Oracle

[Assuming Sapna agrees to my suggestion she blog about the first 1/2 of the Oracle interview, I am blogging about the 2nd half.] Kutik interviews Gretchen Alarcon, VP of Global HCM Strategy for Oracle. She talks about what Oracle is currently up to - which I will let Sapna handle. The interview then turns to her background and philosophies. Alarcon has a BA from Stanford and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Prior to pursuing her MBA, she was inspired by a professor who teaches at UofM. She came to understand that to be an effective human resources manager, she needed to become savvy in business, as well. I for one, agree completely! How can you manage a company's resources when you don't understand how the business works? This is what was meant by "HR not being the sharpest tacks in the box." Alarcon talks about her move from an HR practitioner to a strategist. She acknowledges her depth of domain experience has helped her but as a strategist, but broad skills are also necessary. She advocates research and the need to be analytical. She says one must be aware of how companies work in order to time what Oracle is investing (development) in and when the demand for those products will be. She says one of the first lessons she learned as a strategist is she cannot build software for herself, it must solve the client's needs. The interview ends with her discussion about mutual mentoring noted in my previous blog.      

6 Steps

As I read the six steps, I felt they were written with the very large corporation in mind. When I envision such a company, I envision a multi-generational workforce. A 2008 WorldatWork study revealed 64% of companies have four generations in their employment! I respect the six steps outlined here but the skeptic in me still feels there are people - particularly those who have been in the workforce prior to the technology boom - that simply won't engage. Definitely "recruit energetic champions" in the company but something tells me this has potential to further the divide between users & non-users. Yet, I'm as much an optimist as skeptic. I think the woman Kutik interviewed from Oracle has hit on an important point not noted in this blog: she encourages a two-way mentoring initiative between generations: the Gen Y, etc for whom technology is second-nature are mentoring the older workforce on that technology. Meanwhile the Boomers etc are mentoring the newcomers on business and management practices. Everyone feels necessary and supported! (Sorry, this overlaps with my next blog about the podcast. But I rather like the integration. :) 

Naomi podcast

What I find refreshing about Kutik's interviews is he's so blunt and to the point. I found the same in Naomi. I have enormous admiration she has remained enthused about one subject matter for 40 years. Incredible. The main thing I take away from this podcast is to approach vetting your vendors in the same manner you would a new employee hire. Smart, simple, to the point. I also appreciate it is not lost on her that her human interactions have played a significant role in her own success. I hope I have the opportunity to attend this HR Tech conference someday. Have you attended it Jun? 

Web 2.0 revisited

It's so amazing when everything falls into place. We've read about Web 2.0 and it's collaborative nature. I've blogged about its analogy to the collective consciousness. Today, in my Organizational Development & Change class, our instructor emphasized the importance of teamwork and the nature of its Group Brain.  Same thing!  

wiki sites

Jun, and the 2 others currently following my site: I am so enthused with the potential and capabilities of wikis! But I am, thus far, unimpressed with the facile nature - or lack thereof - in creating them. This is NOT a complaint about the class. It's me venting about a frequent frustration I have with technology.  

Programs are of course created by techno geeks. I pay homage to them so I am using the term fondly. But many offerings are simply not user-friendly for those of us whose brains do not reside in that world. And it frustrates me because there are enough examples of technology that is totally user friendly. SurveyMonkey is a prime example. In less than 5 minutes, you can be taught how to use their software. Brilliant! I'm not finding that in the wiki space yet. I've spent (lots of) time with Google and Wikidot ... and it's not happening for me. In business, I would have abandoned this hours ago. wiki means fast, so it should be intuitively fast. I can see it's headed there because Wikidot has a preview of their new user-friendly front page - not yet available.

I have created 2 wikis: one @ Google Sites and one @ wikidot and neither have all the content elements they are supposed to have by our homework deadline. The work is done, just not where it is supposed to be. You can find my wikidot site here but it doesn't have my timeline because I can't figure out how to import it. :) And I cannot figure out how to lay the front of home page out properly.  www.sscott.wikidot.com  

Capability Maturity Model

I would say my sole proprietorship is on Level 2: Managed.  As a one-man show, most of my project management takes place in my head.  I am not trying to brag, but it is one of my strengths so perhaps I have less of a need to document when I am frequently the only one implementing my outline of the project.  The use of wikis would be a fantastic tool in my business if only the work relationships were collaborative.  But, as a manager, our primary role is to persuade others to do their job - and make them think it is their idea.  Individuals at different companies with different agendas do not respond well to outlines - even if you are inviting them to collaborate. Nonetheless, I think I'm going to try to use a wiki for my next record release and see how things go!

On the other hand, the foundation of the music industry are record companies (please note "industry" not "artistry" which are distinct).  I would easily argue they fall into Level 1: Competent People and Heroics.  This plays an integral role in the demise of the industry as we know it.     

Google Sites

Google Sites is what makes me feel like a tech twit.  

I've done all my homework: created my Charter in Google Doc, created my Team Roster in a table in Word after giving up on Google tables and created my timeline on a free version of Bee Docs timeline but have no idea how to get it into my wiki.  I've spent the last 3+ hours trying to play with the wiki, watching the Google tutorials and I still have no idea what I'm doing.  I am utterly frustrated!  For my last HR class, I created my first PowerPoint presentation.  It wasn't high-tech but I learned the basics in under 5 minutes.  This is a completely different animal. The Google woman who gets paid $5 million annually for insuring user-friendly applications should be flogged.  :)

I need a better tutorial on Google Sites in order to complete my wiki.  Help from anywhere is welcome.