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1Q2011 BEAM Newsletter
Newsletter Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to the first edition of OpenBeam--a newsletter to report on the BEAM inititiave.
Of late I am realizing that BEAM echoes Covey's 8th Habit which talks about finding one's voice and enables others to find theirs. In 2010 I believe we are finding our voice and are recognizing that our core competency is the enablement of virtual collaboration based on "cloud" technologies.
We are beginning to help others find their voices. We have validated that there are many organizations, particularly in the social sector, that have to do more with less. In other words, Work Smarter.
"Work smarter" requires you to take up and practice effective habits. Two habits come to mind:
(1) Begin with the End in Mind: what do you want to achieve? what are your goals? what is your vision?
(2) Put First Things First, which means you must have a plan of execution so you Put First Things First.
In 2010, we have established a vision for BEAM and we are piloting a BEAM portfolio management process to prioritize our activities.
Along with nurturing potential partnerships, we have committed our limited but growing resources to a small set of important, strategic projects. The most noteworthy is the enablement of Y Cyber Center which I sometimes call it the Y Cyber Cafe. And the first program within YCC to showcase cloud computing enablement is Y Mentor.
Detailed progress
The rest of the newsletter attempts to report on metrics related to 4P, which stands for: People, Process, Project and Profit. It's my experience that any successful enterprise must rationalize its progress on these 4 dimensions in order to survive and prosper.
So what can we say about each of the P's:
People--defines how we build the BEAM Team
- We continue to gain traction and recognition about BEAM vision and the need to grow the IT resources pool.
- We have made contacts and established relationships with RCTC, UMR, IBM, Mayo
- For that I'd like to thank the YMAP team, the BEAM team, well wishers and supporters. (You know who you are. My sincere thanks for your public/private support and encouragement).
Process - defines how we deliver value
- We have piloted the use Agile software development process coupled with semi-formal project management protocol to support projects like Y Mentor Relesae 1
- I have learned valuable lessons of combining formality with interactive and casual learning sessions with the Y Mentor team to deliver just-in-time functions
Projects - captures the solutions that we delivering
- See project status below
Profit - forces us to be accountable and sustainable
- Though limited, we do have enough financial support and return to the extend that the BEAM infrastructure is sustainable
More on BEAM Projects
Y Mentor
Release 1.1 in progress
People
1. We have been true to team and relationship building between BEAM and Y Mentor staff. We have been sustaining a biweekly interlock meeting and to strengthen virtual teaming
2. We have made great progress to develop expert user skills by coaching and demonstrating to the Y Mentor staff how to use Plone. Result?
- Staff gaining competence and confidence to use YMAP to run the Y Mentor Program
- Newsletters, events, forum conversations, google doc integration
Process
1. As a result of BEAM team involvement, we have identified and implemented a number of process improvements, examples include
- Simplify the application process, requires less information from the applicant
- Pilot the use of online forum to track work items and improve communications
Project
2. Y Mentor mentoring virtual team successfully submitted survey data gathering
3. Mentor online applications launched and Y Mentor case management team was able to process online applications with noticeable turnaround time improvements
Profit
Benfits to the Y - TBD'd
Benefits to BEAM
- BEAM vision and proof point being validated
- Reference accounts established and expert user testimonials potential
Other BEAM Opportunities
Refer to Human Potential project pipeline
Yesterday, a friend told me that there has to be something like 400 human development projects or groups in Rochester, why can't we coordinate that effort. Well that's the notion of BEAM which has ties into Smarter Planet. How do we use technologies and processes to connect the dots?
BEAM Forward
Ideas include:
- Initiate/deepen connections with education sectors, such as ESL, TM, RCTC, UMR about the BEAM notion
- Organize a BEAM conference. Concept to include multiple tracks
- Vision
- Expert user
- Demo
- Deep dive
- Explore emerging Heath Care solution segment
- Haromonize human and IT elements of Smarter Planet
