IPMA Home | IPMA News IPMA News : May 2005 Edited By Christy Ridout and Shelagh Taylor

Earth Day Celebration: Eco-Delivery

--By Mary Ellen Bradley, Department of Ecology

On April 21, the Washington Department of Ecology celebrated Earth Day. A major part of the celebration was Dell Computer’s new computer packaging system which delivers computers in re-usable containers. Jim Albert, Department of Information Systems (DIS) Deputy Director, and Scott Smith, DIS Leasing and Brokering attended the ceremony where Dell presented Ecology with an award for being the Eco-Delivery pilot customer.

This new packaging system started with an email request from Mary Ellen Bradley, Information Resources Manager, to Kevin Flick, Dell Account Executive. The email asked Dell to help the environment by reducing the cardboard and styrofoam used in computer packaging. Ecology’s Sustainability and Waste Reduction committees were looking for ways to reduce the amount of waste. Kevin took this request to Dell executives and design staff, and they started to look at ways that they could assist us in this effort. Ecology staff involved in this project included: Jane Smith (IS Help Desk Manager), Linda Talen (Desktop Support) and Chuck Wilkowski (Shipping and Receiving).

Then DIS became a partner in this project. Scott Smith, Leasing and Brokering told Dell that he would be interested in using this delivery system when it was available. Since DIS purchases more computers than Ecology, this would mean more opportunity for Dell to use their containers. DIS also worked with Ecology employee, Patricia Jatczak to incorporate environmental concerns in the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA). This is a major contract state agencies use to purchase computers and related components at a volume-reduced price.

Ecology is piloting the Eco-Delivery system for Dell. The first delivery resulted in Ecology making some suggestions for improvements. The second delivery incorporated these changes. Now instead of one box per computer, 20 Small Desktops or 8 Mini-towers and the related keyboards, mice, cables and one set of CDs and manuals are delivered in one box. The box is returned to Dell once the computers have been removed and it is reused for the next shipment. This has resulted in no packaging waste and the boxes use 50% less space than the previous packaging.

As Carol Fleskes, Administrative Services Director for Ecology, said as she accepted the award, without the cooperation and partnership between Ecology, DIS and Dell, this would not have been possible.

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Register now to experience Neal Whitten, the "Dr. Phil" of Project Management!

--by Sheryl Hall, IPMA Professional Development Co-Chair

The IPMA and the Department of Personnel are pleased to announce Neal Whitten, Project Management Professional (PMP®), as our featured speaker on August 23, 2005. See the IPMA event announcement for details including registration information. (Note: There are two methods for registering -- one is for State of Washington employees and the other is for others).

The $69 registration fee includes Neal's book, No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects, refreshments, and an opportunity to learn first-hand from a seasoned, well respected, no-nonsense project management professional.

One student, who recently attended one of Neal’s full-day seminars, had this to say: "Neal was great as usual.  He was highly interactive despite having a large group (about 175) to work with.  This is my fourth time in a workshop or seminar with him and I always come away with good ideas based on his pragmatic and useful advice." Dotti Lane, Quality Project Manager

Neal Whitten is a popular speaker, trainer, consultant, mentor, and author in the areas of project management and employee development. He has more than 30 years of front-line project management, software engineering, and human resource experience.

In his 23 years at IBM, Neal held both project leader and management positions. He managed the development of numerous software products, including operating systems, business and telecommunications applications and special-purpose programs and tools. For three years, he also managed and was responsible for providing independent assessments on dozens of software projects for an assurance group. Neal is president of The Neal Whitten Group, which he founded shortly after leaving IBM in 1993.

Neal is the author of several books. His most recent book, Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects was published in 2004 by Management Concepts. Other books include: The EnterPrize Organization: Organizing Software Projects for Accountability and Success, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®); Managing Software Development Projects: Formula for Success, Second Edition, published by John Wiley & Sons; and Becoming an Indispensable Employee in a Disposable World, published by Prentice Hall.

Neal is a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at conferences, seminars, workshops, and special events. He has developed and instructed dozens of project management, software development and personal development classes, and presented to thousands of people from across hundreds of companies, institutions and public organizations.

He has written well over 50 articles for professional magazines and is a contributing editor of PMI®'s PM Network magazine.

The services of The Neal Whitten Group include trouble-shooting projects, performing project reviews, training organizations in the practical application of project management principles, and training all members of a project or organization in the adoption of an effective, productive work culture. Popular workshops include "The Essentials of Software/IT Project Management: Best Practices," "Leadership, Accountability ...and YOU," "Project Review Mentoring Workshop," "Role Clarification Workshop," and a workshop based on his latest book, Neal Whitten's No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects.

Neal is a member of PMI® and has been a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) since 1992. He can be reached at The Neal Whitten Group, P.O. Box 1030, Jasper, GA 30143; 706-692-3910; fax: 706-692-3913; E-mail: neal@nealwhittengroup.com; Website: www.nealwhittengroup

Don’t be left out, register now!!

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It's FORUM Time!

--by Dennis Laine, IPMA Forum Co-Chair

Want to find out what’s happening; what’s new and different, what’s effective in Information Technology? Want to see how others have attacked problems similar to yours? Want to discover who can help you with that next project? Want to do it close to home? Want to do it for free?

Attend FORUM 2005 at Saint Martins College May 24 and 25.

FORUM is annually the largest public sector Information Technology exposition north of Sacramento and west of Minneapolis, this year presenting 2 keynotes, 40 seminar sessions, and over 70 vendors.

Tuesday’s keynote will be given by Mr. Peter Penfield. Mr. Penfield will discus "The Connected Republic" as a concept that is intended to connect people and organizations into networks of expertise and skills that are capable of tackling the policy and program challenges facing communities and governments. Mr. Penfield is currently a Consultant in the Internet Business Solutions Group DOD/Intel Practice for Cicso Systems. He recently transferred from the State and Local Government Practice. He has extensive state government experience including stints with California, Alaska and Colorado.

Wednesday’s keynote will be given by Mr. Gary Robinson; Director of DIS. Gary will discuss "Information Technology and Changing the Culture of Government". Gary is a long time state executive, having held many executive positions at OFM including Assistant Director and Deputy Director, and has also been Acting Director of OFM and Acting Director of DIS.

When attending FORUM be sure to register and receive the FORUM program. There will be four concurrent seminar sessions each hour, some span two session time periods, some are sponsored by the IPMA and are vendor neutral while others are sponsored by vendors and may be slanted in their favor.

IPMA sponsored session include a strong series for application developers, a set aimed at security issues, a round table discussion of project management issues and techniques, and other current and relevant topics. Please refer to the IPMA web site for specific session topics and times.

The layout of the vendor booths in the Pavilion has changed this year to facilitate better traffic flow. Refer to the map in the program to find a specific vendor booth.

Remember, FORUM is May 24 and 25, at Saint Martins College. Doors open at 8:00 a.m., Keynotes start at 8:30 a.m., the exhibits are open from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Tuesday and to 3:30pm on Wednesday.

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News from the Past

5 Years Ago -- May 2000 IPMA Newsletter

10 Years Ago -- May 1995 IPMA Newsletter

15 Years Ago -- May 1990 IPMA Newsletter (not available at this time)

20 Years Ago -- May 1985 Association of Data Processing Managers Newsletter  (not available at this time)

25 Years Ago -- May 1980 Association of Data Processing Managers Newsletter

30 Years Ago -- May 1975 Association of Data Processing Managers Newsletter  (not available at this time)

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Summary of April 14, 2005 IPMA Board Meeting

Members Present: Mary Ellen Bradley, Thomas Bynum, Phil Grigg, Sheryl Hall, Dennis Jones, Dennis Laine, Andy Marcelia, Christy Ridout, Darrel Riffe, Allen Schmidt and Shelagh Taylor. Phil Coates, CFO, and Jim Andersen, Forum Events Manager, were also present.

Thomas Bynum, IPMA Chair, opened the April 2005 meeting of the IPMA Board of Directors at 7:40 a.m.

Approval of Minutes: It was noted that the DOP charge for processing the Neal Whitten seminar registrations was reported as $3 when it should have been $4. The minutes from the March 2005 Board meeting were approved as amended.

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report: The Board approved the March 2005 financial status and activities reports.

Committee Reports:

Forum 2005: Jim Andersen presented the Forum status report.

1. Corporate Sponsors:
   • Twenty-two of the twenty-six corporate sponsors were sponsors in previous years.
   • Twenty-one have paid their 2005/2006 sponsorship fee.
   • The four new sponsors are Danube Technologies, SafeHarbor, SAS and Eclipse.
2. Vendors: We have a total of 47 booths:
   • To date, 44 have been sold. By April of the last two years we had 40 sold.
   • To date, 19 have paid. By April of the last two years 26 had paid. Several checks are in the mail.
   • "Free" booth space has been set aside for the IPMA, PMI and OMUG.
3. Forum committee: The Forum Planning Committee met on April 12 and made some schedule changes. A session on Identity Theft was added. Development of session descriptions are running a little late. The Forum brochure was changed to put the breakout sessions on the back cover and session descriptions will be listed by subject area. The show layout was moved to the vendor document.
4. Forum Marketing: The Forum flyer was completed and distributed at the CAB, the April 12 Professional Development session and at the April 14 ACCIS meeting. E-mail versions of the flyer were sent to about 1,000 recipients using a link to the IPMA’s web site. Pam Rupert is planning to distribute Forum flyers using several DOP distribution lists.
5. Executive Lunch: Attorney General Rob McKenna will be the speaker at the May 17 event. Three-quarters of the Worthington Center is reserved for the luncheon. The room will accommodate about 150+ guests. Invitations have been sent.
6. Corporate Sponsor Agreement: The Corporate Sponsor Agreement has been modified and will be introduced at the New Corporate Sponsor Appreciation meeting.
7. New Corporate Sponsor Appreciation Luncheon: The luncheon is scheduled for July 13 from noon to 2:00 p.m. at Tug Boat Annie’s at the West Bay Marina.
8. Vendor contracts: Still working on a draft of participation agreement for Forum vendors.
9. Optoma LCD: The LCD was used at the Professional Development Seminars on March 23 and April 12. Sheryl and Allen report that it worked like a charm.
10. Miscellaneous:
    • Evaluation forms will be distributed at all breakout sessions to seek participant feedback.
    • The Forum enrollment form is being modified to capture additional demographic information.

Communications: Shelagh Taylor and Christy Ridout presented the Communications committee status report.

1. Modifications to the IPMA web site:
   • A Calendar of events has been added.
   • Schedule of Newsletter articles with due date is posted in the board members section of the web site.
   • The 2003 Annual Report has been updated from draft status to final.
   • The 2004 Annual Report is now available.
2. April 2005 Newsletter:
   • Contains two articles, one from ESD and one from Diane Vasarkovy of Wolf Consulting.
   • Contains an announcement in the Sponsor’s corner for the Microsoft Security Summit.
3. May 2005 Newsletter - Dennis Laine’s article is due by May 6.
4. Executive Luncheon:
   • Sent out initial e-mail to Corporate Sponsors, CIO’s and IT executives.
   • Letters are being sent to CIO’s this week.

Professional Development: Sheryl Hall and Allen Schmidt presented the Professional Development committee report.

1. 2005 Professional Development Planning Updates
   • The March 23 program, "Results Driven Process Improvement with Lean Six Sigma - Getting to the Real Cost of Complexity," was well attended.
   • 87 registered and 4 cancelled
   • 69 in attendance
   • 47 did evaluations. The ratings were mostly 4's and 5's and comments indicated that the audience thought it was well worth the time.
   • Good attendance by State quality improvement community and business managers.
   • The April 12 program, "Security Roadmap - a Technical Roundtable," had disappointing attendance. The moderator and all the panel members did an exceptional job. They are:
   • Moderator: Dave McComb, Semantic Arts, Inc.
   • State Government:
     • Scott Bream, IT Policy Advisor, DIS
     • Jerry Britcher, IT Security Administrator, Washington State, DSHS
     • Dave Lybarger, IT Security Administrator, Washington State, AGR
     • Doug Selix, IT Security Administrator, Washington State, OFM
   • Solution Providers:
     • Iver Band, Hewlett Packard Security Solutions Architect
     • Dave Morris, Regional Manager, Western Area Enterprise Security at Cisco
   • Systems
     • Gene Pugnetti, IBM Security and Privacy Practice
     • Stefan Roger, Novell, Inc. Systems Engineer
     • John Wylder, Microsoft Strategic Security Advisor
   • Attendance:
     • 54 registered and 2 cancelled
     • 25 of the registered checked-in with an additional 4 non-registered
     • 20 did evaluations. Feedback was primarily positive. One person thought the information was out-dated. Others said they wanted more time to hear details and specifics from panel members. The ideas from the feedback sheets were passed on to the Forum planning committee.
   • The June 20 program is currently under development. Allen meets this week with Melissa Cook, Enterprise Architecture and DIS’s Greg Brandt. Rick Cook from DSHS will also participate. The program will focus on how Enterprise Architecture supports decision making on business processes and IT investments.
   • The August 23 program, "Neal Whitten’s No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects," is open for registration now!!
   • Planning is to begin in August, for the October program.
2. Allen met with the Forum planning group this week to provide feedback from our security roundtable. Key topics were, "The Threats from Within," "Wireless," and "Social Engineering."
3. Request for certificates: Recently several attendees have asked if the IPMA provides credits and/or certificates of completion for it’s seminars. A certificate has been created in Power Point and given to the requesters. The board directed the committee to continue the current procedure of generating certificates on the exception basis, rather than developing a more formal certification process.

Executive Seminar 2004: Phil Grigg reported that the Skamania Lodge bid for the 2006/2007 Executive Seminars came in $20,000 higher than the last time the seminar was held there. This would require raising the attendee rate by more than $200, to about $800. The board agreed that this would be too high and directed Phil and Darrel to book Campbell’s for the 2006 and 2007 seminars. The board asked that the feasibility of Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop be explored.

Phil announced that there will be a planning meeting April 22 at a location to be announced. He asked any interested board members to let him know if they wished to attend.

IT Leadership Development Program: Dennis Jones reported that they met with Jason Schweizer of DOP to discuss how DOP might administer the program. Dennis hopes to have a proposal from Jason and enough details worked out to make a fairly detailed announcement of the program at the Forum.

Budget & Finance: Phil Coates distributed the final draft of the 2005 IPMA Budget that included the changes identified at the March board meeting. He noted that the aforementioned change to the amount that DOP will charge for registrations at the August Whitten seminar would make a $250 change to the printed document distributed. The board approved the budget as corrected.

Other Business:

Marketing Plan: Christy reported that they hope to have the next steps worked out for presentation and discussion at the May board meeting.

Storage: Phil Coates asked the board for authority to secure a small storage unit to house Corporate records, banners and other event related material and the newly acquired projector. The board approved the expenditure of up to $50 per month on such a storage facility. It was also pointed out that a checkout procedure needs to be put in place for the projector and other property used by multiple committees.

Next Meeting: The next board meeting will be May 12 at the Shipwreck Café

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 a.m.

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