Ask IT Leadership - November 2023

IT staff are invited to anonymously share a question, challenge, or opportunity with IT’s leadership. Responses to recently submitted questions from our last IT Town Hall appear below:

Will you be making hiring internal candidates and providing a growth pipeline a priority vs. recruitment from outside?

We continue to emphasize internal candidates and have implemented several practices to ensure this is always our first choice. Specifically, we now post all positions internally and promote all current university-wide IT positions through our monthly newsletter in the IT Careers article. We continue to review internal candidates, and in the vast majority of cases, they are afforded direct follow-up by the hiring manager to discuss qualifications and readiness for the role. As demonstrated by the series of organizational changes announced on October 18, we are actively working from succession plans to broaden opportunities and create meaningful new responsibilities for individuals demonstrating readiness. Internal movement, upward and laterally in new areas, is critical to our long-term success.

Please also expand the question - would contractors already here and working be considered “internal” for openings?

In many regards, yes. Contractors are generally updated on new posted opportunities through IT communication channels, including this newsletter. We also often use a contract-to-hire path for many vacancies, and over several months, we get to know the quality of work and behaviors of these individuals. This approach gives us significant insight, typically more than if we only conducted a standard external interview process.

On the topic of HPC offsite. Raw speed is a huge issue with the offshoring of HPC. Many faculty place servers locally based on this issue. How will sending data even further away and through even more points of connection make this better/faster/stronger?

Network design is a critical aspect of the build-out of our HPC footprint at Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC). Interestingly, with the exception of the University of Massachusetts, Yale is closer to MGHPCC than any other participating university. While there are certainly design considerations in how we use this facility, other collaborators are yet to express concerns regarding network throughput or latency that may still need to be solved. We are designing and building these connections now, learning from the partner institutions, and engaging with several faculty who have volunteered to test these connections to ensure we fully meet our service expectations.

Managers in ITS relocate people without inquiring whether these moves align with their professional growth at Yale, often disregarding their prior accomplishments and expertise. ITS management refers to these moves as “reorganizations.” After such reassignments, some ITS professionals may find themselves in somewhat different roles that impede their professional development. Addressing this issue with direct management does not yield any results. Typically, the response is, “Apply for an open position within ITS if you are dissatisfied with your current role.” What solutions can ITS management provide to ITS professionals who find themselves in such situations?

It is often challenging - in any organization - to strike a balance between the needs of the organization and individual career goals. However, matching the two as best as we can remains our objective. Being planful and clear about your career goals through the planning process and having regular one-on-ones with your supervisor can help. In addition, when something really is taking you off track, talking honestly with your supervisor to develop a long-term plan that gets you back on the right path can be a meaningful way of making progress. In other words, communication is the key. Ultimately, our goal is to help you be your best self for your development and Yale!

Is there centralized or networked Data Governance with formally identified Data Stewards and associated processes at Yale?

Yes, Yale has an existing data governance model that focuses on administrative data, with several Data Stewards and Data Governance Council members who provide support for each domain. This model ensures we provide good stewardship of our data and, collectively, as an organization, can use data securely and meaningfully. This topic is of increasing importance as we continue to see strong interest in data management, analytics, and preparatory work for leveraging Artificial Intelligence. There is also an increased focus on better developing our research data governance.

Outside of IT, the use of Box in departments is relied upon heavily. Many have a lot of files, sharing permissions, etc., and reliance on structure that has been built up over some time. Clients will not be happy with having to move what has been built up over the years. How will migration of Box to OneDrive happen for departments, campus-wide?

Transitions of this kind are tough but necessary. As we shared in the town hall, our IT team is acting as the pilot for the migration now, testing both the process and tools to work out the kinks and establish a scalable model for campus. While it is true that the migration will be challenging, it is also true that we have many files that show little to no use over many years. We also continue to get encouragement from staff and faculty to simplify the complex web of storage technologies into fewer preferred standards. Additionally, you can find details on the upcoming changes and the transition process to help prepare our clients, and you can email the pilot team to share your feedback. Please participate actively in the pilot and help put your experiences into our learnings that will shape these migration services.

There is a lot of talk about staff development; what kind of development, if any, does SLT go through?

Like all staff, SLT has development plans, too! Most of us participate in associations or conferences relevant to our respective responsibilities. We read books and articles to stay current on the latest innovations, trends, and advancements in our industry. Through our annual planning, some members express interest or receive requests from the CIO to work on specific targeted learning objectives. Those happen through training, mentoring, or coaching. Most of the team has also been through the MOR Leadership program or a similar leadership development at some point in their career to grow, stretch, and challenge us. In short, at no stage along the career journey is learning done, even for the SLT!