What I learned at #15NTC!

The annual NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference is something I look forward to all year long! And #15NTC did not disappoint! I saw old friends, made new ones and learned tons!

NPTechies rule! This year had a good mix of sessions for the Techie!  We had security, contract negotiations, help desk, IT alignment, analytic, data, CRM, disaster planning and so many more. Loved seeing a theme of "People, Process and Tools" come from numerous sessions and different speakers! I was worried sessions on Ello and Crowdsourcing would crowd out the IT staff. oy. Big kudos to peeps like Peter S. Campbell for laying the groundwork to keep tech tracks alive (be sure to read his recap of #15NTC).

Weds, March 4

Ignite Plenaries!
The first round of ignites were great with quotes like:

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. from @jiandamonique

Be a mindful techie! #15NTC ignite. Savor the moments. Put your phone to bed and rest. Take time to focus.

"ie8 is a dumpster fire dressed as a web browser." from @dotcarly: Ha!

But the group on Friday really inspired me! Debra Askanase showed true bravery and shared a personal story about overcoming challenges with math. My favorite paraphrased quote was:

"I decided failure was not my story. Fear can not box me in. You can change your story." 

Then I enjoyed the play on semantics with Liza talking about how we should not "use" our volunteers. We use toilets, not volunteers. They are partners.

(And of course to the right is a video version of my ignite from last year, since Scope Creep did not get to perform this year)


Help Desk or Service Desk: Either Way, How Does IT Become a Partner?
It was amazing how much attention this session got since it was about Help Desks. I presented with Dar Veverka and John Cronin and it went super well! The key learning on this one was that most of the audience was already doing parts of service desk and didn't even know it.  But everyone appreciated the structure and more defined approach we offered.

Some key points:

• A help desk is about responding to users needs, while service desk is more proactive and changes the way the organization works
• A service desk is focused on providing expertise, structure & tools to improve processes across the organization
• The process of implementing a service desk takes time and includes a plan for service strategy (policies, standards), design (plans), transition (change mgmt) and operation (daily support). 
• The book ITIL V3 Small-Scale Implementation, is a complex but great resource to learn more about Service Desk

Avoiding Disaster - A Practical Guide to Backup Systems and Disaster Recovery Planning
This session was well run and the speakers (Dar Veverka and Andrew Rugninis) rocked, even lightened things up by sharing some stories about disasters they had faced (mostly water & monkey guts following Andrew around). Some key points:

• Disaster plans should be iterative. Start with basics, then build over time. 
• Disaster planning can be lead by IT, but should be an organization effort.
• BIA - Business Impact Analysis combined with level of risk is a big part of how to prioritize in your Disaster Plan.
• Knowing which key team members & vendors you will go to when a specific event occurs is critical.
• There are a large number of backup options these days; cloud, drives, NAS, tapes, etc. Balance cost, ease & speed. 
• Even if you are on all Cloud services, you need a backup. Crazy things happen when nature or humans are involved.
• When fighting a disaster. Stop. Communicate first. Then start fixing. Admit problems, don't hide it. Establish trust.

Thurs, March 5

Strategy, IT\Mission Alignment and Outcomes -- How Do Yours Fit Together?
This session was even better than I thought! I can't wait to find a funder or partner to turn this into a book, workbook and full training for nonprofits! (contact us if you are interested!) This session built off of the IT Alignment model plus the Tactical vs. Strategic vs. Missional concept! The idea is:

1. Spend time understanding how well your technology is aligned to your mission using these tools on my blog
2. Build a set of plans and strategies which correspond to your IT Alignment Maturity
3. Implement the changes using the seven IT Alignment Super Powers from the SIMO model
4. And voila! You have the concepts, strategies and tools to align your technology!

What to do When Technology Isn't Your Problem?
Just like the family dog, technology is often blamed for things that are not its fault. Many of us rush to replace the technology we have. If it isn’t doing what we want, it must be broken. The greatest database in the world can’t save an organization that isn’t functioning well. And expecting it to will only lead to project failure along with a lot of frustration and missed opportunity. Some key points from this session:

• Triangle of success: corners=tech, people, process with mission at the center. If you focus on a corner, you will topple the table.
• A good role for leadership is to clear time for all staff for big projects  
• Something will go wrong with projects, chunk the project to minimize & brainstorm risks ahead of time.
• Can't convince the CEO, see if you can build other management support on a smaller scale to build off of.
• Features don't sell technology, it should be the value it delivers.
• Never underestimate the power of demonstrating opportunity costs. Sometimes NO is the best answer.
• Projects need a definition of success, but they also need a definition of failure. Create go-no checkpoints.
• When you are overloaded & a new project is added, always ask: "what should I stop doing?"

Igniting a Culture of Tech Innovation
If nonprofits don’t innovate, they are going to lose talent, support, and funding to other faster, sexier tech startups. Let’s talk about how to create a culture of tech innovation in nonprofits, because we have people’s interests, not just the bottom line, at heart. Some key points were:

• Good, documented process= you don't have to think about how to do your work as much, more time to innovate
• process maps are great for innovation because they provide a visual representation to react to. 
• attributes, attitudes & behaviors = Org Culture. understanding these can help you influence innovation.
• a good innovation driver facilitates the change, rather than doing it
• innovation success factors after starting, follow up, integration, top level buy in, inclusion
• Often a good idea, is just that, a good idea. Ideas get implemented when there is a real need, urgency, owner or ???
• Resources: Innovation Network, DesignKit.org, deckaholic.com, impactdesignhub.org, Standford Social Innovation Review, 

Fri, March 6

To be honest Friday's sessions were good, but the only session I attended worth mentioning here was:
Adoption Shouldn't be an Afterthought: Making Sure your Organization Actually Uses the Technology You Implement
Evidence shows that IT project failure happens more often than we’d like to admit in all types of organizations. The reasons for failure can be diverse, but at the root of many failures is lack of adoption. We’ll investigate the reasons that new IT systems don’t take hold in organizations, and how you can avoid these problems, starting from the very beginning of your project.  Some highlights included:

• People may like a change, but may hate the disruption it causes & be snarky in the background
• Include your skeptics in the project as project champions or planning. Don't avoid the conflict
• documentation is key to adoption!- prelaunch feedback, living documents & human vs tech process
• During adoption, watch for people returning to old habits or tools. Don't scold tho, find out why they went back
• Talking about risks pre launch is good, but FIXATING on them causes them to come true. acknowledge, plan, move on. 
• exec sponsor, org alignment, adopt plan, monitor success, tools - key steps to adoption
• If a problem or conflict comes up in a project (or adoption), take the time to address it directly.
• Silence is not a sign of support or all is well with adoption. Questions & complaints are better, at least they care

Sat, March 7 

Fishing with Friends at Lake Travis, best way to end a tech conference ever! Thanks to Scott Rockenstein for making it happen!

Recap:

All in all it was one of my favorite NTCs! I met some awesome new people and learned a ton. But lets see if we can get a social media campaign started to bring back #ScopeCreepTheBand at #16NTC!

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!