I haven’t blogged in 220 days, but I haven’t been idle either.  Far from it.  What has been going on you might ask?  For one, this happened!  (More on that later)

Here are 10 things I have been up to since this Word of Mouth Marketing post on January 8, 2011:

1. My first big project at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center went live.  It was a custom developed Time & Labor implementation and was a big win for BIDMC and SEI.
2. I transitioned from an HR Project Management Consulting role to the role of Test Manager on a large-scale, integrated Lab Information System for the hospital.  The transition from HR to the Clinical side has been as rewarding as it has been challenging.  And it has been very challenging.
3. I took a hiatus from blogging.  220 days.  I started to find myself staring at draft posts in WordPress, seemingly without words.  This lack of words was my mind telling me that I was lacking focus.  I don’t expect blogging to be easy, but I do expect to feel passionate about communicating a message, and if that isn’t there, I’m not going to fake it.
4. During that time, I began dreaming up a new concept for my ‘social landing page’ (Blog, resume, experience, non-profit advocacy work, and everything in between), called davisory.com.  It’s a play on what I do (Business and technology consulting – Advisory services), and my name.  Yeah I know, it’s not ingenious, but it let’s me have more range to talk beyond the boundaries of HR Technology.  I really enjoy HR, and I know I will work on many more HR projects, but I also know it’s not all I can do, nor is it all I will be doing, so www.hrthinktank.net is feeling very restrictive.
5. I fell off my bike.  My first real crash, going 20+ mph.  Spent a little time at the doctors, and a little more time recovering, but I got right back in the saddle.
6. I got married on July 4.  It was the best day of my life and we couldn’t be happier.  I’m excited for everything that life holds for us.  (To see the video, click the link, then look for July04 Andrea and Jason in the right column)
7. I went to Hawaii.  I sailed around the Napali coast in a 65-foot catamaran.  I watched the sun rise above the clouds and then biked down the Haleakala Crater on Maui.  I ate, drank, and laughed, and had an amazing honeymoon with my beautiful new wife.
8. I hit my 4 year anniversary at SEI-Boston, LLC.  SEI was recognized by the Cincinnati Enquirer as the #1 Best Workplace: Small Companies in their 2011 report.  We’re now 30 consultants strong in Boston, up from 5 when I started four years ago.  It’s a great company, and we’re hiring.
9. I rode in my 3′rd Pan-Mass Challenge, only this time I rode from the New York border.  3 days, 300 miles, all in the spirit of fighting cancer and pedaling for a cure.  Like my previous two PMCs, it was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t be prouder to be involved.  Want to help the cause?  I sure could use your help and would love you as part of our community.
10. I sat on my couch, for 3 hours, and thought about all of the big things I did in the past 220 Days.  I reflected on a busy 7 months.  I’m excited about the next 7.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you are all doing well.

-Jason

220 Days. is a post from: HR Think Tank

Project Management and Project Portfolio Management is a post from: HR Think Tank

Over two hundred years ago, a bunch of really smart guys in bad wigs drafted and eventually adopted a Bill of Rights to limit the power of federal government and ensure the protection of what they saw as fundamental liberties of the people.  The freedom of speech became the First Amendment, adopted on December 15, 1791.

To the Founding Fathers, I raise a glass.  Freedom of speech is a great thing.  I’m also a huge fan of the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) in case I eventually have a daughter.  But anyway, I digress…

I am also a huge Dilbert fan.  I like it for the same reason that I think the office is a great show, and similar to why I have Office Space in my DVD collection: I find all three to be really funny because there is a shred of truth in their skits and jokes, and that makes it relevant.  At some point in our careers, there are things about our jobs that really suck.  Sometimes those things are bosses or coworkers.  Maybe it’s a particularly difficult clients, or an annoying policy.  Some of these people and things will be borderline ridiculous, to the point of being funny (like when in my first job my boss asked me to write down on his white board the three things I found to be most annoying about him.  Not a good situation to be in during your first review, or ever).

In any case, you know what isn’t funny? Getting fired. Especially for saying something stupid, including disclosing company sensitive information, on your blog, Facebook, or anywhere else that is public and readily available to your employer.  Say it with me: My employer is monitoring social media.  My employer is monitoring social media. My employer…. you get the point.

In August 2009, Proofpoint released a study that found 18 percent of the companies surveyed had investigated a data loss event via a blog or message board in the past 12 months.  17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies and nearly 9 percent reported terminations related to those activities.  The study also found that there was almost a 50 percent increase in exposure incidents over social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn (17 percent compared to 12 percent in 2008), and eight percent reported terminating an employee for these violations.

There’s a new market out there for companies like Teneros, who is developing software-as-a-service products that automate the process of examining employee activity on social networking sites.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this article on Network World.  As social media continues to explode, companies are becoming more and more keen on keeping their finger on the pulse… listening to the conversation so that they can be quicker to react and proactively impact consumer and employee satisfaction in a positive way.  Your company’s customer feedback is out there, and so is your griping and complaining about the boss who takes credit for your work and pawns it off as his own or your comments about how your company’s vacation plan sucks so you just call in sick whenever you want.  In college?  You are at risk as well.  As you graduate and join the large pool of job seekers potential employers will be ‘Googling’ you, reading your tweets, and checking out your keg-stand pictures online.

So the next time your boss asks you if you are using your proper TPS reports just take your medicine and don’t start ranting on Twitter.  You may have freedom of speech, but you are likely employed ‘at will’….well, used to be employed.

Be Careful, Thomas Jefferson Isn’t Signing Your Paycheck is a post from: HR Think Tank

A few Friday’s ago I spoke candidly about what I thought about Casual Fridays, and the message was pretty clear: The dress for your company should be driven by your culture, and your culture should be aligned with your business.  When companies recruit and hire good, smart candidates that are a fit for their culture – they should know how to police their own wardrobe to represent the company.

With that being said, if your company does have a loose Casual Friday policy, or if you work somewhere where you can wear whatever the hell you want, check out some of your selections below, with my reviews.  Alternatively, you can rock these at the bar on Friday night.  Do it, and take a picture, and I’ll start a whole new page on my site dedicated to people in Geeky T-Shirts all over the world!

T-Shirt #1 – Social Media Venn Diagram

Geeky in their own right, Venn Diagrams are show logical relations between a group of things.  The guy in this photo alone cracks me up – dude, haircut – ASAP. But anyway, how true is this geeky T-Shirt?  It shows the relationship between Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter to Narcissism, ADHD, and Stalking.  If you missed my post on Foursquare last week, I laid out the undeniable fact that “Stalkers everywhere are rejoicing and high-fiving each other at the sheer joy of Foursquare!”

This T-Shirt is available at Despair, Inc’s website.  Get it.  Love it.  Take pictures.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Chris Hoyt

T-Shirt #2 – Peace – Love – Human Resources

Peace.  Love. Human Resources – Makes you want to just hug it out eh?  It also symbolizes everything that is wrong with HR.  Not too long ago, Sarah White did a post on her blog about candidates being way too nice.  This goes for the HR pros out there as well.  We get it – some of you have to deal with employee relations and other touchy feely employment issues.  For the rest of you, focus on applying Chris Ferdinandi‘s Renegade HR philosophy to Human Resources: Recruit great people, and help them do amazing things that drive your business. 

If you are in human resources, don’t be afraid to mix it up, especially if you are in a systems role – projects don’t manage themselves.  It’s not always about Peace and Love.  It’s about getting the right people.  Delivery.  Protecting the door.  Being overly protective of your company’s brand and culture.  In the meantime, buy this geeky shirt anyway from Cafe Press – also available in pink and neon green – and don’t forget to take pictures.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Laurie Ruettimann

T-Shirt #3 – Darth Vader’s “I Want You for the Dark Side”

Are you a recruiter?  Star Wars fan?  You get the best of both worlds here with the Vader “I Want YOU For The Dark Side” recruiting T-shirt!

That is a great idea for a blog post by the way – talking about the parallel’s between Star Wars and Recruiting passive candidates.  Maybe the HR Capitalist could make that happen.

As of this posting, this product is ‘currently unavailable’ from the Star Wars Shop.  I’m assuming this is because the Twitter recruiter circle has bought them up already.  You know who you are.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Geoff Webb

T-Shirt #4 – Corn On The Job

Blogger Rich DeMatteo has taken the geeky t-shirt to a whole new level with his Corn Heads Community on his blog.  If you read Rich’s stuff, you know that he has a diverse following made up of HR/Recruiting folks, job seekers, vendors, professional resume writers, and students who will soon be entering the work force.  He plans to bring these people together by granting them Corn Head status.  That’s right – get a t-shirt with this fancy logo on the front, take a picture, and wallah – you are a… Corn Head.

Who would do that right?  Lots of people.  Check out the early adopters on his Corn Head page.  Don’t laugh, yours will be there soon enough.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: James Oley, Samantha Karol, Sarah White, Samantha Ogborn, and tons of others.  It’s like a cult!

Have a favorite t-shirt that didn’t make the list?  Already have one of these?  Planning to invest in one of these shirts for your high school reunion?  Don’t be shy, let us hear it in the comments section.

#FunFriday – The Best of HR & Social Media Geeky T-Shirts is a post from: HR Think Tank

As I was debating over what to write about, my buddy Anthony suggested I blog about the whole NBC situation. Their Jay Leno experiment had ratings dropping faster than 09′ stock prices.  So NBC is reshuffling again, with all of their hopes tied to a guy with a huge chin and one funny skit -  headlines.  So that’s all you get NBC, 50 words on #FunFriday.  I’d rather watch Eddie Murphy on YouTube.

Anyway, I digress.  You know what is funny?  Casual Fridays. Laurie Ruettimann at Punk Rock HR did a post this week on corporate dress codes and some of the comments were pretty funny.  It got me thinking about dress codes and how companies try to make up for having overly strict policies by also having Casual Fridays.

Remember the guy in high school with the strict parents?  What did he do when he got to college?  They had no personal judgment and were the first ones passed out on the sticky frat house floor waking up covered in permanent marker tattoos.  People love to go to extremes.  You make me wear a suit Monday – Thursday, so on Casual Friday I come in looking like I am about to hit the beach.

So, Corporate America, here’s an idea: Set reasonable expectations for appropriate dress.  Hire smart people that know how to adjust their business wardrobe based on their daily schedules.  I’m a fan of applying the common sense principle here.  Not every company can have a dress code like Rackspace.  As a consultant – I certainly can’t show up at client meetings wearing “hippie wear and flip-flops”.  The dress for your company should be driven by your culture, and your culture should be aligned with your business.  When companies recruit and hire good, smart candidates that are a fit for their culture – they should know how to police their own wardrobe to represent the company.  This might mean a suit, but it might mean jeans and a this cool social media t-shirt.

If someone is sitting in their cube everyday and will never see another person other than coworkers – don’t make them sport a suit and tie.  But if you do require that for no reason, remember that you are like the strict parents sending your kid off to college – just asking for your employees to rock Hawaiian shirts and overly short cargo shorts on Fridays.  The equivalent of waking up markered up on the frat house floor.

#FunFriday – Casual Fridays is a post from: HR Think Tank

I love making lists.  I’m OCD like that – to-do lists, music play-lists, best-of-whatever lists, lists about things that suck that should stay in 2009, and yes, Christmas lists (notice the obvious omission of grocery lists – that’s one list I don’t do!).  This year is no different, and I have my business Christmas list here ready to share!  It’s Christmas Eve – I have a bad sweater on, spiked eggnog in hand, and am hoping that Santa brings me these things in the business world for 2010:

1. Better Demos from Vendors – Seriously.  I spent a great deal of 2009 in software demos on behalf of my clients, most of which completely missed the mark. It’s not that hard: show up on time, connect, demo to the clients needs, be cognizant of your audience (and especially your buyer!) and PLEASE don’t start talking about shortcomings in this release that are fixed in the x.xx release that is going GA in 9 months from now.  Capiche?  Michael Krupa shared similar sentiment in his blog post Psst Vendors – Some Software Demo Tips For You.

2. Transparency in Corporate Communications – The economy is taking a nose-dive.  Lay-offs are coming.  You (HR leadership/Management) think it’s a big secret, but everyone else knows it’s coming, and guess what – they are talking about it!  I saw this a lot in 2009 – companies unable to come out with some true candor in their communications around staff reductions.  The rumor mill becomes reality, and your best employees might just get scared and jump ship.  In 2010, there will likely be more opportunities for them to do just that, which brings me to my next point…

3. Employee Engagement Initiatives - Companies need to continue to find both ways to be competitive, and ways to retain top talent.  Strategically investing in improving (and effectively measuring) employee engagement can help you with both.  The problem?  This is hard to do, and it’s hard to measure.  Lance hits on this on his blog Rehaul with his post My Christmas Wish: Employee Engagement.  I’m with Lance on this, let’s get this on the agenda for 2010.

4. More focus on Adoption for Technology Projects – Project managers and Business Sponsors are defining user adoption too narrowly.  Most projects are at least trying to manage adoption for their true end-user.  The neglected aspect, in my experience, seems to be managing a wider view of stakeholder adoption within the organization.  I have seen A TON of this in 2009.  HRIS upgrade goes live – we throw a big party – Employees and Managers know what’s coming for ESS/MSS, and global operations teams trained on all of the changes to run operations, but my new data model smacks finance in the mouth and breaks their executive reporting.  It also breaks Comp’s total comp process because all of their files leveraged bank titles, job codes, and the organization hierarchy, which has all changed – their expectations haven’t been managed on the changes and they are involved far too late.  Massive #FAIL.  In 2010, lets see Project Managers and Business Sponsors manage all stakeholders – and make sure your definition of “user” is wide enough to cover the employee, manager, administrators, and anyone who depends on that data downstream.

5. Accountability – 2009 was a bit of a mess in this area wouldn’t ya say?  Economic meltdown.  Bear Stearns – gone.  Lehman Bros – gone.  American Home Mortgage – gone.  AIG – should have been gone but was saved by taxpayers.  Executive compensation was never discussed with such furor.  People wanted accountability for greed and corruption on Wall Street, and for the much slimmer 401K’s and new retirement time lines.  In 2010, standards have to be higher.  We need to hold companies, and individuals accountable.

What things do you want “under your tree”?  Comment it up!  Let’s get this party started early!

Dear Santa… is a post from: HR Think Tank