June, 2009
by Denise P. Kalm, Managing Editor
Denise Kalm has 30 years experience in IT including application programming, enterprise systems management and performance management/capacity planning at Pacific Telephone and Bank of America. She moved to vendor land in 2000, spending 5 ½ years with BMC on the EPA product line, then recently became the senior product marketing manager for enterprise job scheduling products at CA, Inc., formerly Cybermation. She is a regional officer of CMG, has held many volunteer positions within that organization and is a frequent contributing author. Prior to entering the IT profession, she was a biochemical geneticist. Her hobbies include flying, Jazzercise, writing and scuba diving. Her book, Lifestorm, on the Oakland Hills fire, is available on Amazon. She is an executive and personal coach as well, offering phone and in-person coaching.
About the Author
Denise P. Kalm, CA, Inc. formerly Cybermation
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Ray Wicks continues his series called the "Capacity Planning Primer." In Part 5, he talks about trending and various rules-of-thumb he has learned along the way. Ray has also included a nice bibliography, so you can continue your education.
Jack B. Woolley teaches systems people how to look at the network in "Want to Know Why Response Time is Elongated? Listen to the Wire." The stories of problems solved show the value of picking up this skill, whatever role you have in IT. Jack's skills and expertise make him a valuable employee; you can engage the talents of this seasoned professional beginning in September.
Michael Ley brings us "Why a 70% Utilisation Threshold is just ROT," in which he talks about the myth of a 70% threshold for server utilization, where the myth came from and why it simply isn't generally applicable. How many ROTs are you relying on? Check your premises, as Michael did.
Margaret Greenberg brings us another interview, this time with 2008 Mullen award winner, Charles Foy. Get to know another CMG member and learn how he created it. Don't forget to check out his paper at www.cmg.org , " Say Goodbye to Postmortems, Say Hello to Effective Problem Management."
Dr. Thomas Bell is back this month with another installment of "Preparing for Your Final Career: Retirement." This month, he talks about identifying and coping with risk. As he has in the past, he shares personal experiences and insights that should help us all avoid thoughtless investments and risk we cannot truly afford.
Networking - the people kind, not the IT kind - is a valuable tool, but too few people really understand how to make it work for them. Learn how to create a network, nourish it and benefit from it in this month's Your Career Coach article," How's Your Network," by Denise P. Kalm.
Be sure to visit the CMG Forum and become a part of our new social network. www.cmg.org/forum. It is open to everyone and is a great place to discuss Service Management topics of interest to you.
It's not too early to start thinking about CMG 2009. By the time you read this, paper submission will be complete, so your next best opportunity for fame and publication success is to submit to Measure IT and/or the CMG Journal. But it's not too early to register for CMG - get your money and request in early, making sure you actually get to go this year. CMG 2009 is in Dallas, TX from 12/6-12/11.
Inside the CMG Bulletin we have the following CMG News items:
Tom Kelman gives you the calendar for your local CMG in Upcoming CMG Regional Meetings. Mark your calendar with the regional meeting in your neighborhood and plan on attending and bringing a colleague. Both North American and International meetings are highlighted.
We have reviews of the following recent Regional and International meetings:
Please consider writing up a meeting you attend and sending it to us. And if you aren't attending a regional CMG meeting, consider reading some of these reports to see what you are missing. It's not only a great education; it's also a great way to get started building your network.
We are always interested in receiving your comments, suggestions, and submitted articles. Help us make Measure IT even better in 2009.
This issue was made possible through the hard work and dedication of the MeasureIT volunteer staff, and the contributions of willing authors.
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