NASA CIO Blog

2009
Here is the list of entries for NASA CIO Blog based on the selected criteria.

Moving Information Technology Mountains with Mustard Seed Innovation Dec 29, 2009 12:29:35 PM | Linda Cureton
 
We can learn a lot about innovation by looking at lessons taught to us by the tiny mustard seed. This tiny seed blossoms into a large sprawling plant and has many uses. CIOs can reap bountiful crops of capability by sowing small seeds of innovation.
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A CIO Thanksgiving Jan 26, 2010 10:14:09 AM | Linda Cureton
 
A CIO Thanksgiving means planting seeds of leadership. It also means having a vision, a plan, and a cornucopia of results. Finally, but most important, we need to give thanks for the people who help us deliver the harvest to the organizations we serve.
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The Small But Mighty Stennis Space Center Nov 08, 2009 01:27:50 PM | Linda Cureton
 
As leaders, we should never overlook the contributions of the small and humble. Leadership success relies on those contributions.
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How to Rule the World of IT through Enterprise Architecture Oct 27, 2009 10:43:57 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Well … deep breaths … using Enterprise Architecture to rule the world … hum. I better cut this short; I need to go and come up with a name for my country and commission a flag.
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California Dreaming NASA-Style Jan 26, 2010 10:15:34 AM | Linda Cureton
 
Resilience, resourcefulness, and transitional leadership -- in California getting leadership lessons from a Joshua Tree.
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Aloha Goddard Space Flight Center,Aloha NASA Jan 26, 2010 10:43:22 AM | Linda Cureton
 
This will be short and sweet…so here it is. Today, September 26, 2009, is my last official day as the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Tomorrow I start as CIO of NASA.
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The Smell of Future Sep 07, 2009 12:11:36 PM | Linda Cureton
 
I love the smell of September in Washington, DC, it smells like the future.
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In Search of the Lost Art of IT Management Aug 20, 2009 06:14:08 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Today, just about everyone has a camera on their phone. So now anyone can be a photographer. With blogs, everyone is now a journalist. The same situation exists with IT. The proliferation, the ubiquitous nature of it, and the increased ease of use forces IT, as well as cameras, to be considered merely tools. It is because of the notion that IT is merely a tool that we have lost the Art of IT Management.
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The Betting CIO Aug 09, 2009 02:36:13 PM | Linda Cureton
 
By some strange confluence in the universe, I found myself in a casino for two consecutive weekends. Leadership lessons in a casino? You bet!
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Inspire or Expire Jul 31, 2009 04:13:47 PM | Linda Cureton
 
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center got an inspiring first visit from our new Administrator Charlie Bolden. One thing he said stuck in my mind and in my heart. He said that NASA should ... inspire. What do organizations need to do in order to inspire?
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Footprints in the Sand: Innovation at Goddard's White Sands Complex Jul 28, 2009 04:41:48 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Innovation is all the rage these days. Ironically, we talk about innovation like it’s never been done before. I had the pleasure of visiting Goddard Space Flight Center’s White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico. But innovation also includes getting new life out of old things. As I stowed my 2 PDAs, cell phone, laptop, and two iPods, I was about to see how these heroes of technology maintain and support a very mature infrastructure with scarce resources.
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Problem Solving and Personal Leadership Jul 13, 2009 08:12:40 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Not surprisingly, some of the same characteristics of a good problem-solver can be found in a good leader. Courage, creativity, focus, tenacity.
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The Poor Strugglin’ CIO Jul 02, 2009 05:30:08 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days. As you look backwards on bad days, these leadership lessons always seem clear. Wouldn’t be great if we could look forward to them or at least learn these lessons in real time? It would make you almost embrace these so-called bad days. It could improve your learning as a leader.
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Leadership Lessons from a CIO’s Hairdresser Jan 26, 2010 10:19:15 AM | Linda Cureton
 
I had to get a security clearance and the special agent doing my background investigation called me up and asked for the phone number of my hairdresser. I paused … and told him … that’s a low blow dude. He said you’d be surprised what you can learn from a person’s hairdresser. You’d be surprised indeed – even leadership lessons.
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Girl Power for CIOs Jun 23, 2009 01:18:50 PM | Linda Cureton
 
So, I guess the conclusion is whether you are a male or female executive; or a CIO or regular person, you should focus on your strengths, be prepared to stand out in a crowd, and watch out for alligators.
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Launches Spacebook Sep 24, 2009 12:03:04 AM | Linda Cureton
 
I’ve often said that this NASA CIO gig is pretty tough. But, there are many times … like now … where I am proud to be the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. We launched Spacebook this week. Woo-hoo!
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Quality in the Web 2.0 World Jun 05, 2009 11:40:44 PM | Linda Cureton
 
The Director of the Facility, Dr. Butch Caffall, took me on a marvelous journey with his pen and a legal-size yellow pad about quality. But, he got me thinking about quality in a Web 2.0 context. Does it really exist?
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The Goddard CIO Blog: One Year Later Jun 01, 2009 10:16:21 PM | Linda Cureton
 
One year today, I made my first blog post. Today, I want to pause and discuss my experience, my learning, and my path forward. This is a lengthy post. It will not be a sterile reflection of the efficacy of this Web 2.0 technology, but rather, this will be an expression of what this experience meant to me as a CIO, a leader, and as an individual.
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How Extraordinary Golf Leads to Extraordinary Leadership May 23, 2009 02:25:37 PM | Linda Cureton
 
We all have our purpose for playing golf just as we have our purpose in life. We confuse performance with purpose. Are we committed to looking good with the perfect drive? Or to enjoying golf? We do this in the workplace as managers and leaders. Are we committed to the purpose of the project? Or have we lost sight of the organization’s target because we are overly focusing on performance? Now certainly performance is critical, but we don’t want a successful operation and a dead patient!
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ITIL We Meet Again May 17, 2009 11:08:42 AM | Linda Cureton
 
I first met ITIL in the 1980s. This was in the good-ole-days – when programmers wrote real code; 5 nines didn’t mean 6 sigmas; and Data Centers weren’t on people’s desks. Who knew we'd meet again? These critical practices are essential to providing quality service and promoting collaboration across diverse service providers in today's learning IT organization.
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More Things My Mother Taught Me About Being a CIO Jan 26, 2010 10:31:25 AM | Linda Cureton
 
It’s appropriate as we enter Mother’s Day weekend for me to reflect that I don’t have to look back too far in the past to learn from my mother. I’ve blogged about this topic before and the calendar warrants further reflections on some more of those CIO learning moments.
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What’s IT Got to Do With It? May 02, 2009 11:19:38 PM | Linda Cureton
 
This week, my mother announced to me that she heard on Oprah what Twitter is and didn't need her CIO daughter to explain it. Well, if that isn't a wake up call for CIOs to become relevent in the advent of Web 2.0 technologies then CIO really does stand for Career Is Over!
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CIO Time Jan 26, 2010 10:33:05 AM | Linda Cureton
 
I must admit that I’ve always had a problem with time. I hate time actually. Colleagues who know me well will laugh out loud when they realize that I had the audacity to write about Time Management. I guess those who can … do; those who can’t … well, they blog about it.
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Implementing Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the Enterprise Apr 18, 2009 06:46:53 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Yeah, SOA what! I like neat technology just like the next girl. It’s cool and snazzy, but if it is not solving a problem, we’re probably implementing technology that may not have mission value. The potential here is great, but first we have to pause and reflect on what particular problem we are trying to solve. And finally, we need to implement approaches that address the people, process, and technology dimensions.
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NASA CIO Meeting: Connecting with Dot Apr 11, 2009 12:43:01 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Johnson Space Center Deputy CIO Dot Swanson reminds us of the key critical attributes for having critical conversations -- confidence, humility, and skill. Connecting with Dot during a meeting of NASA CIOs was an inspirational reminder of the importance of this for an organization like ours.
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A CIO in Love with Her PDA: Please Don’t Tell My Husband Jan 26, 2010 10:36:06 AM | Linda Cureton
 
Cellphones: They really do drive us crazy. I reflected on a little quip that my husband for some strange reason does NOT think is amusing – I LOVE my Blackberry, and I’m having an affair with the iPhone! Maybe we should all bow our heads and send a text message to pray for deliverance.
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Transparency and Naked Leadership Jan 26, 2010 10:41:31 AM | Linda Cureton
 
Transparency means more than just putting data up on static websites. Leading in a transparent way has the atomic advantage of being able to be exposed to a huge set of diverse ideas thus hastening innovation and creativity. However, the cultural challenges associated with leading in this environment requires a new kind of personal leadership – Naked Leadership.
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The Art of Change Followership Mar 22, 2009 01:54:33 PM | Linda Cureton
 
These soft or people-centered skills may appear to be an inadequate substitute for outcome oriented leadership and followership behaviors – especially in an engineering culture as NASA. But it can make a real difference to outcomes and productivity during today’s turbulent times.
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Cloud Computing in the Federal Government: On a Cloudy Day How It Will Astound You Mar 14, 2009 11:53:43 PM | Linda Cureton
 
It had the privilege of tutoring someone in Algebra this week. The number one error that the Algebra student makes is ignoring signs of integers. The number one mistake that IT Leaders make is ignoring signs of disruptive technologies.
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Partnerships in Space Mar 06, 2009 10:01:55 PM | Linda Cureton
 
I was excited about hearing from NOAA and from Department of Energy. We have a lot in common and have the potential of forming strong partnerships.
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108: Preparing for Glory in NASA’s Information Technology Program Feb 21, 2009 05:55:02 PM | Linda Cureton
 
You may want to skip to the next item in your RSS Feed because this blog is for me – for my selfish purposes. Perhaps no purpose and perhaps no value to you … but of value to me and maybe to the 108 men and women of Goddard Space Flight Center's IT and Communications Directorate.
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Being Stung By Leading Organizational Change Feb 17, 2009 12:15:32 AM | Linda Cureton
 
So, I’ve dried my tears, sobered up, and didn’t hit the jackpot, but I learned a lesson from bees and was reminded of something I learned about change leadership. It stings.
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The Learning Organization: CIO as Paleontologist Feb 08, 2009 07:00:34 PM | Linda Cureton
 
I ran into someone who worked for one of my colleagues. He was a Paleontologist. I thought of the dinosaurs, and how we can learn from them and their inability to learn and adapt and subsequent extinction. Such is the future of organizations that fail to do likewise.
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Did You Hear the One About the NASA CIOs? Feb 01, 2009 01:54:05 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Q: How many NASA CIOs does it take to change a light bulb? A: None, it’s a hardware problem. If you like that, here’s a better one. Q: How many NASA CIOs does it take to change NASA? A: All of them
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Freckles and Fruit Trees: Things My Mother Taught Me About Being a CIO Jan 26, 2010 10:10:07 AM | Linda Cureton
 
I guess I love my freckles. It’s what my mother gave me. And what I have – the total of my experiences, learning, DNA, and heritage – make me the freckled CIO that I am.
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The Transparent CIO Jan 17, 2009 05:09:59 PM | Linda Cureton
 
Lately, many of us have been discussing transparency in government. But what is it really? Maybe it's time that I pushed the edges of it personally, to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
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CIO of the Stars Jan 11, 2009 05:35:11 PM | Linda Cureton
 
As the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, I must be aligned with Goddard’s mission to support NASA’s goals in understanding where we came from, where we are going, and are we alone. I think for this agency, the answer is in the stars.
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IT Governance in Government Jan 03, 2009 05:12:00 PM | Linda Cureton
 
IT Governance is a real problem in Government. Sort of like a similar problem we had in … say … Colonial America. More later on why.
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