IT Manifesto and Collection of things...

Holly Ross posted "A Leadership Manifesto: Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom" on the NTEN blog. Please take a minute to go to this post and make your comment, especially if you have a different viewpoint. This is a great post.  Here are a couple quotes that I cant help but share.

"Right now, in our sector, we need technology leaders.  We are standing right on top of a critical inflection point, and we owe it to our causes to make sure that we navigate the change as best as we possibly can. So I am calling on all of you to stand up and lead.  We will follow you."

"The old style of IT management was a command-and-control model.  It was about "experts" making decisions for the end users and mandating those decisions. These days, there are more experts than you think. innovation and expertise in technology can come from any staffer in any role, and technology leaders need to recognize and embrace that.  We need to run IT shops that protect our assets while encouraging this innovation. When everyone's a part of process, the revolution happens much more quickly."

And from out of the comments from Holly:
"tech is definitely undefined and muddy now. It's out of the back room and out in every department at your organization. Think about how we used to deal with IT...."  "now technology is a completely different beast. It's about communicating, conversing, collecting, sharing, advocating and more. It's about all the ways that we meet your missions."

Holly hints that the conversation about technology leaders has only just begun for the next year.  I cant wait to see what comes out of this.

And here are a few other gems I want to share:
Recording of a presentation on IT Alignment that John Merritt and I did for NTEN. It is worth a watch, we were on something of a roll that day.

Slideshow of Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom from Holly Ross.

Forget the Tech, Lets Talk Mission - Great article from John Merritt (he wrote it and just added my name)

And now for something completely different, be sure to take time to order your copy of Beth Kanter and Allison Fine's new book the Networked Nonprofit. Read more about the book and the launch!

Flickr Photo credit: Chris.Corwin

Social Media Comments Gone Wild! What to do?

What if someone says something bad about us on social media? We cant do that!

Isnt that one of the bigger hesitations of orgs using social media? It is easy to think through what to do if the comments are just wrong, but what if the comments are bad but correct, just plain mean or pose a real risk?

I am a huge fan of the Air Force Blog Assessment chart! This is what we used to guide the discussion around how and when we should reply to comments on our social media sites.  This visual worked great to allow non-tech staff to think through and understand all of the options.  It also helped leadership to feel more comfortable with our ability to reply.

But what do you do when the same comments start to cross boundaries and exposure your participants, your members or your organization to real risk?

So in addition to the Air Force Blog Assessment we decided to create a comment escalation flow chart.  This is intended to help our social media authors decide what action to take in addition to the reply.  We wanted to have a documented process for our employees to use and to find a way to keep our Communications & Risk Management departments in the loop.  So here is what we came up with.  We are also working on documenting the actual steps they take but wanted a visual to make it understandable and simple.

What are your thoughts on this?  Do you have similar things in place?

Here is why I decided to share this.  Moderating comments may seem like just another task that has to be done by our authors.  But in this particular pilot launch the authors are working with Teens.  So when they take action on an inappropriate comment, they are actually working toward the goals of their program. By having a conversation with a program participant about responsible behavior online, they are reinforcing the program goal of strengthening self image and how you present yourself.

Software randomly creates policy where none exists & other stuff I learned

If there isnt a documented process, policies or set of standards that your organization uses to define it's best practices on how business is conducted, then by default your software may create it for you.  Software and the solutions you use will have built in policies and processes. So in lieu of you picking the best way to run your business you allow the software to do it for you. WOW! How come I had never really put that thought together in my head?

Ok, so in many cases following the rules and policies dictated by your software is a good thing. Many times these are based on regulations, business practices and audit standards.  But beyond that should you determine the most effective way to run your organization, then try to adapt those practices to your software.  Rather than seeing how the software works, then letting that dictate your process?

Slow down Steve, where is all of this craziness coming from?

I was excited to be given the chance to present my #10ntc Ignite session for a small group over at the Great Book Foundation.  My ignite session tries to relay a point about how technology staff talking about tools and solutions can kill your audience. After that I spend about 20 minutes talking all about IT Alignment stuff from the NTEN book.  Then we opened it up for some questions and answers.

There was a group of questions that revolved around determining policy, planning technology strategy and staff roles in all of this. That is when someone asked about how do you manage a multi-layer technology strategy that meets the needs of the individual staff, each department and the full organization.  If you are meeting all of those needs wouldnt that require multiple technology strategies and require those strategies to start from very different perspectives?

That lead me to try to explain how you do need to have a few parts to your IT Alignment strategy.  This goes back to John Merritt's idea of the ART of the Technology.  ART = Alignment, Relationship, Transparency.  First, have a strategy to make the technology work so well that it is transparent, second work to build relationships between IT and the rest of the org, third move technology to meeting the mission through Alignment.  So yes, it is a bunch of strategies, not just one focused on mission, but that is still the end goal.

Steve, you are so off track yet again, wasnt this post about software creating policy?  Yes, it is about that and I am trying to get back to that if you would just let me.

This then loops us back to the comment about software creating policies and practices where there are none. If you dont have a well rounded technology strategy that is focusing on all three elements Alignment, Relationship and Transparency tied to the mission it is easy to let the tools take over.

WOW! Did you see how I just tied that all together and referenced the ignite session as well? ZOINKS!

Stop selling Slurpees and Lead with questions

Solutions. That is what IT Staff is good at. We see a problem or opportunity and we come up with solutions.  We have a fantastic ability to know and quickly identify possible tools or even process changes to make impact. We are quick to offer help and jump to the easy fixes.

But I would argue that this solution pushing turns us into a convenience store. We are only asked about things when a solution is needed.  Why do we need to be part of the planning when all we do is provide the solution?  People would rather finish their planning, identify what the problem or need is, then step up to the Slurpee counter and order the quick fix.


By acting under the orders of "the customer is always right" and "Service with a smile", are we really providing the best services to our organization?

Most of the Nonprofit Tech Staff that I know have much deeper skills than providing icee beverages when people need a quick fix.  We have a set of skills that complements the rest of organization very well but I dont see it used enough.  We are very analytical, process oriented, mission driven and creative with a unique perspective, plus the knowledge of tools and methods that many others dont know.  So why do we squander it?

Here is my proposal.  When a request comes in, lead with a "Yes but I have some questions..." Spend some time asking questions about what they are working on, what is the end goal, what would success look like.  And dont ask these questions in a formal document or a survey, try talking to your colleagues.


Or better yet, here is my ideal request.  Dont wait for people to come to you looking for solutions. Target one group of staff that is working on a great program within your organization.  Work within your IT team to come up with a set of questions about that program that would help you understand it better. Come up with questions about what the planned impact is or what long term success would look like.  Then invite a couple of those staff to your IT Staff meeting and have a conversation with them about it.  Dont even talk about tools or solutions. Just ask questions to better understand the program.  Showing interest in their program and asking questions will develop a relationship that will benefit everything you do with them.

In general, I think we all need to start leading with questions, not answers.  Try to listen and not jump to the solution.

You dont need a website, You need a web strategy! #10ntc

I was spending time cleaning my garage this weekend and I found a whole bunch of tools that I have never used. All of these tools serve a purpose and are still very useful, but at this point in my life I dont have a big plan to build anything.Without a big plan to build, the tools just sit there.

Websites can turn into those tools rusting in the garage very easily. A website, regardless of the coolest widgets, will only be as useful longterm as the strategy behind it.

Keeping this post nice and simple to hopefully make a point, so I will let the ignite video below do the talking.  I must give credit to Gregory Hellor for this post and title! Thanks for the inspiration.



Ignite NTC: Gregory Heller "You Don't Need A Website..." from GregoryH on Vimeo.

My more formal notes from #10ntc

#10ntc is the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN. These are my short, more formal notes.  This in no way covers the new people that I met, old friends I connected with, vendors I discovered, laughs I had and doesnt do justice to the Awesome-Sauce that the NTEN community is.  Maybe that will be my next post.


Summary of YMCA Day - April 8

Group of about 10 YMCA staff gathered and did a round robin of sharing projects they are working on.  The range of projects was from Sharepoint and websites to underwater pool safety cameras and video conferencing.  The group was excited to share and connect with other YMCA staff responsible for technology.

My biggest learning from the YMCA day was that we need to find a better way to stay connected with what other YMCAs are working on in order to not duplicate efforts and share learnings. Also that there is some sense of wanting to share tools and resources across tech staff but they meet resistance from leadership back at their centers.

There was a lot of mentions of YMCAs growing their use of Sharepoint as an intranet, document management and communication tool. However one of the more interesting side notes about intranets and websites was a debate/conversation about who owns it (Marketing, IT, Finance, Operations or ?).  YMCAs also seem to still be facing some of the struggles of centralizing IT and mixing it with operations as they grow and add centers.

Overall NTEN conference summary - April 9-10

The conference did not have a central theme, but if I had to pick one for what I learned it would be "rethink what drives your strategy."  

Your online engagement strategy should be 90% story, 10% technology. Find your audiences and adapt to where they are. GEORGE WEINER, Do Something <@georgecaweiner>

Our social media policy in 140 characters: Be transparent. Be responsible. Be Non-Partisan. Be Trained. Be Responsive. TAMMY GORDON, AARP <@AARP>

People don’t hate change. They hate disruption. PETER CAMPBELL, Techcafeteria <@peterscampbell>

For example one of the keynotes, Andrew Sullivan, suggested that people connect with another person online, not an organization or company. So your communications and web approach should walk the line of official org messages versus messages from individuals from within the org.  So this would make you question what drives your communication strategy to leverage those personalities within your org.

Another example is more specifically in the website strategy.  In order to have a full online presence strategy you need to include a large group of people.  Like Marketing for messages, IT for tools, program staff for content, operations for process, fundraising for philanthropy, and so on. But the key here is to change what drives the meetings, spend time talking about what we want to accomplish, what we want our audiences to do and what our audiences are interested in at the big group meetings.  Then let the decision makers that have been given the authority make it happen (IT, Marketing, etc). But those roles and that web strategy planning process has the be clearly defined so that while big and inclusive it still allows room for things to move fast and well.

Another example is around how we tell our stories of impact.  Right now we simply state that an event happened, maybe tell an anecdote and some stats, but it isnt a story.  If we want to change our stories to get people to act, then we need to rethink how and why we write stories. A story needs background, a conflict with resolution, a heartfelt connection and an easy to grasp message that ends with a call to action. We dont have a culture that creates and shares full stories, we focus on the outcome and miss the struggle and end with call to action. We need to change why we write stories and provide a better structure to those who are expected to write them.

General Conference thoughts

Combined Communications strategy - Lots of talk about social media, social networking, web 2.0 and sooo many tools, but the theme this year was to have a strategy that drives it all. Stop picking a tool then a strategy for that tool, rather have a central plan for what you want to say, who you want to converse with, what you want to hear and what you want people to do.  The tools like Facebook, MySpace, etc will keep changing, so set the strategy not the tool.

More interaction with audience - stop talking to people and have conversations with them. Heard this in social media sessions, website strategy and communications areas. People dont want to be talked to from an org. They want to have a conversation with a person.

New ways to educate audience - games, mobile devices, e-learning and more ideas are coming up that arent broadcast methods, rather they are ways to interact with a purpose.

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Session notes:

Create a Culture of Storytelling 

(1 set of slides at http://www.slideshare.net/Loudmind/creating-a-culture-of-storytelling)

Stories have to come from your heart before they will go to people's heads. Dont tell stories that you arent so excited about that you run home to tell friends & family about it. Storytelling is weaved throughout ALL messages, pages and sites. Stories don’t belong solely on about us area. We need a writer on staff to drive this process and culture! It is good, actually encouraged to repeat a point across stories, can take 7 plus times before somebody remembers something. Seize opportunities–when feedback is asked for on another site about your cause, push your supporters to go and give it! Social media for non profits is just as much about listening as it is about sharing your mission.  Pick the words you want to use or not use! Are they victims or survivors (as an example). 

Making it Real: Getting Project Management Right for Content Management Web Projects

A central website strategy tied to a communications plan is needed for a successful website implementation and CMS project. A clear owner of the website strategy is needed, but has to be supported by a full representation of the organization. Stressed importance of content gathering to start early in the process to enable a better site map and navigation. Group debated whether to start or end with web design. On one hand people love to see the graphics and the visuals but on the other we loose sight of the message when focusing on details of design.  The purpose of the website should drive design in the end, but people clamour to see the structure. So providing early and frequent glimpses through sitemaps and wireframes are critical so people can see what you are talking about. They walked through steps of I was hoping to get more project management tips from this session, but it went offtrack and got too simple.

Secrets of Landing Page Testing: How to Optimize PPC to Convert More Donors, Activists, and Email Subscribers 

(slides at http://www.slideshare.net/robinpsteffek/secrets-of-landing-page-testing-132-steffek)

Really focused on use of combination Google Optimizer and Analytics to test the effectiveness of your website efforts and conversions. Landing pages are becoming even more important because search results and web campaigns aren't taking you to home pages any longer. Discussed how to do some A-B testing and how to evaluate the results.

Forget the Tech, Lets Talk Mission (IT Alignment materials Click HERE)
I presented this session with John Merritt from the San Diego YMCA.  Two organizations provided us sample strategic plans and supporting information.  We did several group exercises to try to demonstrate some tactical and strategic ways to move IT from being reactive to working toward the mission. It was great to be able to talk through some of challenges and objections people face, then work through ideas to make a difference.

Social Media's Potential for Faith Based Communities

I also presented at this session. It was interesting to debate through how allowing people to connect personally to church leaders may cause challenges of separation between leaders and members. The debate really brought to light the need for a purposeful discussion around the organizations versus individual voices. We also really highlighted the opportunities in social media for education around delicate or private topics. E-learning and resources are more readily shared in today's social media structure.

Thanks to Microsoft and Google! Where is Apple?

Based on the title you may be jumping to a bunch of conclusions, like, oh here goes Steve bashing iPhones and iTunes again just cuz he likes his Android device, but you are wrong.

I just spent the last few days at the Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN in Atlanta. And one of the Diamond Sponsors (highest level) has been Microsoft for quite a few years, along with Blackbaud.  I applaud their involvement and support! Plus Google did have some involvement, they had a booth, ran some sessions, etc.  Plus they do have some great nonprofit programs like YouTube nonprofit channels.

So where is Apple in all of this? At the conference iPhones were everywhere, vendors were flinging around free iPads like they were candy and little bitten apples were glowing on Mac books on tables.

But again, where is Apple in all of this? No sponsorships, no involvement, no nonprofit programs? Or am I just totally missing the boat?