How to Rule the World of IT through Enterprise Architecture

A confluence of things has occurred recently.  I had the occasion to speak to a group of NASA Enterprise Architects.  I’m sure that it is no coincidence that I’ve been spending some sleepless nights thinking about NASA’s IT Infrastructure Integration Program (I3P) and its hope of a kinder, safer, and more cost effective world.  And in a final trifecta of synchronicity, I ran across a delightfully satirical book titled, How to Rule the World: Handbook for an Aspiring Dictator, by André de Guillaume.

Let me step back a bit and offer a simple definition for Enterprise Architecture that is not spoken in the dribble of IT jargon.  In simplest terms, it is a planning framework that describes how the technology assets of an organization connect and operate.  It also describes what the organization needs from the technology.  And finally, it describes the set of activities required to meet the organizational needs.  Oh, and I should also say it operates in a context of a process for setting priorities, making decisions, informing those decisions, and delivering results called – IT Governance.

The author makes four major points in the book:

·         It is possible to rule the world

·         You can create the greatest empire ever known

·         You can subdue all nations under your colors

·         You can change the course of history

The parallels to Enterprise Architecture track to these points:

·         It is possible to manage IT as an Enterprise.

·         You can use the Enterprise Architecture to plan and manage the kinder, safer, more cost effective IT world.

·         Transformational projects will successful and deliver desired results.

·         IT can be a key strategic enabler of NASA’s goals.

 

The more arcane Enterprise Architects will probably disagree with what is likely an oversimplification.  They should be ignored as the evil despots they are.  Others will miss the satirical point and view this as geeky babble.  The book suggests blackmail and torture to win their hearts and minds.  I won’t go there; at least not yet.

 

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.

 

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA

The Smell of Future

I love the smell of September in Washington, DC, it smells like the future.  It always reminds me of the joyful expectation of going back to school; the anticipation of learning new things; and it’s the ever-so-slight sense of urgency caused by the recently-noticed shortening of days.    It’s the scent of cool crisp mornings with a hint of humidity in the air; and it’s the aroma of the blossoms of the crepe myrtle as they accelerate their descent to the ground.

I was in a brainstorming meeting last week with a group discussing goals of a Maryland Science, Exploration and Education Center (SEEC) at Goddard Space Flight Center.  The objectives of the SEEC include inspiring, engaging and educating the next generation of scientists, engineers and technologists; providing compelling experiences to all to increase understanding of Goddard Center Director Rob Strain (left) and SEEC President Kam Ghaffarian sign the Space Act Agreement. Credit: NASA/Bill Hrybykour home planet and our place in the Universe; and to create a destination of choice that effectively showcases NASA and Goddard’s current work.  To help the group see the possibilities and get our creative juices flowing, someone put up a quote from Edwin Powell Hubble:

 “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.”

I sat aside for a moment the fact that as I enter the second half century of my life, these five senses are becoming increasingly insufficient for exploring this adventure called life. After that, I realized that this was a pretty cool quote for many reasons.  I did a little inventory of the five senses and then came to smell.  It wasn’t surprising that this whole notion of establishing SEEC smelled like September.

Some folks are examining the phenomena of synethesia and clairalience where one could acquire other sensory knowledge or psychic knowledge through smell.  This notion of the smell of success might not be too goofy.  Consider a quote from the movie Apocalypse Now that says,

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smell(s) like victory.”

As leaders strive to inspire and engage, we need to fully understand the power of senses like smell or even taste.  Many have heard the expression, often said of players on winning sports teams, they wanted the win so bad, they could taste it. 

Senior Executives will establish new performance objectives for the year; I will have a leadership team retreat to establish my Directorate’s annual goals; and in the government, we will approach the start of a new fiscal year.   Frank Sinatra sings to us in September Song:

Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn’t got time for the waiting game

Hope, inspired future, sense of urgency.  I now appreciate the synchronicity of events recently and why it smells like September.   

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

In Search of the Lost Art of IT Management

I get a steady trickle of “Friend” requests on Facebook.  As a rule, I don’t accept requests from people who I don’t know or with whom I have no mutual friends.  But, then I got such a request from Otto Adams.  The name didn’t even ring a bell.  A few clicks and I discovered he was in my graduating class at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC.

It may or may not be surprising to know that out of a graduating class of 141, I barely remember anyone.  Mostly, I remember the brass section of the band and a few clarinet players.  So, I looked at Otto’s friends to see who they were to get some clues.  Then I saw, Chris Belcher.  Humm…his photograph showed a 50-ish man with gray hair and an ever-so-slight beginning of male-pattern baldness.  But, the amazing thing was that the photograph, which was so good and it captured the essence of his personality, it caused me to remember a quiet blond teenage boy who always walked around by himself with his camera on his shoulder.  Yes, good photographs do that.  I shouldn’t have been surprised to find a string of visual arts students on Facebook, but that’s what I found. 

Next, I came to Francesca Scott.  She was obviously a professional photographer.  No picture of her, but I had a vague memory of a short girl with long beautiful hair that walked around by herself with a camera on her shoulder.  A browsed her gallery.   I hadn’t seen such beautiful pictures in years.  And quite frankly, had forgotten what beauty a talented photographer could produce.

And then I thought of what is going on today with Information Technology.

Today, just about everyone has a camera on their phone.  This along with the ease of use and popularity of digital cameras makes it easy for just about everyone to be a “photographer”.  Furthermore, with the video capabilities that exist now, just about anyone is able to record “what’s on the scene” of most newsworthy events that happen. Now everyone is a videographer.

Today, just anyone can have a blog.  It’s easy and it’s free.  Information is everywhere and anyone with a blog site can now become a “journalist”. 

The same situation exists with IT.  No one can deny that there is a proliferation of IT.  At NASA, we spend somewhere around $1.5 billion per year on it.  It’s everywhere.  And here, just like everywhere, 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 notion of a discipline that is actually associated with the management of IT – the artistry that is associated with the use of the mastery of tool.

Well, what does this “art” look like? And why is it important to find it again?

Truth.  Now that anyone with a blog, can be a journalist, what is left for the journalist to do? To, coin a phrase, information, information everywhere and nothing to think about.  The journalist’s role can add value by helping readers validate information and convert information into knowledge.  With IT, the CIO must now evolve from being the deliverer of IT, because now most people can get that, to helping organizations use that information to get the knowledge they need for mission success.

Beauty.  I don’t know if I can tell you what made Francesca’s photographs beautiful, but they were.  The beauty was not in the tool she used, but it was in the results that were produced.  And perhaps beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.  Similarly, the beauty in the successful management of IT will be in the eyes of those who are served by it.  There is no beauty in IT tools, but the beauty can be observed in the outcomes that are produced as perceived by the people who are served.

Love.  Love inspires passion which breathes life into what we do.  Long hours in a dark room, dancing until your feet were sore, or practicing your horn with a tired embouchure, require passion to fuel and sustain artists.  Similarly, the CIO, or any leader for that matter, must have passion about their work and about the mission to sustain execution of activities that can ultimately breed success.

Love, beauty, truth … What does that have to do with space exploration? Getting back to the moon? Or getting to Mars? I’m not sure how to really explain what that “looks like” relative to IT Management.  But, considering how important IT is to NASA’s mission and how much we spend on it, recapturing that lost art of IT Management is needed to use these mere tools as effectively and as efficiently as we can for the masterpiece of mission success.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The Betting CIO

By some strange confluence in the universe, I found myself in a casino for two consecutive weekends. 

I played Texas Hold ‘Em and wagered on horse races both for the first time.  Now, I understood both from academic, technical, and statistical perspectives.  I had even played successfully in cash-free simulations.  But as that supportive Las Vegas dealer said to me, “Baby, you’ll learn better and faster if you play and risk some money.”  She was right.

I’ve always understood that I was a risk taker.  I learned early on in an exercise during a leadership development program at the Federal Executive Institute.  They presented a wine-making exercise that teaches aspiring executives how to use data that they’ve gathered and apply the results of experimentation to learn how the right amount of risk can be translated into organizational success and competitive advantage. 

Leadership competencies such as these are very important to an organization like NASA.  NASA’s heritage demonstrates the powerful effect of the Ying and Yang of risk management and innovation which continues to spawn discoveries in space, fuel the passion for exploration in human space flight, and launch breakthroughs in technology.  And as we continue on in our mission to inspire, discover, and explore, we will do so by balancing the sometimes competing forces of intellectual judgment and intuitive possibilities. 

Too much risk aversion yields little reward.  Too much innovation could be wasteful or even dangerous.  It’s amazing that we are so creative and innovative in our youth and as we mature and gain experience, life beats it out of us.  John Medina, in his book, Brain Rules, describes, in his Rule #12, how we are powerful and natural explorers and how babies model that behavior.  He goes on to explain:

“The desire to explore never leaves us despite the classrooms and cubicles we are stuffed into. Babies are the model of how we learn—not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion. Babies methodically do experiments on objects, for example, to see what they will do.”

Well now let’s see what we can learn from babies.  First, they watch and observe an object; next thing you know, they want to taste it and put it in their mouths; and then they try to see what they can do with it, even try to break it.

First, the Betting CIO shouldn’t confuse luck with sound research and risk analysis.  Just because you run across a highway and don’t get killed, doesn’t mean you’re skilled; it could mean you’re just lucky.  For example, if you haven’t applied sound risk-based security management practices and nothing bad happened, that’s luck, not good management.

Second, the Betting CIO should follow the advice of the most successful gamblers, “Scared man can’t gamble”.  It takes courage to innovate and operate.  If your tolerance for risk is zero, well then it’s a non-starter.  A system with absolutely no security risks is one that is turned off or unusable.  Without risk, there is no fear; and without fear, there is no need for courage; and without courage, there can be no innovation. 

Finally, the Betting CIO won’t learn anything without risking something.  She must pick it up; play with it; and taste it.  If there are a lot of unknowns and the stakes are high, perhaps she should make a few observations and then take the plunge in a scenario where the risk is lower.  So, the Betting CIO should be observant, try some things, and set up safe sandboxes; but should not be reckless, scared, or paralyzed.

Oh, by the way, I lost just a little bit of money in horse racing and poker.  But, I learned a whole lot more in my loss than I ever learned in reading and computer games.  Leadership lessons in a casino?  You bet!

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Inspire or Expire

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center got an inspiring first visit from our new Administrator Charlie Bolden.  I am always fascinated by how executives manage their transition into leadership.  Clearly, with a resume like Charlie Bolden has, he’s no stranger to transition.  We got clues about the man, his mission, and perhaps about his modus operandi.

One thing that stuck in my mind and in my heart was a charge that NASA should inspire the world.  He may have said nation, but I heard – the world.  I’m sure of it, actually.  As leaders, we are constantly honing our leadership competencies so that we can inspire a workforce.  The key issue, however, is that leaders need to do that plus create organizations that inspire.

The derivation of the word inspire comes from the Latin verb spirare meaning to breathe.  Inspiration literally means to breathe into.  How does an organization breathe into the nation or the world? Four other words come to mind that are relevant to this discussion.  Transpire, respire, perspire, or expire.

Inspiring organizations would have to transpire or emerge.  They have to come outside of themselves and find out what’s going on.  Look at the environment and develop an understanding of their external surroundings.

Inspiring organizations would need to respire or breathe.  Breath sustains life.  It is the process of bringing into an organization, the things that are needed to sustain it.  It is also the process of shedding the things that are noxious. 

Finally, inspiring organizations would need to perspire or sweat.   Some of that sweat will come from hard work and some of it will come from reacting and managing risk.  Regardless, you don’t get very far without doing the things that produce sweat.

And if organizations are not able to do these things, there is a strong possibility that organizations may expire.  Many doubt that a government institution can meet organizational demise.  But, organizational demise shows up in many forms: failure to meet mission, failure to satisfy stakeholders, or inability to meet their constituents’ needs are some possible outcomes.

Just like the Apostle Paul, who appreciated the proverbial thorn in his side, I appreciate the comments that I might get that say “what does inspiration have to do with getting a man to the moon?” or “what does inspiration have to do with being a CIO?”

Well, there’s this thing called the Constitution that talks about things like promoting general welfare, and pursuit of happiness.  Who knows, maybe inspiration from an organization like NASA can contribute to that. 

For a CIO, who supports the inspiring organization, it may look like providing and promoting enabling technologies that help with collaboration.  It may look like reducing costs so that we can better utilize the scarce resources that we have.  Finally, it may look like understanding the work that needs to be done and giving advice about how can be technology can be applied to the effort.

In a smaller group of Goddard’s Executive Council, Charlie Bolden gave me some good-spirited poking about why I was not smiling.  I must have known in advance what he might say and what it may mean.  I shouldn’t have been worried though.  I realize now that all I have to do is get out, take deep breaths, and get ready for hard work.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Footprints in the Sand: Innovation at Goddard's White Sands Complex

Innovation is all the rage these days.  Ironically, we talk about innovation like it’s never been done before.  Innovation can be many things: it can mean doing new things you’ve never done before; or it can mean doing things you’ve done before in new ways.  I had the pleasure of visiting Goddard Space Flight Center’s White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  I made an interesting observation about innovation – and that was — innovation also included getting new life out of old things. Second TDRSS Ground Terminal

As we entered the secure facility, it seemed strange, that I had to leave all of my personal innovation behind – 2 PDAs, a cell phone,  my laptop, and two iPods (primary and backup, come on, after all, I’m a CIO and it’s a long flight to El Paso). However, I was about to see firsthand how these heroes of technology maintain and support a very mature infrastructure with scarce resources.

The White Sands Complex includes two functionally identical satellite ground terminals. These terminals are known as the White Sands Ground Terminal (WSGT) and the Second TDRSS Ground Terminal (STGT), respectively. The ground terminals provide the hardware and software necessary to ensure uninterrupted communications between the customer spacecraft and the NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) interface to the customer control center.

Don Shinners, Station Director, gave a great overview of the amazing work that is done there.  They have been able to provide secure, well-managed services supporting human spaceflight and science research for nearly three decades.  I was fascinated about how they mixed old-school skills such as soldering with new-school skills such in software development, architecture, and security and configuration management.

They harvest spare parts, build what they need, and create software solutions for hardware requirements.  Their resourcefulness reminded me of the fictional television secret agent Angus MacGyver, who used his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsman ship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises with only a Swiss army knife and duct tape.

The evidence of the resourcefulness of these unsung heroes of the desert is seen the footprints in the sand of the folks who tirelessly provide 7x24x365 sustainment and support for critical mission essential infrastructure.  One quote from the TV CIO's shoes and footprints in sandseries MacGyver seems fitting:

I know, I know … stay out of trouble, keep the expenses down and don’t get killed.

How fitting and appropriate. 

As I left the building and gathered all my CIO gear, I thought, gee, it’s easy to innovate with all of these toys often called innovative technology.  But, it is an amazing accomplishment to innovate with the equivalent of only a Swiss army knife and duct tape.

Linda Cureton, CIO Goddard Space Flight Center

Problem Solving and Personal Leadership

I had a rare opportunity to sit in on NASA’s Senior Management Council Meeting last week.  It was worth coming in from the flu and missing Michael Jackson’s funeral to take what was for me a glimpse into how an organization like NASA approaches problem-solving.  Acting Administrator, Chris Scolese moved methodically from issue to issue …What problem are we trying to solve? Do we have a plan? Did we solve the problem?

As individuals and as leaders, do we apply the same rigor and approach to problem solving?  Back in the good ole days, as a technician and systems programmer, problem determination was an important skill.  I recall one situation, in pulling an all-nighter, I had to wait for my colleague and good pal GJB to “do his thing” before I could do mine.  However, his stuff didn’t work.  So what did he do? He just kept trying over, and over, and over, again.  It was four o’clock in the morning. S o sleep deprived with patience exhausted, I yelled, “For crying out loud, Dude … just do something different! ANYTHING!”

Not surprisingly, some of the same characteristics of a good problem-solver can be found in a good leader.   Courage, creativity, focus, tenacity. 

Chuck Musciano, in his blog, Shaking the Mouse, relates a story about one woman’s approach to problem determination.  When a sales rep of a major IT company began to experience … “the demon of demos” … she began to shake the mouse to get things to start working.

Now, it was true that the [optical] mouse driver did hang every so often, but it was due to a small input buffer being overrun with too many mouse events.  If you waited a few seconds, the buffer would drain and the mouse would recover no shaking necessary.  This woman, however, believed that mouse was clogged and that shaking was required to fix it.  It clearly worked: every time she shook the mouse, it started working again.

My pal David is a digital image technician.  Printers and copiers … ugh … are the bane of my existence.  Here’s my problem solving technique — when I get a paper jam, I just open doors and slam them shut until it clears; if my print doesn’t come out right, I just go through all the permutations and combinations of inserting the paper; by now, I’m sweating and crying and then email document to someone else to print.  But, David is good at problem solving.  First, you show it who is boss.  Then, don’t be afraid of a little electrical shock and don’t be afraid to take it apart and try stuff, you can shake that off  that shock it just wakes you up.  Then you wrestle with the little devil until it gives up and works.    

Ok, David.  I think those reflect sound personal leadership principles.  Here’s a quote that gets pretty close to his technique:

Why don’t we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

This suggests that courage is better than process.  But perhaps leaders of organizations should make risk-based decisions about taking those safety labels off, nurture an environment for creativity, and ensure that they have enough energy and focus to wrestle the problems until they just give in and allow themselves to be resolved.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

 

 

The Poor Strugglin’ CIO

Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days.  There are two things about those bad days.  First, bad days make good days seem even better!  Second, they are trials that prepare you for things that happen in life – they make you better.  As you look backwards on bad days, these 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. 

I was in Boston this week, attending the NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) Forum.  I was having a leadership conversation with Tereda.  I’m not sure if she realized it, but we were having a discussion about one of the executive core competencies of the Federal Government Senior Executive Service: Resilience.  Resilience deals effectively with pressure; remains optimistic and persistent, even under adversity and recovers quickly from setbacks.  We discussed those setbacks and moments of adversity that make you a stronger and more effective leader.  Graph which has a minimum point annoted as the worst day of your life

I remember a day of adversity as a teenager – December 26, 1975 – I had what remains to be the worst day of my life. Now, realize, this is by teenage girl standards, but even as I have increased in age and experience, relatively speaking … this was pretty much still the worst day of my life.  Picture this: the Washington Redskins are playing the Philadelphia Eagles.  Teenaged Linda and trumpet player turned French Horn player gets a lead from recently dumped boyfriend on an opportunity to play trumpet at the half time game. Teenaged Linda gives the only answer that an up-and-coming Redskins fan could give.  Yes.  It snows; lips stick to mouthpiece; Redskins lose; cute under-dressed teenager needs to huddle under blanket with former boyfriend for survival.  I look in his eyes as he looks into mine, and I hope file this memory away for the rest of my life as the worst day of my life – my worst day ever.  Happily, this day continues to be a benchmark that helps to motivate some of my executive resilience.  I only wish that I could recognize those days sooner.  If I could, perhaps look forward to those bad days, and then they wouldn’t seem so bad. 

As I checked the flight status of my return trip from Boston Logan to BWI.  It was foggy and stormy in Baltimore and Boston.  Our flight was delayed.  I have a pretty bad cold and feel bad.  Hum…I think I am getting ready to look forward to one of those bad days.   So, I was jazzed up … nothing but “better” stuff could happen after a “bad” day.  When I finally got home in my own bed at nearly 2:00 am, I reflected that this turned out to be an amazing day with the most wonderful experiences.  Let me share a few.

Beautiful Sunset.  I met Dean.  He works on the NASA/Goddard’s James Webb Telescope project.  He introduced himself and offered me a flat chocolate pancake.  He said to me that he met me before, but I probably don’t remember him.  I told him it didn’t matter because we were about to have a fun evening together and I wouldn’t forget him.  He was leaving on a flight the next morning at 5:40 am heading to Orlando to catch a cruise.  I was so happy for his great day because he would make his cruise and even with no sleep, he had a good 10 hours of slack in his schedule to make his launch.

Spectacular Sunrise. Then my Deputy Dennis was talking to someone who seemed to be a delightful NASA veteran.  He had been with NASA since 1961.  Dennis was happy that they had a lively conversation.  I think that by the time we took off, their conversation may have been up to the 1980s.  I never knew the man’s name.  But he had a hair full of gray hair.  He lives in Ocean Pines, MD.  I pretty long drive from BWI Airport.  He’s getting ready to have one of those bad days.  Then, he talks to himself and makes a decision.  He will stay at Kent Island and wake up to watch a beautiful sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay, then drive the rest of the way home.  He was getting ready to have a great day.

The Moon and the Stars. Finally, our plane arrived.  A plane load of full of people broke into spontaneous applause.  Yes, this was indeed a great day.  We boarded and I had the prophetic insight to upgrade to business class, so I looked forward to a very comfortable pleasant flight. 

I sat next to this old man with a familiar spirit.  He reminded me of my grandfather.  He ordered a Tanqueray and ginger ale.  I ordered a chardonnay.  I made sure that my bag didn’t take up his leg room and gave him some advice about his tray table.  Later, I put on my headset and turned up the volume on my iPod and looked out the window.  There was heavy cloud cover and the reflected moonlight was beautiful; the starry night was enchanting.  I always loved the moon and the stars. What a stunning night.

As we landed and prepared to leave the plane, I smiled at the familiar grandfatherly spirit that kept me company.  He took down his roll-aboard and I spied his name tag – Kumar.  Wow!  Could it be my old Astronomy Professor? I seized the moment and excused myself and asked him if he was a physics professor.  He said, he used to be one but he is retired.  I asked him if he taught at Howard University.  He smiled and said yes.  And I told him that he was my Astronomy Professor at Howard University.  He left the plane and he waited for me.  As I managed myself off the plane, I remembered another close call for the “worst day of my life”.  He was in it.

When I caught up with him, I told him I had to tell him a story.  In his Astronomy class, he asked the class if we understood the movement of the tides and the relevance of the position of the moon, sun, and Earth.  Everyone nodded with feigned understanding.   Then, to my terror, he gave me the chalk and said, “Young lady, explain it to the class.” I said ok, and then shocked him with an explanation that was almost as good as his.  My classmates came up to me and said, “Girl, you did good! Glad it was you and not me!” I didn’t expect him to remember, I just wanted him to know I did.  Well, he said he remembered. This was 33 years ago. 

Then he said to me, somewhat apologetically, but not really, that they were intentionally hard on the science and math students at Howard University because the pressure and the trials would make them better in their life and their careers.  I survived that bad day and came away from his class loving the moon, stars, sun, tides, and our Earth.  But, I never knew how great that day was until last night. 

I finally got home at almost 2:00 am.  Congested, feverish, and tired, I lay in bed and said my CIO prayers.  I think this bad day may have been one of the best days of my life.  I look forward to my next bad day.  I had sweet dreams that night.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Girl Power for CIOs

I had the good fortune of being asked to speak on a panel for Women in Technology.  The panel was called Government Leaders at the Helm.  Like with any other discussion focused for women in leadership, we are asked typically to answer these questions:

·         How do you break through the glass ceiling?

·         How do you get work-life balance?

·         What’s it like being a woman in a male dominated field?

This was the third year that I did this panel.  As each year passes, there has been an increase in the number of men who attend.  I’m not surprised.  Perhaps posed in a slightly different manner, these are questions that any leader should ask himself or herself as they manage their lives and their careers.

Glass ceiling. It’s difficult talking about this.  Acknowledgement may not cast your organization in the most positive light; yet ignoring it may be reacting like putting your proverbial head in the sand.  Rebecca Shambaugh, in her book “It’s Not a Glass Ceiling It’s a Sticky Floor”, acknowledges the existence of the glass ceiling, but challenges her readers to focus on those things that make your feet stick to the floor.  Some of the things we learned as girls in Kindergarten may be some of the traits that hold us back in our leadership careers.  She goes on to say:

The strengths and traits that got you to where you are, such as getting results, being detail oriented, being process focused, or a team player, are more of a recipe for being a good middle manager than an executive-suite executive.  In contrast, executive-level leaders need to think strategically, have a vision for their organization and people, lead complex change, and build strategic and collaborative relationships inside and outside the organization.

Focusing instead on these executive skills, is the key to getting “unstuck” on the floor.  Focusing on the wrong thing causes you to overlook your strengths.

Focus … there must be a golf story coming.  I was playing golf in Hilton Head, SC. I finally got to the point where I could drive the ball and not go into the water by NOT focusing on the water.  But, at Hilton Head, there were alligators at every hole – plus, I’m hitting from the forward tees which are closer to the alligator.  I did not lose my focus on the alligators and every single drive with an alligator went straight for the alligator.  Focus.  It works.

Work-life balance.  This question always drives me nuts.  It’s not like I am 33 1/3% wife, 33 1/3% friend, and 33 1/3% CIO! How can you not be 100% wife? Or 100% friend?  Focus and priorities make this a non-linear problem.  Einstein says it best:

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master.  For this reason, mastery demands all of a person.

There are times when folks will ask my husband, how does it feel to have your wife blog? He says, almost always, that it’s ok except when I blog on “his time”.  So then I thought what part of MY time is not HIS time? Then, I came up with it: while he’s sleep, working outside, shopping, or fixing something.  So, if I focus and write faster … and chose the appropriate time, then everybody’s happy.

What’s it like?  I like to answer this question like this … how does it feel? Well, today, I’m at a conference with a bunch Java developers.  A whole bunch of men.  A WHOLE BUNCH!  Imagine, you are late (ok, ok, no wisecracks), you are wearing a flashy silver and white metallic jacket in a sea of blue jeans, and you haven’t seen a woman yet. Then everyone turns and looks at you when you get a shout-out from the stage.  It feels like that.

Many of the executive traits that Shambaugh described are associated with Right-brained thinking.  And some studies have shown that right-brained thinking is often associated with women.  Some of those attributes are: big-picture thinking, seeing both present and future, appreciating, presents possibilities, and taking risks. 

Dan Pink, in his blog, Too Many Left-Brained Thinkers Spoil the Pot, suggests that left-brained thinking prevented some companies from seeing financial disaster coming.  He goes on to blog:

I have a theory that people who find themselves running major-league companies are real organization-management types who focus on what they are doing this quarter or this annual budget. They are somewhat impatient, and focused on the present. Seeing these things requires more people with a historical perspective who are more thoughtful and more right-brained — but we end up with an army of left-brained immediate doers.

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.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Launches Spacebook

Spacebook

 

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!

We took a leap of faith and rocketed into social networking this week with the launch of Spacebook, an employee intranet that features user profiles, group collaboration spaces and social bookmarking. This is similar to Facebook, except that it is restricted to NASA’s secure internal network. It’s open to every employee of NASA.

I need to tell you that this whole Web 2.0 thing gives people the willies. We delayed the launch one week to make sure we addressed the very valid concerns raised by our stakeholders. Our legal folks wanted to make sure that we met our policy and regulatory obligations; our IT security folks wanted to make sure that we didn’t expose NASA data or NASA networks to any additional risks; and finally our Office of Human Capital people wanted to make sure that we were all well-behaved and personally accountable.

There are a lot of phobias associated with social networking. I addressed some of them in Time to Face Your Facebook Phobia. I’m sure that many of these concerns were raised about the social impact of the invention of the telephone. Somehow … someway … we worked through those issues. I’m sure that some of those serious issues may appear silly now. I expect that we will look back on the serious issues raised by Web 2.0 technologies in wonder and amazement.

As CIOs we are required to provide lead efforts to improve the competitive advantage our organizations need through implementation of collaborative technologies. Technologies like Facebook and Myspace gives us those capabilities. There are, however, some very valid barriers to entry. Launching capabilities like this on internal networks reduces those barriers of entry. IBM has done this with their internal social networking site, Beehive and MITRE has done this with their internal Twitter capability.

One of the most amazing things about these Web 2.0 technologies and the greatest value to NASA is the ability to help us create a culture of engagement and collaboration that makes each individual employee much more effective. Engaging the public, harnessing the power of crowds, and open and transparent government … as my friend Efrain and fav acquisition professional would say … it’s ALL good Poopsie.

What’s next for Spacebook? There are currently pilots at Ames Research Center and Kennedy Space Center on SharePoint so integrating these capabilities may be desirable. The ability to leverage use of widgets and have use mashable apps is something that we want. We would like to include blogs and a more seamless interface to NASA web capabilities including those potentially offered in the web services sourced by one of NASA’s I3P contracts.

NASA has a strong external presence on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. Not too many people will “get” this … but back in my heyday, we use to say “IBM sells MVS but they use VM”. Well, now, we at NASA get a chance to actually use more securely and internally the capabilities that we use to communicate to the public. Perhaps these Web 2.0 technologies will make us the bionic agency … will be faster, stronger, better than before. Regardless of the hyperbole, I’m proud this week to be the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center