What’s your focus?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question? What are you focused on in your life or your job?  What’s your focus for the future?

It’s a simple question but a difficult one to answer for most people.  Ask this question of 10 of your coworkers and you’ll probably get most people staring back at you with a blank reaction with very few answers. In fact,  I’d bet there would very few responses that truly answer the question.

In fact, I asked myself this question today and couldn’t answer it to my own satisfaction.

Let’s look at what I’m doing these days:

1. Working for the Boy Scouts of America National Council on the web team.  In this role, I work within the marketing group and try to help the BSA use digital tools to reach out and engage with our audiences.
2. Blogging here about Technology, Strategy, People & Projects – although most of my recent writing has been focused on “The New CIO”.
3. Writing a few articles with co-writers (Gene De Libero for example – we are writing an article for an upcoming Cutter IT Journal).
4. Working on my Doctorate in Information Systems.  This is a TON of work but enjoyable.  I’m on track to finish up in 2012 and am will be starting my dissertation work in Spring 2010. I’ve been blogging about my “Road to the Doctorate“  on another blog.
5. Working on a few new entrepreneurial activities (some which I hope to be able to announce soon).
6. Trying to find some time to really dive into my passion for learning about photography and actually taking some photographs.  This is getting harder and harder for me these days.
7. Last but definitely not least, I’d like to spend more time with my wife traveling and just generally enjoying life.

Lots of things here…but I’m sure there are some of you who have much more going on so please don’t tell me that I’m a slacker if you do!

I’ve got quite a bit going on and I’m extremely lucky to be in a position to be able to do all of these things and the things that I’ve been able to do in the past.  That said, when I asked myself “what’s your focus?” I wasn’t really able to answer the question.

Am I an academic or a practitioner? Am I a technologist or a marketer?  Should i focus on the role of the CIO in the future or am I better positioned to look at how the role of COO or CMO might change over the coming years to integrate technology, marketing and the business?  I love the world of technology and marketing… can I bring this duality together as a focus?  Or…do I focus on the topic that really pulls at my heart strings…building a business of my own?

Think about yourself and your daily activities.  What are you focused on?  Are you getting up, driving to work and doing what has to be done to make it through the day?   Or are you focused on your passion and doing what it takes to keep that focus?  Are you focused on making your life better or just making your life easier?

What’s your focus these days?

Here’s the latest version of my storytelling for knowledge management in projects presentation.  Enjoy!

Recorded Presentation via Vimeo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t want to listen to me drone on and on?   You can view just the slides on Slideshare:

If you didn’t know, I’m working on my Doctor of Science degree in Information Systems at Dakota State University. In the past, I’ve posted updates to this blog about my status but have always felt a bit like those updates (and my journey through the doctorate program) deserved more than just an occasional post on this blog.

So…I started a new blog focused solely on my doctorate work and titled it “The Road to the Doctorate“.  You can find the blog at http://eric.biblioref.com and you can subscribe to the RSS feed here.    I’ll probably continue to post a few ‘big’ announcements about my progress here but the majority of the journey will be capture on The Road to the Doctorate.

If you’re observant, you’ll notice the ‘BiblioRef‘ domain…that’s a small project I’ve been working on over the last few months.  The initial rollout is a community platform (blogging & discussions) for academics, researchers and students.   I’ve got some interesting ideas for that community and will be working on grow it in the future.  Stay tuned for more on BiblioRef…you can also follow BiblioRef updates via RSS or on Twitter.

2009 is half over and its been a pretty good year so far.

What’s transpired this year?

• In February, I put my consulting practice on hold to join the Boy Scouts of America full time after working with them for 1.5 years as a consultant.  Previous to starting full-time, I’d been leading the Sitecore Content Management System implementation and since going full-time have been involved in some major technology and marketing initiatives.  It’s been fun and an education in how non-profits are run.

• I’ve just finished year #2 in the Doctoral program.  Only X number of years left (i have no idea what X actually is…probably 3 to 4 more years).

• I’ve held up my resolutions for the year fairly nicely. I used the ‘three words’ approach (I learned this from Chris Brogan).  My words were: Create, Think & Lead. I’ve written more important stuff (at least to me) on this blog than I used to and I kicked off another blog focused on my photography.

• My wife’s photography business is starting to see a bit more life.  The economy has taken its toll but we are starting to see a bit more traffic and interest from potential clients.

• I’ve disconnected from a lot of things that were taking up way too much of my time.  While this has been hard to do, it’s been necessary to allow me to focus on those things that will bring the most benefit & value to me in the future.

What does the rest of 2009 hold? I’m not sure…but I’m positive it will be a good 6 months.

• I’m anxious to kick off a few projects that I’ve been thinking about and can’t wait to see the results.

• I’ve got a couple interesting side projects that have been brewing for a while…they are looking like they might show some signs of life later this year.

• I’ve submitted a few articles & papers to academic journals & trade publications…hopefully I’ll hear back on whether they are accepted for publishing.

How has the first half of 2009 been for you?

I’ve just submitted my last requirement for my last class in the Spring 2009 semester.  Whew. I’m now 43% complete with the doctoral work…should be done with coursework around this time next year.

Current Status (May 2009)

• 39 hours complete
• 52 remaining (27 hours coursework, 25 hours dissertation)
• 43% complete.
• Coursework completion ~ mid-2010
• Dissertation completion ~2012.

I’m taking another six hours this summer…might be a beating but we’ll see.  The courses are:

• INFS 750 – Telecommunications Technology & Management – Starting May 18
• INFS 892 – Advanced Design Science Research Methods – Starting May 18

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• Danah Boyd’s Dissertation (socialmediatoday.com)
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As part of a research project for my doctorate work I’ve been looking at the use of storytelling for knowledge sharing in project teams.  I’ve found the topic extremely interesting and perhaps even something I can find a dissertation topic out of.

While looking through my RSS Reader last week I ran across Glenn Whitfield’s post titled ‘When thinking isn’t an option – tell a story‘ and felt a sense of deja vu….Glenn was talking about the very subject I’ve been researching.

The last two paragraphs of Glenn’s post are:

So how do you get your point across when people don’t want to think?

Just tell a story. For thousands of years, human beings have learned many life lessons from stories or fables (remember Aesop’s Fables). So why not use them to get your point across? In just a few paragraphs, you can tell someone about a problem (the issue), provide a plausible explanation (impact of the issue), and teach a lesson (the solution to the issue). Nice and neat, and everyone is satisfied. By using the facts and information you have and molding it into a story that the audience can relate to, you will have their attention, and you can make your point effectively. Yes, you will have to really think about how to put your facts into a story your audience can relate to, but remember, you want to make sure that your issue is clearly understood.

As much as we may want to get people to think more, when it’s clear your audience is not up for it, telling a story is a very effective way to get your point across and get what you want. Remember, we all like a good story.

Great introduction in the use of stories to get your point across.

Stories have been used to pass down wisdom and knowledge from the beginning of time.   Every culture has had its own stories and storytelling techniques so it makes sense that using stories to transfer and share knowledge within project teams might prove worth researching.  I’m currently researching this topic and will be working a paper that I hope to get published later this year.

In the meantime, If you’re interested in learning more about storytelling applications in knowledge management, take a look / listen to the  presentation I put together for one of my courses on the topic of storytelling and knowledge management.  You can view the PDF here or watch/listen to the quicktime presentation here. You can download the Quicktime video (in Zip format) here.

The first year of my doctorate program is done!

Actually…I finished my last course about a month ago but with the Fall 2008 semester starting next week, I figured I should claim the First Year is complete.

During the first year I took five courses:

• INFS 614 – Introduction to Research
• INFS 720 – Systems Analysis and Design
• INFS 724 – Project & Change Management
• INFS 834 – Knowledge Management
• INFS 730 – Programming for Ecommerce

The Project & Change Management course had me worried (joke!)….i was a little upset that I would have to take the course but it turned out ok…I got 45 PDU’s for my PMP continuing education out of it.

The Fall 2008 Semester finds me taking some interesting courses.   They are:

• INFS 805 – Design Research Methods

Summary: The course develops skills needed for conducting research whose aim is to invent methods and techniques that make information systems more effective and efficient. Students will also acquire skills in developing research proposals that follow the design research paradigm and will learn how to publish such research.

• INFS 830 – Decision Support Systems

Summary: The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts, techniques and applications of computer-based decision support systems. The course covers issues pertaining to the design, history, theory, practice, methods and techniques, new developments, and applications of computing technologies to support decision processes and decision-making by individuals, groups and organizations

It should be fun!  Look for more info from me as the semester unfolds.  Feel free to check out my Academic page for more info on my progress and/or the Doctor of Science program at Dakota State University.

I’ve just completed my first semester of my doctoral program and I’m ready for a break.

I took 2 courses this semester worth 6 hours. The courses are:

• Introduction to Research (INFS 614) -  This course was a bear.  I did more research and writing in this course than I’ve done in the last 5 years I think.   I’m glad this course was required as it made me sit back and really think about research, research methodologies and Information Systems.
• Systems Analysis and Design using CASE Tools (INFS 720) – This course was your normal graduate level IS course but was very informative.  I’ve never taken an IS Systems Analysis course and did enjoy this one for the most part.

Time to take a few weeks off….Spring semester starts in exactly one month (Jan 16).  I’ll be taking two courses (6 hours) in the Spring: Project & Change Management (INFS 724) and Knowledge Management (INFS 834).  I’m really looking forward to the Knowledge Management course as it should cover a lot of really interesting material.   Look for another post in January once the semester starts.

[tags] Doctorate, Dakota State, D.Sc. [/tags]

Things have been a little quite on my blog recently due to being busy in coursework for my doctorate at Dakota State University.

The Fall 2007 semester is in full swing and I’ve found myself working harder in this program than I can remember doing in my MBA program.

This semester finds me in 2 courses: Intro to Research course and Systems Analysis.

Upon first glance, I wasn’t too excited about the Systems Analysis course, but I’ve come to realize that this topic is much more interesting than I had originally thought. This course has kept me really busy with writing and group work. The group work is something that I thought I wouldn’t like, but it seems to be working well with the group that I’m in.

The Intro to Research course has been a ton of work. The course is setup to be, as the name suggests, an introduction to research methodologies and processes and requires a considerable amount of reading. Part of this course’s mandate is to get first year students started along the path of research and thinking of dissertation topics. The major deliverables for this course are a literature review and research proposal (along with a few other assignments) and going through the process of deciding what topic to cover in a lit review is very similar to the process of trying to determine a dissertation topic. The research proposal builds upon the lit review and provides students with a ‘practice run’ of creating a research proposal for their dissertation.

So far, I have to say that I’m very happy with the program and impressed with the school and professors. The program seems well thought out and well run many of the students in the program are extremely bright and ambitious.

I’ll keep everyone updated on how things are going.

[tags] doctorate, systems analysis, research, Dakota State University[/tags]

Starting September 5, 2007, I will be a student in the Doctor of Science in Information Systems program at Dakota State.

The school is one of the very very few non-profit, regionally accredited universities in the country that offers a doctoral program in information systems via an external (or distance learning) program. The DSU D.Sc. program is still fairly new with only about 15 students and the faculty seem very good and very experienced.

The program looks very interesting and very thorough and my specialization will be Decision Support, Knowledge Management and Data Management Systems (DSS for short) although I have no real idea what my research and dissertation topic will be yet.

If everything goes according to plan, I will be done sometime in 2010 or 2011 if everything goes according to plan. Yikes…another 3 to 4 years of school.

Why do I want a doctorate? Personal satisfaction is the biggest reason and the only one that will really drive me to finish but I also have an interest in the process of earning a doctorate. The research, writing and pure critical thinking that is utilized during the doctorate program is something that I’m very interested in and can’t wait to get into. Ask me in six months and I may say that those things don’t really interest me as much.

A by-product of the journey to my doctorate will be the my improved research and writing abilities as well as my knowledge in the field of Information Systems. I hope to be able to leverage this knowledge and experience into an interesting consulting career down the road.

If anyone out there has an interest in the non-traditional education methods (e.g., external research, distance learning, etc) then you should read the page that I created titled “Education“. This page has a brief outline of my journey over the last 1.5 years to find a doctoral program that works for me as well as a good description of why I didn’t choose some of the other programs out there.. There are a lot of programs out there, but few that focus on IT & Technology, are non-profit and regionally accredited.

For those that are interested, I looked very closely at the following schools during my search…all have great programs and should be considered by anyone else looking for an IT/Technology type of program:

• Univ of Alabama @ Huntsville – PhD in Engineering Management – Little emphasis on business & IT but that may change soon according to the school. Would be a great school for someone from an engineering background and who wants to stay in engineering.
• Indiana State University – PhD in Technology Management – Good program but limited specialization options. I think this program’s use of a ‘consortium of schools’ should be the model for other schools around the country to follow for DL doctorate programs.
• Grenoble – DBA Program – Great program with excellent credentials but just not what I was looking for.
• Walden - PhD in Applied Management & Sciences – Expensive compared to the others + it is a for-profit….but well regarded around the country by people ‘in the know’.
• Colorado Tech University – Doctor of Management – Good program. Another for-profit school that has some detractors and some cheerleaders. The lack of a dissertation bothered me…but also intrigued me.
• Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lille – PhD in Strategy & Project Management. Good program for someone looking to specialize in PM for their career.

There were a few other schools that I ran across, but none that really tweaked my interest like the above schools.

Keep checking in…I hope to keep posting updates to this blog to let everyone know how the program is going.

[tags] Dakota State University, Doctor Science, Doctorate, Education, Information Systems [/tags]