Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings

Standardization is KING! What IT can learn from Southwest Airlines...

This blog post started out small then turned into a giant brain dump on standardization.  Hope it's helpful ... Enjoy! :-)

IT can glean valuable lessons about hardware standardization from an unlikely source: Southwest Airlines, one of the most consistently successful and profitable airlines in an otherwise struggling industry. Unlike some of its troubled competitors, Southwest only buys one kind of plane (the Boeing 737), which means that Southwest’s planes are interchangeable when problems occur. Pilots and mechanics need to be trained for only one kind of “hardware,” and tools and spare parts are transferable across all the planes in the fleet. I bet some of the pilots might prefer to fly an Airbus A320, but the benefits of standardization for Southwest as a company outweigh the personal preferences of individual employees. The same logic applies to standardizing end-user hardware in corporate IT.  read entire article

Anyone that knows me probably knows I’m a huge proponent of standardization.  It was my 1st and main objective when I started at GCC in 2003, I’ve blogged about it, and talked it up any chance I get.  It was also one of the main topics I landed on in my all staff presentation in 2008 that received great feedback ... even from our exec pastor Tim Stevens.

I was reminded of just how sweet standardization is again last Monday night…

I got a text message from my boss, Kem Meyer, around 9pm that her laptop wouldn’t power on.  I texted back a couple things for her to try (remove batts, unplug power, press power button, plug in power, press power button) and then report back results.  She reported back same results.  I could tell she was stressing about this, while in my head I figured it was most likely a dead motherboard…"no biggie" I'm thinking.

Since we were working late Monday night and she lives very close, I asked her to bring her laptop over to GCC and we’d fix it up quickly.  She brought the laptop to us, we quickly pulled her hard drive and swapped it into another Dell Latitude D830 (we always keep at least 1 spare around for just this reason).  Powered the spare laptop on and taa daa she was back in business!  Had we not had a spare D830 one of my team would have donated our D830 to the cause … we’re nice like that :-)

I have many other stories about how standardization “saved the day” over the past 6 years like …

… Minutes before a presentation someone spilled a 32oz Mt. Dew on their Dell D600 laptop which of course fried it.  I quickly put their hard drive in my D600 and the presentation went off as scheduled.

… A staff member was at a multi-day conference in CA when their laptop hard drive died.  We took a fully functioning spare laptop, copied their files to that hard drive off the network file server and overnighted it to her along with a small screw driver (Our Dells have 2 screws to remove the hard drive).  She easily swapped drives and was back in business.

Not only does standardization give us rapid repair ability, it also greatly aids in troubleshooting issues.  You can quickly narrow an issue down to hardware or software by swapping hard drives into a known good laptop or desktop.  That can save a LOT of time!

Standardization also helps greatly with software builds and deployment … of course we’ve found this to be almost a non-issue when deploying windows7 on different hardware.

Naturally, standardization doesn’t happen overnight.  It took a good 3 years before I got GCC to where I was happy.  You just have to keep it elevated as one of your main goals.  In fact, when I started at GCC we had 60ish PC's of all size, age, and flavors ... models from 1997-2003 ... Gateway, Dell, Compaq, IBM, Sony, E-Machines (shudder!) ... Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP ... Office 97, 2000, XP … uggh!

A tool to help achieve quicker standardization is leasing.  Say you’ve got 50 computers that need replacing.  Rather than purchasing say 10 computers each year over 5 years, why not lease 25 each year over 2 years?  Yes, you’ll pay a little extra for them over the life of the lease (always do 3yr $1 buyout) but the ROI is easily justified.  Another option is get a bunch of the same units from http://dfsdirectsales.com  You’ll find LOTS of off lease Dell gear for a great price.  For instance our standard desktop model (Optiplex 745) is only $267 and they have many of them.  They usually will have little to no warranty, so just buy a couple extra as parts donors and you’ll be fine.  The beauty of Dell Optiplex line is that the hardware is very consistent across a model line.  So I can buy an off lease 745 and know it'll be compatible with our current 745’s.

Keeping a spare of each model of laptop/desktop you have in your org is uber helpful, but obviously not always possible. So as long as IT uses the same hardware as your end users then at least you can swap your parts with there’s. Better for IT to be inconvenienced by a computer issue than our end users, right?

What about Macs?  One of the great benefits of Macs is that standardization is already part of the equation since Apple controls 100% of the core hardware sold and there are very few options available.  So since Apple controls both hardware and the operating system you’re in good shape when deploying new OSX versions and updates provided you’re not dealing with both intel and non-intel models.  Hardware swaps are similar to PC’s, but replacing a Mac laptop drive is NOT simple/easy/quick in anything prior to the new uni-body design.  So shouldn’t you just standardize on all Macs?  Umm, there are several big reasons I’d say no from experience, but that’ll have to be another blog post.  I don’t have the time/energy to deal with all the fanboi comments I’m sure that’ll receive ;-)

[update: I failed to mentioned that we DO standardize on Macs for most everything related to audio/video creation and production.  Macs and mac software easily own this niche]

GCC standard Windows hardware since 2004
Desktops
Dell Optiplex GX270 (phased out)
Dell Optiplex GX280 (most of these are now in non-staff non-critical roles)
Dell Optiplex 745 (bought 8/07 to replace all staff GX280 desktops)

Laptops
Dell Latitude D600/610 (phased out)
Dell Latitude D810/830 (810’s mainly phased out)

Due to budget restraints we’ve not ordered any new desktops or laptops since late ‘07 early ‘08.

How long before you replace hardware (aka Lifecycle)?  When talking about standardization the question of lifecycle always comes up.  Several years ago you needed to upgrade hardware often to keep pace with new software versions.  For the most part that is no longer the case.  We’ve found that our 3 and 4 year old desktop hardware will run win7 quite speedy.  So I don’t plan to replace our current Dell 745 desktops anytime soon.  Laptops are another story due to the wear and tear they experience and their lower performance specs.  Our 2+ year old D830 laptops run win7 fine, but they could be more peppy.  The vid cards in older laptops just weren’t made for speed.  That said I’m hopeful we can maintain a 3 year laptop lifecycle.  That’s the end of our warranty period and after 3 years our users have usually thrashed them pretty well :-)  For desktop lifecycle, it’s looking like we can go 4+ years with our current 745’s maybe more…time will be the judge.

Future standardization at GCC?  I’m seriously considering moving all our staff to laptops down the road.  Research shows increased productivity when staff have laptop vs desktop, plus there’s a measurable power savings by not having desktops drawing power when nobody’s around (even if you ask people to power down nightly, often they forget).  So they question is … is the substantial increase in cost and maintenance of laptop vs desktop worth the hoped for increase in staff productivity/efficiency?  And how would you every truly measure that?  Many pros and cons to consider, but I really like the concept :-)

What about standardizing software?  Yup, same logic applies to core software (operating system, version of office productivity suite, etc).  However, all our users are local admin so they have the ability to install additional software which typically IT doesn’t support.  We’re currently running Windows Vista and Office 2007 site wide, however our migration to Windows7 has just started and we’ll do same with Office 2010 once it’s released.

And finally, I leave you again with this snippet from an old article I refer back to anytime this topic comes up … It’s a strong non-IT example that will resonate with upper management if they baulk at the value of standardization ;-)

IT can glean valuable lessons about hardware standardization from an unlikely source: Southwest Airlines, one of the most consistently successful and profitable airlines in an otherwise struggling industry. Unlike some of its troubled competitors, Southwest only buys one kind of plane (the Boeing 737), which means that Southwest’s planes are interchangeable when problems occur. Pilots and mechanics need to be trained for only one kind of “hardware,” and tools and spare parts are transferable across all the planes in the fleet. I bet some of the pilots might prefer to fly an Airbus A320, but the benefits of standardization for Southwest as a company outweigh the personal preferences of individual employees. The same logic applies to standardizing end-user hardware in corporate IT.  read entire article

50 Days Until the Spring National Church IT Roundtable March 11-12!

That’s right! Only 50 days until Church/Ministry IT staff and volunteers from across the country will descend upon Saddleback Church in warm sunny Lake Forest California to partake in 2 days of invaluable peer learning, networking and inspiration March 11-12.

If you can only attend one IT conf this year, this is the one I recommend without hesitation! Regardless of your church/org size, I guarantee you’ll leave with new knowledge, new friendships and loads of inspiration.  I’ve been to every National Church IT Roundtable since 2006 and I leave each one totally amazed at what I’ve gained.  Not to mention the incredible friendships I’ve built over the past few years are invaluable on both a person and professional level.  So in other words – make every effort possible to get to this event.  If you need me to write a note to your boss to help your plight let me know ;-)

We’re still firming up final costs, but it will be under $100…and that will include lunch and snacks both days…and if we get enough sponsors hopefully even dinner both nights.  Registration is open and cost is only $75 for both days including meals!

Sponsors?  Yes, we’re asking vendors to help offset the costs.  Please encourage your favorite vendors to contribute.  Even a small amount will be helpful.  See the sponsor page for more info.

Spouses?  Yes, a number of us have been informed by our spouses that they TOO will be coming to California :-)  Spouses are encouraged to join us during the evening gathering times.  Perhaps during the day they can form their own IT spouse support group and hang out together at the beach ;-)

Final details are still being nailed down, but here’s the schedule gist …
March 10 – optional pre-event informal gathering in the evening (possible dinner)
March 11 – Day 1 - 9am until late … Saddleback “behind the scenes” tour in late afternoon, group dinner, then a special worship service
March 12 – Day 2 – 9am until 5pm … then optional dinner for those flying out Sat/Sun

More details can be found at http://citrt.org … hope to see you there!  Questions? Leave a comment or email [email protected]

For the latest up to the minute Church IT Roundtable news follow CITRT on twitter and/or facebook

7 Deadly Sins of IT Management

I thought this was a good article in Network World recently … great reminders to all of us paid AND volunteer folks leading IT.  Here’s an excerpt …

IT sin No. 1: Lust for new technology - The most common expression of lust in IT is the endless pursuit of new technology for the sole purpose of having new technology …

IT sin No. 2: Information gluttony - Not as expensive as lust but more common is the sin of hoarding information. Too often, this unwillingness to share one's expertise is mistakenly believed to be the path to job security …

IT sin No. 3: Avarice as an action item - When an IT project fails, more often than not, it is due to a lethal combination of arrogance and greed …

IT sin No. 4: Slothful approaches to IT - IT professionals work hard -- that's a given. But all too often, they're unwilling to step outside their comfort zones or go the extra mile. Despite their hard work, IT managers often commit the sin of sloth by not doing the right things for the business …

IT sin No. 5. In-house envy - Fiefdoms, kingdoms, and silos have a tendency to develop over time as a company matures … people stop sharing information and instead spend most of their time protecting their own turf and envying the status or budgets of others. The result? Duplication, lack of transparency, and culture-destroying politics that can cripple an organization …

IT sin No. 6: Wrath management  - Call it management by intimidation. But losing one's head at high volume is no way for an IT manager to motivate his or her troops.

IT sin No. 7: Pride creep - Pride manifests as sin when it blinds IT managers into thinking they know everything they need to know -- even when they know very little about a given topic.

Go check out the full article

Help Desk Stats, Tidbits and Solutions

While it’s still a work in progress, I’ve recently dumped all our incoming support request stats into excel for a quick-n-dirty 3yr overview.  The result is thus …

My next task is to sift through the requests to determine what things caused spikes in the data.  For instance – end of August through Sept 2009 we did global password changes and Dec 2009 we did 42 staff office relocations – and hence the spikes for those months.

One of our goals in 2009 was to do a better job of recording support requests.  It’s easy to get stopped in the hallway or get a call and fix an issue and never go back and record that info.  If a fix takes more the 5mins it’s worth recording that info.  Many 5min fixes over a year can add up to a LOT of unaccounted for time.  And isn’t that part of why you use a help desk solution?  I was able to hire both IT staff additions at GCC based in part on help desk stats.  Tracking where your time goes is important … probably more than many geeks realize. 

What is our help desk solution?  We’ve been using ServiceDesk Plus from ManageEngine since Feb ‘07.  Prior to that we had used TrackIT … you can read about why we made the switch here. ServiceDesk isn’t perfect, but it’s worked well for us and a number of other churches.  If you’re in the market, I’d definitely put them on your list to investigate. 

NOTE: Recently Kayako has begun offering their flagship help desk products FREE to non-profits … Kayako is a big name in the industry and FREE is well … FREE!  Hopefully in the very near future we can give Kayako a thorough evaluation.

[update: Got a couple people reminding me that SpiceWorks is another good FREE option. Honestly, I've not looked at them in 4+ yrs, but I hear recent product is way better.  I've added it to my "check 'em out" list :-) ]

What do we track in ServiceDesk?  We track all IT and FellowshipOne support requests.  Maintenance requests go through our CMMS (which is free!).

What to look for in a help desk solution?  Check out this list of questions to ask I compiled several years ago.  You need to know your objectives before you start looking for solutions :-)

Hello? Is This Thing On??

So after 2 years of very little blogging, I’m making a personal goal in 2010 to blog something of substance at least once each week.  Hopefully some of you will help keep me accountable to this :-)

I’ve been very active on twitter and facebook so that’s been my main “sharing outlet” past 2 years.  Of course it’s hard to get much substance in a 140 character tweet and thus I’d like to expound on some topics here in a blog setting.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to hear about from me please drop a comment below.  Of course I’m wondering how many people still read this blog these days?  Not sure I trust what feedburner is telling me.