This is a Percha Kucha presentation I did for Yale University, ITS. The message was to stimulate interest in a newly forming iCoP - Integration Community of Practice. The premise; Change may take time, will you be the 100th monkey?
21. Be the 100th Monkey … Join the iCoP
Launch Event:
Wed., March 26th, 1:00 to 4:00
Science Park Room 125
Editor's Notes
1952, scientists tossed sweet potatoes in the sand giving monkeys they were studying
The monkey liked taste , but didn’t like the dirt
An 18-month-old female named Imo, solved the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream.
She taught this trick to her mother & her playmates, they all learned to wash the potatoes.
1958 - 6 years later, a certain synergy happened
Enough monkeys had figured it out.
I think it took the 6 years for the men to finally listen
At a certain point, “the 100th Monkey” happened
All the monkeys on the island, and neighboring islands were washing their sweet potatoes
Remember seeing the movie “2001 A Space Odyssey”
We walked out of the moving thinking in 2001 we would all be living in space spaces, or at least have flying cars
Here at Yale in the early 70’s … Jeff & Paul Thorn, Susan Bramhall, Howard Gilbert and others were hired by Yale working on the IBM System/360-65
Punch cards & Mag tape, the birth of data integration.
The year 2001 can and still no flying cars
Project X was in production, and the fears of the Y2K were history,
I was hired at Yale, and remember writing the first JSA .TRN files from the Benefactor system to the Oracle eBiz System
As systems grow in quantity & complexity, the data integration needs increase.
Integration with PO’s Invoices, HR data, student data and more continue to multiply the need for solid integration services.
If you haven’t heard, there is a new paradigm, …. It’s the cloud,
It’s not coming … its here!
Salesforce, Workday, Qualtrics, Adobe Connect, Amazon EC2 severs, Virtual Desktops, and more
We have acronyms like: SaaS - Software as a Service PaaS - Platform as a Service, IaaS - Infrastrure as a Service
The University; Yale students & faculty, the people we serve, …. are looking for us to make it all work,
One of our key tasks is to Integrate these systems seamlessly
Remember the game “Monkey in the Middle?” …. It’s another name for “Keep Away”
Our clients, hate this game of data keep away …
The new version of “monkey in the middle” … the Integration Monkey “gets” the ball (or data) , and passes to the other players.
Integration technologies are the middleware technologies … the new monkey in the middle.
As an example the Workday project has identified over 250 integration points,
We all know this will grow
The work of integration will also grow, and the need to work together is key
As an Integration Community of Practice we will make these integrations work, and work better.
Integration should not be hard …
………… the work of Integration can’t feel like the monkey on our back
Our integrations need to be …
Efficient
Reusable
Reasonable/
Easy to implement
Working together as a community we can accomplish there goals
Integration can’t be a monkey thrown into the works
It can’t jam up the gears
It can’t stop the machine from running
The process & tools which tie the applications together must run as smoothly as the application itself.
If an integration fails, the machine stops
Integration can’t be a monkey wrench throw into the gears
Yes there is a thing called a a monkey wrench …
My grandfather’s in the 30’s & 40’s was a steam fitter and I inherited all his tools, as they were passed down to me
Having the right tools is one thing ….
My dad taught me
how to use each wrench
And when to use each wrench and tool
At Yale we have the tools we have the technology
Knowing when to use them is another.
Using the right tools … at the right time,
And practical training on the tools is vital
We don’t’ want to be throwing wrenches around, we all want to use them to do good work.
Recently Adriene Radcliffe, taught me how to eat a banana ….
57 years, I have been doing it wrong.
Adriene taught me that monkeys peel bananas from the other end ….
Of course,
………………I Googled it
………………………………….and last weekend, I tried it home
…………………………………………………………………………………… I will never peel a banana the human way again.
Communities allow us to look at what we are doing, and ask
Are we doing it the right way?
Is it time to turn the banana upside down?
I have been at Yale for 17 years, and the term “silos” is not new to any of us.
I was hired by the ITS working for the Office of Development (That was my cage)
Many of our IT efforts are done in our own little cages.
Most of the time are all in our IT (cages) …. Doing the exact same thing.
From time to time We have all broken out of our cages…
We have all experienced the benefits of working together
We have all done some pretty amazing work
………………………………..when we pool our resources, and share our knowledge and resources
We become the 100th monkey.
Community works better than cages.
Community gets the bugs out!
We have all seen the struggles and failures which cages and silos bring.
We can all benefit from each other, working together.
I am sure there are stories we can tell where we felt like we were in a cage, or where worked together as a community.
We can share our struggles,
We can combined our intellectual resources, and be stronger. ..
A single thread can be easily snapped, … Threads woven together can make a strong rope to lift anything we need.
As a community we can become a strong rope.
Together as the iCoP we will ask “why” and can we do better?
The goal of the community is to be able to create good behaviors,
Let’s try things and see what works. Mimic good behaviors
And do more of it.
And see what doesn’t work and do less of those behaviors
Our goal as a IT Community is to create mutual success.
Create an environment where everyone wins.
How not to deal with hard discussions
Community hopes to create solutions and approaches to solve the challenges we face daily.
Often times, we may not be willing to have those hard discussions,
The reasons, we may choose to be one of these monkeys vary. But often times we avoid hard discussions.
A successful community of practice will be vibrant,
Our ears will be open to hear,
Our eyes will be open to see,
And our mouths will be open to speak …
Healthy dialogue can foster innovation and success for all of Yale IT.
Back at the office …
Does this remind us of any meetings we have attended?
We are really looking for ways to become more productive.
Communication
Concerns
Capabilities
Community provides us a platform for mutual success,
and our Success translates directly to the success of Yale University, an instruction older than the United States .
How do monkeys collaborate?
It is hard to pick the 1 right tool for collaboration & file sharing … So we are working hard to incorporate them all.
One size does not fit all.
ITS provides many Collaboration tools, the iCoP is embracing them
On March 26thm the ICC ( Integration Competency Center ) will be hosting, the Launch event of the iCoP,
We will discuss concerns and integrations as well as look at some of the tools of integration here at Yale.
webMethods & Axway, are foundational product we have used at Yale for some time now
We are adding to the technology stack, the monkey bars as you would
Contivo to improve our data mapping process
Layer7 to more easily expose the various web services and integrations for ease of use.
(Pause)
The ICoP is ready to rock!
(Pause)
Here we come,
…… walkin‘ down the street.
…………..We get the funniest looks from ….
………………….. Ev'ry one we meet.
(Everybody) ……….. Hey, hey, we're the monkeys,
We are looking for monkeys.
Will you join us, and be part of the 100th monkey phenomena at Yale?
It is being listed in the Monday Morning News, please register
We know that IT people, like to be feed, …… yes there will be plenty of bananas for everyone.
Please, we welcome you to join us, to talk about the concerns and needs abound the topic of integration at Yale
Come be the 100th monkey.