptoms. In addition, IT may be seen as the creator of the problem, so they had better fix it now, which does not allow Technology to thrive.

Helpless - If SOS is called for technology and IT help always fixes it for you, how does staff ever learn from it? Give someone a fish, feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish and they end up spending all of their money at Bass Pro, err, I mean they can feed themselves.

BUT the worst of all is...

Ambivalent - Once users could go either way with your technology, take it or leave it, you are in real trouble. You don't want to hear things like:

• "Go ahead and change the tool, not like it matters, you will just change it again later..."
• "Nice Tool!" (secretly scampers off and continues to use work-around)
• "You are the IT group, just tell us what to do and make it work."
• "Our technology is fine, but I don't need it to accomplish my goals."

So what are we supposed to do?

Have a Vision and Share It!

You need to be able to tell the story of how technology is benefiting your organization and how you plan to improve it.

What if you asked an org about what they accomplished in 2013 and they answered:

"We answered our phones 11,123 times, turned on the lights each day we worked, paid our bills, had 50 staff show up each day they were supposed to and shook 4,234 people's hands."

If that seems messed up, then why do we talk about our IT like:

"Network is stable, 2,456 help desk tickets completed, 4 major projects completed on budget, 99.99% uptime, implemented 7 new tools." 

Who cares.

A real strategic technology plan. I strongly believe a Strategic Technology Plan aligned with your mission can make all of the difference. Especially if you turn it into a short digestible, visual document to be shared with all staff. 

The key is to be able to express the impact on staff efficiency, process effectiveness and new opportunities which came from your technology. What changed because of the technology you implemented?

Communicate it. Change the tone of communication about your technology, get the positive message out there. Paint a picture of the potential future.

Yeah, I know what you are thinking.  We are hesitant to share our future technology plans, because things change so fast and we aren't sure we will be able to do it all. To me the key for this is to focus on the direction and strategy, not the timeline and the tool.  

Here is what I like to do:

• Share the specific projects coming in the next year, WITH specific goals on how it will change how we work and improve our organization.
• Describe the long term strategy by talking about the philosophy and focus over the next 4-6 years.

Example:

• Next year we will implement a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Our goal is to replace many of the manual processes tracked in Excel and decrease the paperwork needed. We will be improving our intake process to allow our admissions team to focus on the client, limit multiple data entry points and not be as distracted by the tools.
• Over the next five years we will be looking to move systems to the cloud to shift internal support staff to focus on users, centralize staff collaboration tools to clear clutter and improve communication and look for ways to improve our business processes to better leverage our tools.

But the only way you can do the communication above is to be able to back it up with a Strategic Technology Plan.  You need to have the conversations about priority, upcoming projects, long term vision and have buy in with your plan before you can share it.

So a technology plan is more than just a document needed to manage your projects, it is a key to making technology a force for good in your organization.

Start 2014 right with a technology plan. 

New to Tech Planning? Read this article from Tech Soup!

Ready to add mission and strategy to your tech plan?

• I would suggest reading my resources about IT Alignment  (and if you need help, let me know). 
• Then complete the IT Alignment Assessment to identify areas to add to your Strategic Tech Plan.

All hands on deck! We Need MORE Staff! not.

“if we had more staff we would..

…engage better on social media!”
…create more content!”
…serve more clients!”
…analyze metrics and segment audiences!”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have all sat in breakout sessions where there are countless good ideas, perfect strategies and amazing resources. But there is always that group of people mumbling or outright yelling, we can’t do that, We DON’T have ENOUGH STAFF. Blah, blah, blah.

First, a big shout out to Kivi for an article that inspired my post! You should read it! Kivi always has terrific resources and her blog post on this topic is much richer in content. I hope I didn't overlap content too much. Some of our examples are similar, but I tried to come from the tech side.

While I will immediately acknowledge that many (if not all) nonprofits are under resourced, I do not think adding staff always solves problems. More staff = more politics, more management, more red tape, more, more, more, then you need more staff because you have more staff.

I think many of our challenges could be solved if we used a more important resource better, time. If we start to value each staff person’s time more than adding more staff, we may just solve some of the issues leading to the need for more staff.

Example 1: We need more staff to engage better on social media.

You can interpret this statement a few different ways. We don’t have a social media expert on staff, we don’t have time to manage all of those different channels, we don’t know where to start or we don’t even have a marketing staff. Whatever.

What I hear: Social Media is not a big enough priority for me to make time for it.

I would argue that this is a time issue, which could be solved with planning, a volunteer (or other staff) and tech.

1. Make time to create simple content plan (better yet, start with a template from a colleague, NTEN, Idealware, TechSoup or wherever)
2. Find someone with existing experience with social media (volunteer or staff) OR learn by DOING it, just find an easy place to start, then budget time to do it. If it is a priority you will find the time.
3. USE TECH! There are so many tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, etc that are free\cheap built to help you listen, engage post.

MOTTO: Don’t work harder. Work smarter. More staff may not fix it. Find existing experience and let the tech do the work.

Example 2: We need more staff to analyze metrics and segment audiences.

What I hear: we don’t care what our audiences want to hear, we just know what we want to tell them. (maybe a little harsh, but eh.)

I would argue that this is a time issue, which could be solved with planning, a volunteer (or other staff) and tech.

1. Make time to create a simple content plan and profile of your audience needs (better yet, start with a ideas from a colleague, NTEN, Idealware, TechSoup or wherever)
2. Find someone with existing experience with metrics and segmenting (volunteer or staff) OR learn by DOING it, just find an easy place to start, then budget time to do it. If it is a priority you will find the time. (Also check out the analysis exchange, free metrics help)
3. USE TECH! This one isn’t cheap but you can solve the segmentation with Tech. Tools like Informz or Higher Ground will do the segmenting, metrics, audience profiling and so much more for you. But you do have to pay for that. BUT that expense is still cheaper than the staff it would take to do it.

MOTTO: Don’t work harder. Work smarter. More staff may not fix it. Find existing experience and let the tech do the work.

Oh, wait, did I sorta say the same thing for both examples? Weird.

Maybe that is because that is what we do, we do the same thing over and over. We have a need, we hire more staff.

Before hiring, think about:
… your process, can it be improved?
… your staff skills, can they be trained?
… your tools, can tech solve the problem?
… your strategy, are you being purposeful?

I am not trying to say we need more tech and less people. I am saying, let's think through some of the challenges we are facing and think through all of the options.

The Cloud is our hero! #MMM Episode 3

So I tried out a new tool for Episode 3 of Monday Minute Movie (#MMM).  But who knew that once you were done, you couldn't go back and edit. oy. Plus I can't embed it, WHAT? There goes my viewership.....

So this month's #MMM is a bit over a minute, but is under 2 minutes! SO I will just call it a minute and you can just get over it.

This month's topic is an advertisement for the Ignite Session that I will be doing at the #13NTC!

Watch My Google Story called The Cloud is our Hero!


Cant Make it to #13NTC?
And a quick announcement. If you can't go to the Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN, you should seriously consider the Online NTC! I was not able to attend the conference last year, but did attend online. It was a great experience, not as good as being there, but still great. I was able to catch the Keynote speakers, which ROCKED! Plus I picked a few good sessions to join.

To make the online NTC experience better though, I involved a bunch of co-workers. We all gathered in a room to watch sessions together that were cross functional. We were able to chat and apply to our work right away. We were brainstorming and building some camaraderie during the sessions.

So while one of the best parts of the NTC is the hallway conversations and the amazing people you meet, when you can't attend in person, the online NTC is still a good choice. Plus it is very reasonably priced, especially if you share it with others at your org in a room with a projector.

Anyway, register for the NTEN NTC online conference today! http://www.nten.org/ntc/online

Awesome Tech Planning Resource!

For the last two weeks I have rambled on about Tech Planning. I have thought about how to demystify the process. How to simplify it. 

The key was a shift from Strategic Tech Planning to Tactical Tech Planning!

Wait, What? Why would you not want strategic tech planning? What is up with Tactical?

Well let's put it this way. If your car has a flat tire and needs a new starter, do you need a strategic plan to fix the car? 

Well if your technology is in the early stages, it is like fixing your car. You have to get everything working correctly before you can think about the strategic parts. Doing an oil change, regular maintenance and thinking through upgrades is a bit silly when it has a flat and can't start.

The self serve training and resource for Technology Planning that I have been dreaming about for years has arrived. And it is from the trusted experts at Idealware! Yay! This resource is the perfect way for you and your organization to begin the journey toward a strategic technology plan by starting with a tactical one.

Idealware let me have a sneak peek at the training and associated resources, I cannot easily explain how AWESOME they are! When you combine the video with the downloadable action plans and templates, you have everything you need to get started. But even better, they don't throw it all at you at once. They purposely take you through a series of steps that are easy to digest and complete.

You might be saying to yourself, Self, I think this guy is whack or is getting paid to talk about this, but you would be wrong. Well maybe not about the whack part.  I am only talking about this training because I think it is a great tool! I have worked with Idealware on a volunteer basis in the past, but  I just really appreciate what they do.

So anyway, If you work at a small to mid size nonprofit, I would suggest going to Idealware and check out their Tactical Tech Planning today! http://tacticaltech.idealware.org/ 

Also a huge shout out to the Pierce Family Foundation for their support of this project! Awesome to see a foundation that really understands the importance of solid technology, operations and administration to support a nonprofit to meet it's mission!

Technology Strategy Follow up to #MMM Episode 2

So last week I posted a one minute video on creating a technology strategy.

I showed the basic steps of:

1. Listing your technology needs, projects and hopes in a spreadsheet
2. Add columns for Effort, Priority and Cost
3. Fill in columns with high, medium and low
4. Then look for the combination of effort, priority and cost that you are able to accomplish

Well your technology plan really can be that simple when you are just beginning. When your needs are centered around your infrastructure it is easy to manage. When these projects start to cross over into enterprise software, websites, social media or communications, it can get much more complicated.

Creating a technology plan that requires process or cultural changes, is much more complex. These will take some deliberate steps to build support, prepare staff, enable champions, document your business, understand operational goals and so much more.

So why did I try to make technology planning look so simple?

Because if you don't start with your infrastructure, the other stuff is useless. If you have an awesome website with bandwidth too slow to upload images to it, optimal external communication tools but no good way to share information internally or you have the perfect enterprise software running on computers too slow to run it, then the best technology plan is just a waste.

So your technology plan ALWAYS needs to start with the basics. Get the trains running on time, keep the lights on, start with a foundation to build on or whatever metaphor you want to use.

Later I will look at how you should begin to add in concepts like organizational readiness, mission impact, return on investment, benefit analysis and all of the other ways to make your technology more meaningful.  You have to find purposeful ways to shift your technology from a cost center to manage to a transformative method to meet your mission.

However, we have to find the balance in technology strategy.  Here is a great reminder with a quote from Allen Gunn in a great article on the Nonprofit Quarterly:

Remember That Technology Is Not a Strategy
According to Allen Gunn, executive director of Aspiration, a San Francisco-based nonprofit technology consulting organization, many organizations make the error of treating technology as a replacement for strategy: “In the same way they’d order up pizza delivery, some nonprofits think they can order up a piping hot enterprise technology strategy. We tell organizations to take a step back and think about your business processes first. Look at things from a process-centric way and not a tech-centric way.”

Be sure to go read the full article, it is fantastic. 

Technology Planning #MMM Episode 2

That's right! It is the last Monday of the Month and it is time for (drumroll .....)

Episode 2 of Minute Monday Movie #MMM!

This month I tried to create a tech plan in 1 minute. It helps when you can speed up time, prepopulate things and not really finish the process.

Of course, I would recommend transforming your spreadsheet into a narrative providing additional information, plus a more detailed project plan and overview, but what do you want in 1 minute. Seriously.

But I think this can jump start anyone that is struggling with how to start a tech plan.

Grab your popcorn, but eat fast, this is only 1 minute.

Tech Priorities sabotage strategy.

"Our database needs to be replaced."

"Our website needs a redesign immediately."

"Our network is down."

Typically followed by:

"In the best interest of the org we need to make this a priority and focus only on it."

All of these projects would need to be made top priority and would require the highest attention. I am not denying the simple fact that IT is often required to focus on a single project or drop everything to fix something.

But as I think through my experiences and so many stories that I have heard, I hear a common theme. "The project we were working on was so critical to one team or goal...... but somehow we missed how it would impact the full org or other goals."

Software is a classic example of this.

1. How many times have we heard about a single department or program area running out to get software to meet their needs without first checking with IT to see if it was the right choice? 
• This meets the immediate needs and may be the best solution. But a good discussion of how the data will be created, stored, used and shared is critical.
2. Or how many times have we changed software packages only to realize that it was our process that was broken not the software and our old software actually did have the functionality we needed?
• Often we blame technology for our ineffective processes 

Websites carry the same issue.

1. We spend time defining the audience, the design, the functionality, the goals we hope to accomplish and are very deliberate about everything.  But then once the website is implemented we suddenly realize that it isn't integrated with our core database, we have created manual work-arounds to collect email signups from the website or includes tools that overlap existing ones used internally?
• We don't always take time to understand the tools used to build our website or to explore other options.
2. We often also forget to think through what we will do with the data, analytics and transactions that happen on our website and what the follow up process will need to be.
• How does what happens on our website impact our work and what will we have to do as a result?

Often we do everything we are supposed to within a project to ensure it's success! But without a dedicated resource that reviews all tech projects as a whole, you will miss opportunities to evaluate the impact on the overall org.

Every nonprofit should have a resource, whether internal or external, helping them develop a technology strategy that can be used as a decision framework for technology projects.

Don't let the immediacy of a need or the lack of resources dictate your technology strategy. You will pay for it in the short and long run.

Is the business stakeholder always right?

The customer is always right. Isn't that what they always say?

Well in some people's minds, the stakeholder is the customer for IT staff. So therefore the stakeholder is always right?  

Um, how do I put this delicately enough so to keep the stakeholder's support but still get the job done in the best way for the org. No. The stakeholder isn't always right.

(SIDE NOTE! I completely disagree about calling people customers as IT staff, we should partner with the staff in our org as IT staff, not just take orders)

In a previous job we were working to select a CMS for our website. IT and Marketing collaborated closely to create the RFP, select a group of vendors, narrow the choices and then at the end we voted for our top choice. Seems very reasonable right? 

But the voting was just a way to let Marketing make the decision because they were the stakeholder. IT needed their support to make the website successful. So we let the conversation, decision and process lean in their favor. They know what is best, let them lead and decide.

In the end we loved our design and our website overall. But a month didn't go by without us struggling as a team of IT and Marketing to get the functionality to work for us. We had a tool that limited our flexibility, required many work-arounds and didn't meet our needs. We had repeated releases to try to address the issues, but a few of our problems were a direct result of the choice of CMS\vendor that we made.

Did we do what was best for the stakeholder by not pushing harder to educate or illustrate the challenges we would face?

Many times it seemed like all we did was set us up to be blamed for not being able to make the website work. And for us to retort with, well you picked the tool. Now it wasn't as school playground, smack talky like that. No it was just this hidden, ugh kind of feeling.

So is the business stakeholder always right? My answer is. Lead with a yes, they are right, but some education and push back can go a long way to avoid organizational problems that won't go away. Before a large decision like this starts, clearly define areas of expertise and then let the expert make the decision, not always the stakeholder.

Just my thoughts as I reflect.

Technology Impact #MMM Episode 1

I have been pushing myself to do more with video, but well it takes time to plan, create, edit, post, share, etc.

One Minute Movie on the last Monday of the Month. #MMM. Yeah. I think I can do that!

Then once I have a few similar ones, then maybe I can compile into a blockbuster.

Anyway. The first episode of #MMM = Monday Minute Movie Episode 1 is Technology Impact.


Then to learn more about the IT Alignment model referenced in the video visit my new IT Alignment page.

Who Owns Social Media?

Who owns social media?

"Everyone owns social media." that is the answer that so many people seem to rally around. And at first glance I agreed and thought "Heck ya" and raised my hands in the air! We all own it, we all participate, you can't control it, IT'S ALL OF OURS!

But as I thought about that, I began to really wonder. Does everyone really own social media? Or is it really that noone owns social media? Then I thought, ok what the heck are we even talking about. What does that question even mean, "who owns social media?"

Are we asking who owns the social media strategy? Who is in charge of our social media presence? Who is the final decision maker of what gets posted on social media for our org? or who actually owns it?

Often I wonder if we are asking the right questions or are we looking for catchy blog titles that will get more people to buy our consulting services, read our article, share the link to the article without reading it or whatever. (like I did in this post?)

Is "Who owns Social Media?" the important question that we need to answer?

I personally don't care.

But I do care about questions like:

1. Who is managing our social media authors, who are the authors and do they understand our social media philosophy? (see this awesome NTEN post about philosophy!)
2. Who is responsible for managing how we use social media across all of our Marketing, Communications, Fundraising and other strategies?
3. Who owns and manages our brand across all of our channels including social media?
4. Who acts as the primary community manager on each of our social media channels?
5. If #$%# happens on our social media who is the one person we go to for decisions on quick action?

I don't think we can have multiple owners of our communication strategy and expect to have one brand voice. We can all come up with our strategies and plans to use social media to meet our groups goals and to communicate, but they should all roll up to the organization's communication strategy that has a clear owner. Or am I just whack?

While we may all participate, contribute, engage and otherwise own our activity on social media. I do not think that everyone owns social media.

But I do think your communication strategy should have an owner with a structure that allows everyone to be active in social media.

If "Who owns Social Media?" is the wrong question, that what is the right one?