This presentation outlines why a project team needs to conduct research into long-term, strategic questions about the future of technology and education as part of an IT organizational design review.

1. IT Organizational Review
Why research the “fuzzy”
questions?

2. Growth Managed Growth
Firefighting Control
Why is this research
important?
Where do you spend most of your
time?
Many IT departments in Alberta’s
education system are stuck in a
vicious cycle.
Unmanaged growth leads to
firefighting. To end firefighting,
control is exerted reactively. When
the crisis passes, IT shifts back to
growth. The cycle repeats.

3. Growth Managed Growth
Firefighting Control
Why is this research
important?
Getting unstuck requires
striking a balance
between present and
future focus.
What percentage of time
do you spend thinking
about the future?

4. I.
Important but not
urgent
II.
Urgent and
Important
III.
Urgent but not
Important
IV.
Not urgent and not
important
Another quadrant.
We attend to urgent and important
issues, because we know we
have to.
But sometimes we neglect
important, long-term issues.
Sometimes, those important but not
urgent issues can become a
crisis.

5. I.
Important but not
urgent
II.
Urgent and
Important
III.
Urgent but not
Important
IV.
Not urgent and not
important
So what is what?
There are urgent and important
issues confronting this team:
● Wellness
● Physical space
● Resources
● Staffing
And there are important but not
urgent issues confronting the
team:
● What skills and capabilities do we
need in the near future?

6. What skills and capabilities
do we need in the future?
The answer to this question is
very important to each and every
one of you. It’s about your
future.
This is what the research activity
you’re doing is designed for - to

7. Output and Outcome
O
utput
O
utcom
e
-Short term
- Presentation
- Report
-Tangible
- Quantifiable
- Urgent and Important
- Long term
- Skills and capabilities of the team
- Understanding
- Shifts in thinking
- Intangible
- Hard to quantify
- Important but not Urgent
Those big questions are
important over the long term.
They may be 1% of the
report, but are 80% of the
value...to you.

8. Stuff we can count
Number of staff
Budget
Number of services we provide
Stuff we can measure
Degree of satisfaction
How we talk to each other
Changing dynamics between people
How we think
Changing perceptions about our capability.
We tend
to focus
on this
And
neglect
this

9. We need to work here.
(Which is hard, but known.)
This is management.
And here.
(Which is really hard, and unknown, unfamiliar.)
This is leadership.
We need leaders. Lots of them.
This is where we’re asking you to go.

10. Big shifts. Big impacts.
Things like cloud computing, mobile, social, big data,
shared services, changing legal requirements, and the
transformation of education will require IT professionals
who have a very different set of skills than in the past.
You need to prepare.
The time is now - before it becomes urgent and
important.

11. Now what?
Getting started with this research can be challenging.
Google is only as good as the questions you’re asking.
Here are some short-cuts.

12. Constrain yourself
Decide how much time you will spend doing online research into your question.
Keep the amount of time fairly low.
This will help you focus on the essentials, and will help keep you from going
down any rabbit holes.
Block time to do the research.

13. Skim Read
The essentials of Inspiring Education:
● Introduction
● Policy Shifts to Achieve the Vision
● Guiding Principles
The essentials of the Learning and Technology Policy Framework:
● Read policy directions 1-4 in the quick guide.
● Read the entirety of policy direction 5 in the big policy document.
The Ministerial Order is one page. Pay attention to the list items.

14. Fast Reflection
Take 90 seconds after reading each document and ask yourself three questions:
1.What were the 2-3 biggest ideas?
2.What new insight have I gained?
3.What new questions do I have?
Write those down in point form. Use the workbook - it’ll help you keep it short.
This technique can also be applied when reflecting on any research activity –
from reading a report to reviewing survey results to conducting an interview.

15. And we will attend to the
important and urgent
issues.

16. (Admit it, you were waiting for it.)