IMIT Newsletter 1 2016

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 1
Issue 16 | 2015
CIO Message
Welcome to 2016!
It’s great to be back after finishing 2015 on such a high note with our family picnic. Thanks to all who
attended.
It was very encouraging to see so many of you return from holidays ready to hit the ground running and
enthusiastic about delivering on our many projects for the year, including Transport Equip, which continues
to build in momentum every day.
Many of you have been working to support the relocation of staff to refurbished offices in Parramatta,
Rozelle and Ennis Road, as well as Roads and Maritime’s broader move into Activity Based Working
(ABW).
These office relocations are complex undertakings, which involve shifting 1000 employees to new
workplaces and ensuring their personal technology travels with them – without disrupting the agency’s
critical operations. Congratulations to all of you who helped make the recent moves such a success.
The move to ABW is a significant change in how we work, but it also signals a wider cultural shift within the
agency toward greater sharing, collaboration and openness in general.
Nothing illustrates this idea better than our recent efforts in the area of Knowledge Management, where we
are simplifying how we capture, store and share knowledge to improve collaboration. Please read our in-
depth article on page 4 to learn more.
US President John F Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life.” This is certainly a time of great change
for our organisation. Most of us, myself included, sometimes find it a challenge to accept and manage
change. So be sure to check out our ‘7 tips for dealing with change’ on page 5. Even if you consider
yourself a person who’s receptive to new things, you’re bound to find helpful advice you can use in your
day-to-day work – and hopefully in your life outside of the office, too.
Joe
Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased
constantly, or it vanishes.
Peter Drucker
Management consultant, educator & author

Calendar Events
Star team members
IM&IT use WooBoard to recognise individuals who deserve a pat on the back for outstanding work! This
month we recognise the people who are living the IM&IT team norms!
Top Sender # of Woos Sent Summary
Kevin Dulson 22 woos sent
Kevin was on a roll last month sending woos to colleagues and
recognising them for collaboration, quality conversations and
solutions.
Hugo Ribeiro 14 woos sent
Hugo was also busy recognising his colleagues for their knowledge
sharing, collaboration and problem solving
Top Receiver # of Woos received Summary
Linda Martin
7 woos received for
being Calm and
purposeful, collaboration,
solutions, and ownership
and action
Linda was recognised by her colleagues for her great work in
resolving MAIP defects and being very helpful to her colleagues.
Sheldon
Easterbrook
7 woos received for being
calm and
purposeful, collaboration,
quality conversations and
solutions.
Sheldon was recognised for assisting his colleagues in resolving
complex issues and for being a great SME and mentor.
Padmakumara
Matarage
6 woos received for his
collaboration and
solutions
Padmakumara was recognised by his colleagues for always being
helpful and providing quick solutions.
24 February IM&IT New Year Launch 8:30 am for a
9:00 am start, Parramatta RSL.
14 March Equip Release 1.1 – HR, Payroll and
Taleo.

Around the Office
Activity based working arrives at Rozelle
Activity-based working (ABW) officially opened at
RMS Rozelle last month and staff were welcomed
to their new environment with a busy orientation
period of educational and extra-curricular events.
A total of 240 staff were inducted and familiarised
with the new-look Rozelle, over a period of six
working days. Several project teams brought the
IT environment successfully into play. In addition
to the ABW team, headed up by Steve Gerzabek,
key project teams also included the Maritime
Integration Program, managed by Nick
Michalopoulos and Windows 7, managed by Andy
Roberts.
Contributing highly to the success of the roll out
was the strong, collaborative relationship between
Corporate Programs, Tracy Webber and Penny
Raffaele and Project Director, Jim Katehos with
the IM&IT Teams, as well as the IT concierge
service.
Faster, modernised technology and ergonomic
office design has been successfully deployed in
Rozelle, with specialised training ongoing, as we
continue to familiarise staff and respond to
feedback about the look and feel of the new
workplace and its tools.
The IT is designed to support and enable the
environment and includes state of the art Shoc
room technology, video conferencing, Evoko
meeting rooms, smart whiteboards, wireless
presentation, Follow me Print, Windows7 and
Softphones.
Thanks to this improved technology, an example
of which being the Follow Me Printing solution,
RMS is now a ‘Greener’ environment and will see
increasing savings by avoiding excess printing and
paper costs, as the new printing system is taken
up at Rozelle.
Thanks to all of the IM&IT staff involved: Sherry
Hawkins, Anirudh Sud, Daniel Marinas, Duane
Dempster, Dev Babu, Jamie Lovick, Madi
Gunasekera, Raj Hedge, Jithendra Kumar Sai,
Dani Malone, Shweta Sharma, Mark Burgess,
Victoria Lapteva, Hamish Salburg, Phyllys Naidu,
Douglas Ramsay, Vanita Bhat, Vas Hairis, Chris
Diamantopoulos, Ferdinand Matillano, Danny
Tsang, Fiona Felstead, Matthew Parsons, Fabrizio
Latin, Tim Anderson, Jude Dias and Elias Helou.
For more information about this exciting time at RMS at
Rozelle, please visit the IM&IT Intranet page:
http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/on_the
_move/rozelle/it_training_hub.html

Attention all basketballers!
Are you the next Lebron James or Andrew Bogut?
Calling all you Ballers out there – RMS tolling has
a basketball squad you can join. Come and shoot
some hoops with us!
Objective Training
The Q1 training schedule for Objective is now
available. If you’re interested please get your
Manager’s approval. More info can be found at
this link:
http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/news/index.html#o
bjective_training_150116
Rozelle Shuttle Bus
A special bus service is available for staff working
at the Rozelle offices, with pickup and drop-off
points located near Wynyard and Central railway
stations.
For more information, including timetables, visit:
http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincor
p/on_the_move/documents/qrg_rozelle_buses.
pdf
Knowledge Management in IM&IT
Why would we store our knowledge in a bank of
really interesting stuff?
A truly effective knowledge management practice
is one that breaks with current support and
development strategies and enables organisations
to deliver greater value with more efficiency. The
secret? Capturing and sharing our most important
asset – our knowledge.
This means we don’t reinvent the wheel each time
we face a new issue. Instead, we have a central
source of truth and great advice at our fingertips,
enabling us to easily see how others have
resolved or addressed similar issues in the past.
It also means we need to contribute by sharing our
knowledge when we have resolved a ‘new’ issue,
so everyone can reap the benefit of our
experience.
We know the information is there, somewhere, or
we know the ‘go to people’ to solve it. But those
people take holidays or, worse, leave the
organisation and take all their knowledge with
them. The other major waste of time is searching
endless databases and sites looking for the
information.
Successful knowledge management requires a
cultural and perspective shift to view knowledge as
an asset owned and maintained by the team, not
by an individual or a small group of dedicated
content creators. Once this breakthrough in
thinking is achieved, teams have a new focus: to
capture and improve the collective knowledge –
not only to solve individual customer issues, but
also to improve learning for everyone.
Many organisations across Australia that have
standardised their knowledge management report
dramatic improvements in operational efficiency,
training times, in customer satisfaction and in job
satisfaction. According to the Consortium of
Service Innovation, the benefit these organisations
realised include:
 50 per cent to 60 per cent improved time to
resolving enquiries and common problems
/ bugs
 Improved employee retention by 20 per
cent to 35 percent
 Improved employee job satisfaction by 20
per cent to 40 per cent by reducing rework
and simplifying knowledge retention.

Joe Attanasio has endorsed a program to
standardise our knowledge practice across IM&IT.
In Dec 2015, we formed a working group with
representation from all sections.
The main objective is to drive the standardisation
and deployment of knowledge management
across IM&IT to simplify how we capture, store,
share and reuse knowledge, reducing rework and
improving collaboration across the business unit.
The working group objectives are to:
1. Establish an IM&IT knowledge
management baseline.
2. Organise and consolidate knowledge
stores across IM&IT.
3. Prioritise knowledge entry based on
operational and strategic priority.
4. Standardise a knowledge quality measure
and provide feedback to continually
improve creation of knowledge.
5. Establish a “train the trainer” schedule and
deploy standard knowledge processes.
6. Train participants on how to capture,
maintain and reuse knowledge.
7. Establish weekly entries (at minimum) into
a knowledge repository that is based on
defined standards, ensuring that
knowledge is captured as a by-product of
almost everything we do.
If you or your team would like to be involved or
would like further details on the knowledge
management initiative, please contact Sebastian
Michalak from the Service Management Team.
Transport Equip – 5 weeks to go Live!
As you may be aware we are preparing for the
implementation of Transport Equip for HR
functions on Monday 14 March, there a number of
key dates and activities we should be aware of,
Please see below for more info.
http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/er
p/documents/rms_equip_cutover_instructions.pdf
for details.
An on boarding freeze is the first business ready
activity coming up. For key dates and activities
over the next five weeks and more information on
Transport Equip, please visit
http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/er
p/index.html.
Handy Tips
Seven tips for dealing with change
Dealing with change isn't always easy. It can be
uncomfortable, stressful or even scary at times.
But the good news is there are things you can do
to make coping with life changes a little easier.
1. Recognise the worst
Understanding a change is the important first step
to managing it. We're usually scared of change
because we’re afraid of the unknown. Try to figure
out if the worst that can happen is actually as bad
as what you think can happen. Learning about the
details of the change can help things feel easier.
Remember how scary the idea of starting high
school or learning to drive once was? Sometimes
it's not as bad as it may seem at first, and it just
takes a little time to get used to.
2. Ask yourself how much you can control
When a big change happens, figure out how if it's
something you have control over, and how much
control you have. Understanding your role and
how much you are able to change can sometimes
help you to put things in perspective. For example,
if you've just moved out of home, there are many
things you can do to make it an easier process –
choosing a good place to live, filling it with items of
your choice, obtaining a job that covers your
regular bills, etc. Other changes, like unexpected
sickness, are much harder to control – and a far
greater source of stress.
3. Celebrate the positives
Focusing on the positives can help you feel better
about the change overall. The positives in your
situation might not be completely obvious to begin
with, and it might take some time to realise they
are even there, but it’s worth it. For example, if
you’ve moved recently, you might be away from
your friends, but it's also a great way to learn how
to be more independent. In time, you might also
find a new group of friends to keep you company.

4. Take action
If the unwanted change is within your control,
taking an active approach to coping has been
shown to be useful. Try engaging in problem-
solving or goal-setting to proactively address
unwanted developments. Focusing on the problem
at hand, developing a plan of action and asking for
advice are useful active strategies.
5. Accept and reframe
If the unwanted change is beyond your control,
taking a reflective approach may be the way to go.
Accepting that there are things beyond your
control and choosing to be comfortable with this is
more likely to bring you calm than playing the
blame game or waging unwinnable wars. Viewing
change as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather
than a setback, can help you turn that frown
upside down!
6. Manage your stress
There are many techniques you can use to
improve your ability to handle stress. Finding the
one that works best for you can go a long way
improve how you deal with change. Try practicing
mindfulness or engaging in other relaxation
techniques.
7. Seek support
Changes come in all different sizes. It’s perfectly
normal to feel overwhelmed if there is too much
happening at once. This is why the best approach
is sometimes to seek support. Consider talking to
friends or family for advice or emotional support,
or by investigating options for professional help.
Whether you’re coping with a Game of Thrones
season ending or dealing with something more
serious, there are always others in similar
situations and professionals available to help.
Transformational Leadership
What is Transformational Leadership?
Leadership expert James McGregor Burns
introduced the concept of transformational
leadership in his 1978 book, Leadership. Burns
defines transformational leadership as a process
where "leaders and their followers raise one
another to higher levels of morality and
motivation”.
Bernard M Bass later developed the concept of
transformational leadership further, this kind of
leader:
 Is a model of integrity and fairness
 Sets clear goals
 Has high expectations
 Encourages others
 Provides support and recognition
 Stirs the emotions of people
 Gets people to look beyond their self-
interest
 Inspires people to reach for the
improbable.
Did you know- Octagon Building?
For those who have just moved to the Octagon
building, there is a large dining room located on L3
in pod E that can also be used for a breakout area
where you can have lunch or catch up with
colleagues.
There are two showers located on Upper
Basement and one shower is on L5 at the Phillip
Street side of the building.

Feature Article
3 Myths that kill strategic planning
In its simplest form, strategic thinking is about
deciding which opportunities deserve your time,
people or money, and which opportunities deserve
to starve. Michael Porter said it like this: “The
essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
At the highest level, this usually means deciding to
sell off one company in order to buy another one.
More often, it simply means deciding to move
some initiatives to the back burner in order to
concentrate the bulk of your resources in a single
key area. Yet, three pervasive myths continue to
make strategic thinking an elusive skill set in
today’s organisations.
Myth 1: Productivity is the goal
Productivity is about getting things done. Strategic
thinking is about getting the right things done well.
The corollary of that truth is that strategy requires
leaving some things undone, which stirs up a
potent cocktail of unpleasant emotions.
When you leave projects undone or only half-
completed, you must sacrifice that feeling of
confidence and control that comes from pursuing a
concrete goal. You will have to fight through the
universal psychological phenomenon of loss
aversion that results from saying goodbye to a
cherished project in which you have already
poured heaps of time and money. You will also
have to deal with the social pain and feelings of
rejection that come from telling some people on
your team that their big idea or entire functional
area has been demoted in favour of something
else more valuable.
The problem is that productivity is strategically
agnostic. Producing volume is not the same as
pursuing excellence. Without a strategy,
productivity is meaningless.
Myth 2: The leader’s job is to identify what’s
“important”
Here’s a quick exercise: Make a list of every
project and initiative your team is working on right
now. When you finish the list, draw a line through
all of the things that are not important. If you’re like
99 per cent of teams, not one project on your list
will get crossed out.
Why? Because every project your team is working
on is “important” to someone, somehow. They can
all be assessed as “adding value” in some way,
and that is why debating about what’s important is
futile. Strategic thinkers must decide where to
focus, not merely what’s “important”. Strategic
leaders must consciously table some “important”
projects or ignore some “important” opportunities.
Myth 3: Strategic thinking is only about
thinking
Strategic leadership is not a math problem or a
thought experiment. Ultimately, strategic thoughts
must lead to strategic actions. Thorough
cost/benefit analyses replete with mesmerising
forecasts, tantalizing linear trends and 63-tab
spreadsheets beautiful enough to make a newly
minted MBA weep with joy are utterly useless
without an actionable decision. Despite
uncertainty, complexity and the ever-present
possibility of failure, a strategic leader must
eventually step up and make the call about what
the team will and will NOT focus on.
Top read more about this article please visit this
link: https://hbr.org/2014/05/3-myths-that-kill-
strategic-planning

Issue 16 | 2015
Getting to know you
In this edition, we introduce a whole team that have been transitioned to IM&IT, the Journey
Information & Integration team. They provide data integration and management, as well as the
business intelligence capabilities that Roads and Maritime is looking to grow and provide across
the agency as a core Information Management capability.
Position: Information Design Officer (BI/DW Information Architect)
What motivates you to come to work? I like working with people.
What is something that people do not normally know about you? I can cook Chinese dishes.
What do you in your spare time? Riding road bike on M7.
Position: Senior Data Quality Officer
What motivates you to come to work? Tackling complex and challenging problems motivates
me.
What is something people don’t know about you? I am a keen sportsman and a music lover. I
always strive to become better at any sport by observing, learning and practicing hard. Leading a
team of people always give me a sense of responsibility and pushes me to lead by example.
William Chan
Amit Singh

What do you in your spare time? Spend time with my family, play cricket and guitar. Getting
exposure to – and hands on – new technologies keeps me involved.
Position: Senior Information Officer
What motivates you to come to work? Trying to solve challenging tasks.
What is something people don’t know about you? I’m an orange belt in Go Kan Ryu karate.
What do you in your spare time? Spend time with my family and train for karate.
.
Position: Information and Systems Integration Officer
What motivates you to come to work? Sharing my experience and resolving challenges.
What is something people don’t know about you? I like to visit the jungle and watch the wild
animals.
What do you in your spare time? Photography.
Jeremy Bryant
Ramachandran Ramakrishnan

Position: Manager, Information and Integration
What motivates you to come to work? Getting paid to play with information and technology –
something I do for free at home.
What is something people don’t know about you? I have done over 1000 dives as a PADI
scuba instructor. This picture of me from 1995 will scare you:
http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1575&context=campusnews&#search=%22Denni
s%20Entriken%22
What do you in your spare time? Family, golf, StarCraft, poker guitar and scuba diving.
Dennis Entriken

IM&IT staff photography
Thanks to Francis Lotho for the pics at Watsons Bay and the Rocks!

Issue 16 | 2015
Recipes to keep you running
BACON AND CHEESE QUICHE
INGREDIENTS
Pastry:
1 2/3 cups plain flour
125g butter, cubed
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
Filling:
2/3 cup sour cream
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1 cup sliced ham or bacon
1½ cups grated Swiss cheese
METHOD
1. Grease a 26cm spring form baking tin. Preheat
oven to 180°C.
2. In a bowl, knead flour, butter, salt, egg yolk and
2 tbsp water into a smooth dough. Shape this into
a ball, wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface
to line the tin.
4. Prick pastry base several times with a fork,
cover with baking paper and dried beans and
bake for 12 minutes. Remove baking paper and
beans and cook base for a further 45 minutes.
Allow to slightly cool.
5. To make the filling, combine sour cream with
eggs, egg yolk, nutmeg, pepper and a little salt.
6. Cut ham into strips and spread over the pastry
base with the cheese. Pour in egg mixture.
7. Bake for 25–35 minutes. Cover top with foil if it
browns too quickly. Allow quiche to cool in the tin
for 5 minutes before serving.

Issue 16 | 2015
PLUM AND WHITE CHOCOLATE
DESSERT CAKE
INGREDIENTS
6-8 plums, halved and stone removed
3 tablespoons light butter or margarine
1/3 cup caster sugar plus extra tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1/3 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup self-raising flour
100g white cooking chocolate, chopped
Cream to serve
Icing sugar for dusting
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23cm
round cake tin.
Whisk together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla
and buttermilk and beat well.
Fold through flour until batter is smooth, then pour
into prepared cake tin.
Arrange plum portions onto cake batter then
scatter with chopped chocolate. Sprinkle with
extra tablespoon of caster sugar and bake for 25-
30 minutes or until cooked.
Cool to room temperature then serve on dessert
plates with a dollop of cream and a dusting of
icing sugar.

Fun stuff!
Six Villages - Good luck! - There are some very cluey people out there in IM&IT, so we have found a puzzle
that will hopefully give you a challenge!
There are six villages along the coast of the only perfectly round island in the known universe. The villages
are evenly distributed along the coastline so that the distance between any two neighbouring coastal
villages is always the same. There is an absolutely straight path through the jungle connecting every pair of
villages. These paths create thirteen crossings in the interior of the island, one of which is in the middle of
the island where paths from every village meet.
The island has a strange courtship custom. Before a father will give permission for his daughter to marry,
her suitor must bring the father a fish each day until he has travelled by every route from his village to the
father's village. The young man only travels along routes where he is always getting closer to his
destination. The young man may visit other villages along the way.
On April first a father's three sons come to tell him of their intent to woe a bride, each from a different
village. The brides' villages are the first three villages encountered when travelling clockwise around the
island.
If the sons begin their courtship today and the couples are married on the day following each son's last trip,
what are the three wedding dates?
Bonus Question: If the coastline of the island is 10 miles long, how long is the longest route that any of the
sons takes to reach their fiancé's village?

IMIT Newsletter 1 2016

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to IMIT Newsletter 1 2016

Similar to IMIT Newsletter 1 2016 (20)

IMIT Newsletter 1 2016