Are your operations and security functions automated? Have you eliminated manual processes as you start to tighten up your security and controls? Today we're going to talk about DevSecOps. DevSecOps is a simplification of the phrase development, security, and operations. Let's begin with a brief explanation of what DevOps is to ensure we have a delineation in the separation between DevOps and DevSecOps.

Have you ever been trying to use an application and went down? Is your organization challenged with keeping applications up? Maybe it's not outlook, but other business essential applications aren't stable. Today we're going to get into some of the benefits of AIOps, also known as artificial information operations. The mean time to repair is 4.5 hours to fix a production outage. Companies that experience extended outage periods negatively impact staff productivity and efficiency. Benchmark studies estimate that $21.8 million annually per company is lost due to unexpected downtime.

Are you enabling your business users? Is your team providing business owners the functionality they need to perform business-as-usual operations? Unfortunately, a lot of times, we aren't. Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. Today we're going to get into the specifics around how to enable those business teams. In my prior article, The disruptive idea of low-code platforms we covered the benefits of low-code, no-code, and full-code platforms. We also expanded on how why no-code solutions are powerful for business users. Today we'll explore Smartsheet, a no-code platform, and dig into the advanced functionality of Smartsheet. This complex functionality holds enormous potential to empower your business users. We're also going to introduce you to the more complex integration features of Smartsheets, allow you to educate your business users without enabling shadow IT.

Are you responsible for hiring? Do you hire contractors and consultants? Are you trying to figure out how to eke out the best discounts and deals as you bring out new contractors while still maintaining a team of high-quality staff? You're not alone. Today we're going to talk about some techniques for contracting more effectively with your partners and your strategic vendors. You've likely heard about server hardening. This is a set of disciplines and techniques that improve the security of an 'off the shelf' product. Here we're talking about hardening but applying it to contracts. Contract hardening is the process of tightening existing contracts to distribute risk more accurately across all parties in the contract versus an uneven distribution of risk.

Are you clear who you're going to invest more time in this year? Are the top performers evident within your team or department? Why use the 9 blocker model? Today, we're going to get a better understanding of how to evaluate members of your team quickly. You might have heard of the Nine Box Talent Review Model, commonly referred to as "9 blocker" (because the model has nine core blocks) or "9 box matrix." McKinsey created this model in the 1970s to help GE prioritize investments across its nearly 200 business units. They centered the model around industry attractiveness and competitive strength as their two primary dimensions. Our model is an extension of the McKinsey model with a twist. In our model, we’ll use job potential and job behaviors as our two major dimensions.

How do you encourage good performance and dissuade bad? Are leaders going through the motions but not embracing the heart of the mission? Are you being misled? Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. Today we're going to talk about managing behaviors on your team—specifically, passive-aggressive behavior. Rarely do we, as leaders, have challenges we can't see or face. If the market is shifting, we can feel small tremors and position our organization ahead of the next rumble. If any individual doesn’t please a key stakeholder, we can offer suggestions to mend that social divide. The challenge with managing passive-aggressive behavior is that it's primarily intangible. You can't find it. It's hard to wrestle. It isn't easy to nail down the source. Whether you've been around for 30 years or you're new to the leadership or BRM scene, passive-aggressive behaviors are something we all can brush up on.

Are your business relationship managers performing as expected? Do your leaders meet business partner expectations? Are you sure? Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. Today, we will explore how to ensure you have an accurate pulse on your business partners’ expectations. We all know that building relationships and maintaining those relationships is paramount in being successful within any environment.

Do you have a plan to validate that you've met your mid-year objectives? Does your team have a plan to confirm end-of-year objectives are on track for completion? Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. The guideline for goal achievement Today I'm going to get into how to make sure you align your mid-year objectives and have an approach to validate that you did achieve those objectives. Let's start with a hierarchy of how these different parts relate to their relationship between objectives and goals. I want to introduce a new pneumonic:

Is your organization racing towards agile? Are you a BRM that confused about where your role is? Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. Today we're going to help clarify why you don't have a role today and how to get one for tomorrow. Let's begin by discussing each of the different leadership roles for squads, chapters, and tribes. So first, we're going to talk about a squad leader, a chapter leader, and a tribe leader. And then, we'll get into very briefly where the business relationship manager (BRM) role fits in.

Are your teams starting to double down with agile? Are they focusing on new concepts like squad, tribe chapter, and guild? Is it a little bit confusing trying to understand how those concepts relate to conventional frameworks like Scrum and SAFe when these methodologies don't use those types of terminology, especially in their training? Hi, I'm Peter Nichol, Data Science CIO. Today, we're going to dive into those specifics and get you answers. But, first, let's jump to understand better why agile teams evolved as the focus of higher performance and improved quality.