Latest Contributions by StevenAustin

At the GIS Managers Summit in July, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @MatthewLewin1 (Matt Lewin) answered some question addressed to him:   Q: For Matt, Your e-books and content are making an impact! 1- How about designing a focus course for managers on geospatial essentials for managers? 2- Any plan to build geospatial canvas templates, where we can use and get the most of the geospatial strategy framework? A:  Thanks for the kind words. The 2 strategy e-books were a labor of love. You can find them at these links: Volume 1 - https://resources.esri.ca/ebooks/geospatial-strategy-essentials-for-managers Volume 2 - https://resources.esri.ca/ebooks/geospatial-strategy-essentials-for-managers-volume-2 Indeed, we are working on course material based on the book. It will be focused on management and executives audience and will aim to provide insight into the role of GIS in modern business and provide approaches for building strategies and programs. The strategy on a page canvas and geospatial solution canvas can be accessed currently by sending me an email at mlewin@esri.ca   Q: What was the name of the tool Matthew recommended? A:  The planning tool I mentioned was the value proposition canvas. You can find it here: www.strategyzer.com/library/the-value-proposition-canvas  It's an excellent tool for aligning business needs/pains/gains with the features and capabilities of your solution, solution portfolio or entire entire program.   Q: To Matthew or others - What is the most successful org structure you’ve observed? (IT vs Business placement, what level of centralization, etc) A:  There is no one "most successful" organization structure. It's a question of fit for your business. You need consider your overall business strategy and model, the goals and priorities of your geospatial strategy and the culture of your organization. I've described several types of org structures in the article at the link below and I provide an approach to selecting and designing a structure that works for you. https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcuser/find-the-best-way-to-organize-your-geospatial-talent/   Q: What are some good communication practices, to non-GIS-professionals, to convince them how it helps data accuracy, rather than the conventional methods?  Love Matthew Lewin to answer A:  In general, communicating effectively with non-GIS professionals involves minimizing the GIS jargon and focusing on their interests. Try to get an understanding of their business needs and goals and then describe how geography or a geographic approach can help them get there. Rather than talk about specific tools or technology or data models, try and talk about data analytics concepts like Describe, Diagnose, Predict, Prescribe as it relates to understanding spatial relationships. On the data accuracy front, perhaps flip the conversation on its head and describe how data accuracy suffers without sufficient spatial context.   ... View more

At the GIS Managers Summit in July, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @AdamCarnow answered a particular question about executive engagement, and resources available to help:   Q: Could you share a list of the resources mentioned by various folks, particularly the ones on executive engagement?   A: The Path to GIS Success site has a lot of resources mentioned during the Summit and others that can be helpful for developing a successful enterprise GIS program. The Engagement portion of the site has some resources specific to assist you with executive engagement.   Additionally, I can also offer the following resources: Alignment of GIS to Your Business What It Is, Why It’s Important & How To Do It To be considered a successful enterprise GIS, you have to deliver value to the organization that is recognized by leadership. In order to do that, you have to align your GIS with your organization’s business.  This presentation will show you what this alignment is, why it’s important, and how to do it, while also highlighting a real-world example of a successfully aligned enterprise GIS. Communicating the Value of GIS This presentation includes examples of how organizations are addressing the value of GIS to their teams, and some details on approaches. The Path from GIS Manager to GIS Leader – a three-part series, about the transformation of the role of the GIS Manager, from managing a team of GIS practitioners that did all of the GIS work, to that of an enterprise IT system leader that focuses on enabling anyone inside, or outside the organization, to directly use GIS technology to make better decisions and do their job.  Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3 Video The Underutilization of GIS & How To Cure It When most non-GIS professionals hear "G-I-S," they think "M-A-P." Now that GIS is a location intelligence platform, the underutilization of it is critical and career-limiting. As a GIS professional, your purpose is to do more than make maps. It is vitally important that you proactively evangelize and market all the capabilities of GIS. This presentation will provide strategies on how to spread the understanding and full value of GIS across your organization. ... View more

At the GIS Managers Summit in July, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @DeeptiKochhar answered questions about governance:   Q: Where is the best place for one to start and why for a one-person team? A: As a team of one it depends on what you are looking to do more – bring efficiency in the work you are doing, or create visibility to get more resources to support you. I am going to assume a little bit of both. When you are team of one, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and be drowned in your daily operations. Take time from your routine to - Review the organizations mission and vision and the work its is doing. Review the work you are doing and see what mission areas your work touches. From this, you can generate ideas on how you could be supporting in these mission areas better, or identify other areas that you could support. Create a Storymap or hub site of what work GIS team (team of one) is supporting and how you could be supporting more efficiently in other program areas (if you feel comfortable with slides that is ok too). Find opportunity to present this to leadership. Many times, leadership is not aware of what all the GIS team is doing to contribute to the larger organization mission. This will have two-fold impact – You will get a better understanding of where to focus attention  It will create visibility for leadership to help create vision for geospatial use in the organization, and that will lay a foundation for developing a strategy and direction for your organization.   Q: Can you give an example of how transparency impacts buy-in, that you referenced in your presentation? A: Organizations set their business goals and vision, and then the IT strategy to meet those goals and vision. Transparency from the leadership is important, in communicating why the organization is doing what it is doing, and then involving the staff in defining the processes to meet the business goals and vision. There are two ways to look at buy-in – bottom-up and top-down. Transparency impacts buy-in for both. When the senior leadership is setting the business objective and vision for the organization and communicate it with the organization in a transparent way, it creates ownership and thus buy-in from the staff – and similarly, when the teams are included in setting the processes that help the organizations objectives,  there is buy-in for implementation of these processes. Thus, transparency from top-down and bottom-up helps create buy-in so that the team can all work towards the same objectives. When you have defined the governance objectives your organization needs to meet, creating working groups that help you identify the practices that can be implemented to meet these objectives and taking input from people to define these practices helps create buy-in. Hence, open and transparent approach to define the processes to meet the objectives is important for success, as you are engaging the people who will be implementing these.   Q: How do you ensure that governance can build the trusted system of records with real-time data and near real-time data? A: When creating your governance, define the objective for reliable data. Create practices both on the IT system side and people and process side to meet these objectives, and define activities that help you meet these objectives and practices. This will require a combination of IT system and data workflow creation, process and people training, to ensure that they are following executing on these workflows.   Q: We talked a lot about lack of engagement of executive sponsors/departments. On the other end of the spectrum, how do we manage over-engagement of these people groups, when their enthusiasm manifests in micro-management of internal GIS-only-processes, etc.? A: When working with senior leadership or executive sponsors there is never one answer or option, but having an engaged leadership is great. Creating a regular bi-annually or quarterly cadence to provide updates and also get input is a way to ensure they are staying engaged and involved, and setting this expectation will help. Depending on the size of the organization, the frequency of the updates could go up or down. Use these meetings to take input from leadership and address the changing priorities of the organization. If leaders are engaged, this will provide a venue to ensure funding and support for your program.   Q: Can you share with us a template of GIS policies that can be recommended for governance A: The GIS Policies are not one-size-fits-all. Based on the size and priorities of the organization, these will differ or change. But, the intension is to understand your organizations principles and business strategy, and align your policies and procedures to focus on these key areas: Processes Organization structure Information flows and management People, skills and competencies In order for these policies to be successful, you have to ensure that the culture of the organization is taken into account, what impact it will have on the services, the infrastructure and applications it supports, as well  as the organization change.   Q: I have governance for – IT,  PMO,  Data... Where should GIS governance reside, and what is the ideal solution to keep governance intact? A: This is a great question. Organizations will typically have many governances that focus on one area or another. Each of the governances will address and focus on specific areas of the business. The key thing to consider is that GIS governance should align with and expand on each of these areas, to ensure that GIS governance addresses each of these areas. If the governance does not address location strategy for IT, Data and PMO, then these should be expanded to include them. Typically, the GIS Advisory Committee would ensure that these governance objectives are met and executed to meet the Business and IT Objectives and get the return on investment.   Q: What comes first the chicken or the egg – governance or strategy? A: This is a great question – they go hand in hand, irrespective of what you develop first. Organizations have to take into account that a strategy that is not governed is not successfully met, and a governance without a strategy may not meet business success and the objectives it needs to. Governance exists to provide value to the organization and the return on investment (ROI). Strategy should align with your organizations mission and vision, and governance should align with the objectives of your organization, so you can meet the business objectives and strategic goals successfully. ... View more

At the GIS Managers Summit in July, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @JamesPardue2 (Jim) answered questions about GIS program & team management:   Q:  What advice would you give to a manager without a "manager" title and how to best make the case to promote to such a title within their organization? A:My advice would be two parts. The first part addresses a manager not having the title “manager”. While on one hand I understand having a proper title to reflect what one does day to day is important to a lot of people, a title does not necessarily make a GIS leader. What I mean by that is that there are a lot of people out there who do not have a title as a GIS manager but they in fact lead GIS within their organizations very effectively. That being said, how does one make the case to promote the title of GIS manager within their organization? I would suggest that one start with their boss, their manager by making the case to them first. Seek out who you work for and make the case that the organization should have someone who holds that title and that you should be that person. Start with listing the benefits to the organization in regard to having a GIS manager and describe what is the impact of a GIS manager. Second, research job descriptions, and responsibilities for the role of GIS manager. Reach out to other GIS managers that you know in your network, or better yet, leverage this group in Esri Community and ask for copies of their role and responsibility descriptions. Next, show where you are actively executing the role daily already. GIS managers have a technical function and a leader and managerial function. Justify the position first, then make your case for who should fill it.   Q: Any advice on how to increase a GIS team’s number of allocated staff positions while keeping morale high in the current GIS team when they feel over-worked? A: To work on morale, small things matter. Schedule an impromptu team lunch or breakfast by ordering pizza or breakfast burritos in the office. Carve out an hour to do this. Bring in bake goods (cake, cookies) to serve to the team as a way of recognizing their hard work. Start or end the day on occasion my recognizing that they are overworked and have an executive state how appreciative the organization is for their hard work. Recognize someone’s efforts monthly. We used to have a pro wrestling belt that sat on someone’s desk for a month until a new person was recognized for hard work. The best way to increase the team’s number is to track stats on how much work you are doing, the number of customers you are servicing, products (data, maps, apps, etc) you are producing, and the impact that the work is having (think ROI) to the departments you are doing the work for. Another way is to show an increase in a new capability and justify how you require someone to provide that capability full time. Combine them both to bolster your case. Lobby other department leads to support your cause. When you have the support and stats to support your requirement, then create a solid justification. Another method is to train GIS super-users in other departments and utilize them to take on some of the workload within the departments they are from. Lastly, consider a GIS self-service model whereas you provide training and support to analyst in other departments so that they eventually become self sufficient in maintaining their own department data, maps and apps.   Q: What’s one thing you’d recommend to young managers as they enter leadership spaces? A: Mastering soft skills (really the harder skills) are just as important as technical skills, but don’t get as much love. Things like people skills, resolving conflict, talking with executives, marketing your team/program, winning support, mentoring, leading professional development, leading training, formulating the culture you want are all absolute critical skills to have as a GIS leader. We usually default to the technical mode and focus all of our energy on developing these skills until one day, uh-oh, we are in charge. GIS leaders don’t magically go to some school and then they are ready to go out and lead. We must grow them from within. That is a long game. If you are a GIS leader, then recognize those within your team/program who have the most potential and mentor and grow them. I think it is in this area most new GIS leaders struggle. My advice is to seek out someone you respect and admire who is successful in a leadership position and learn from them. Find a Yoda, it is the way.   Q: Aside from kicking the door down on the people-leaders of an organization, and not to look like you are being intrusive or appear as being a busy body, how do you ensure you "aren't the last to know"? ...especially when the organization knows GIS is a "thing"? A: The way I have approached this in the past was two-fold. First, it is fine to get out and about and meet with executives and leaders to discuss all things geospatial. I encourage this. Just be mindful of their time. Have an elevator pitch at the ready on what is happening with GIS in the Organization. There will be moments when you run into a leader or executive and they ask how things are going. Capitalize on those times with a 5-7 minute GIS update. You could get a “Stop by my office and tell me more about that” moment. Another suggestion is to find your way to be embedded within key meetings, especially on major projects and initiatives. That way you can always provide the “geospatial perspective”. Talk with key leaders and explain to them how GIS is needs to be considered in the planning process of everything within the organization. The sooner it is injected the greater the ROI.   Q: Any recommendations for augmenting staff when teams are understaffed or having knowledge gap?  A: A very popular question. Learn to train the trainer. Send one key person to get training on a skill sets and have them come back and train everyone else. Inventory your internal skills and capabilities. Bob is a solid data base person while Jill is strong in python scripting. Have them put together train and train your other team’s members. Grow and propagate your skills across the team, then across the organization. Create GIS liaisons within other departments or use the model Marna McLain is using at the city of Austin, designate SPOCs, GIS Single Points of Contact within departments. Then train them and they can become extensions of your team. Look at developing a GIS self-service model whereas departments take a leading role in developing and maintaining their own GIS data, maps, and apps and become more self-sufficient. This is a long game approach but has major benefits when accomplished.    Q: How do you keep employees on your team? We only have “analyst” roles within our team. How do you create “growth” within your team of analysts to retain them? A: This is always one of my favorite questions because I had to address this head on several times in my career. Create additional roles, but that depends on how big your team is. Full disclosure, at one point I managed a very large (25+) GIS team. To address this, I created a data manager role, a python scripting role, an instructor role, etc. I had my team rotate into these positions every year. Another option I utilized, I created roles within certain departments and had my team members rotate in and out of these positions every year as well. The I created a career roadmap that accounted for several years moving into and out of these various roles in order to create a very skilled and diverse team. I also ran monthly professional development sessions that alternated between technical development and leader development. Then I had my analysts lead these sessions. I sent my junior people to conferences as a reward for performance. I taught everyone basic project management skills and would look for opportunities to have my team members lead projects such as a software implementation, creating a new capability such as 3D or imagery, teaching a new skill across the team, or working on messaging and outreach across departments. Things like governance, developing new standards or policies, or tackling tough problems, can be assigned to a working group and one of your GIS analysts can lead that effort. The key is to work with what you have, get creative, and make it meaningful, challenging and beneficial.   ... View more

At the GIS Managers Summit in July, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @JamesPardue2 (Jim) answered questions about strategy:   Q:  How often should a strategy/strategic plan be revised? A: It should be reviewed for revision annually. In our approach to developing and implementing a strategy we speak about the four phases, Understand, Plan, Act, and Revisit.   It is in the revisit phase that we should make any adjustments or changes that have impacted the strategy. I suggest that strategies be developed for no longer than three years. They can be shorter, however. At the end of the three years, determine: What got accomplished What did not Why it was not achievable Decide if the strategy needs to be updated with a new vision, focus, goals, and business needs for the next 12-18 months or if a brand-new strategy needs to be developed from scratch for the next three years.   Q: What is the best approach when trying to realign/revise the Geospatial Strategy of an organization that was created by a predecessor? A: Conduct a triage assessment on it and consider the following: Is it still aligned? Is the vision statement still valid? Are the goals still valid and achievable? What else has changed that may impact it i.e., new mission, new CEO/Director, loss of key critical personnel? Are business needs still legitimate? Was it being implemented successfully? Are the initiatives still valid and the prioritization of those initiatives still good? If the answer to most of these questions is yes, then modify what needs adjusting and continue with implementing the current strategy.  If the answer to most of these questions is no, then consider developing a brand-new strategy.   Q: Do you all see value in a scale of strategies over time? Meaning implementing a small-scale strategy or a condensed one, prior to building a more robust strategy. A: Absolutely. Here are several scenarios: The first is an organization that is just starting on their geospatial journey and has recently implemented a new GIS Enterprise. While they currently do not possess the geospatial maturity to conduct a full strategy now, they decided to develop an 18th month strategy to build the foundation for their new GIS program. They develop a short-term vision, several goals around initial governance, data standards, workforce training and development, and creating a few initial key capabilities. They also determine initial business needs and layout some prioritized initiatives that focus on the entire organization versus individual departments. This gets all the resources (think people, process and technology) aligned on the same mission, building a strong foundation out the gate. After the strategy is completed, they embark on a three-year strategy that considers the various business unit’s goals, business needs, and challenges while revising a new vision, goals, etc. The second scenario is an organization that wants a strategy to get GIS back on track and aligned with the business/mission. Here key leaders meet (CTO, CIO, CDO and the GIS Lead) to come together and create a 12-24 month strategy that charts the new path forward to make GIS an enterprise solution and relaunch it as a key component to providing business solution to overcome challenges. When that strategy has run its course, the organization now has a model for success and develops a larger strategy that considers numerous business units and functions. I’ve also seen a phased approach whereas year one we build the strategy around five departments, year two we roll in another five, year three etc. There is also nothing wrong with a department within a city, such as public safety, health, or parks and services, to build their own strategy and then it can be rolled up into the City’s strategy later.   Q: How do you bridge Geospatial Strategy at the various stratification of the organization? A: This is a great question. The answer is alignment. It is totally fine for all three of the entities used in your example to have separate strategies. They must however be aligned in supporting the higher organizational mission, focus, and priorities. Any misalignment will cause resources to compete and be pulled in different directions. Prioritization is also key. A determination needs to be made to work on those initiatives first that impact the most and provide the largest benefit to the entire organization, no matter what strategy tier it sits at.   Q: How would you simultaneously promote Geospatial strategies from a top-down perspective for executives while also bringing the technology to those on the bottom such as field operators /crews? A: Another good question. In one word, engagement. You promote a top-down perspective by including executives in the process of developing the strategy, by engaging with them. Set up a series of one-on-one short meetings with them to take only20-minutes of their time. Ask them specific questions regarding their opinion where they see GIS providing value to the organization over the next few years. Ask them what keeps them up at night, their biggest worries about the organization. Ask them what geospatial solution would make their jobs easier. Send them a read ahead of the questions before you meet with them, get on their calendars, be brief and direct with your questions. For the field operators and crews, engage with them as well. Pull them into a group meeting as well and if they are not utilizing GIS, show them examples of what location technology can do to make their jobs and workflows easier. Obtain their input on how they think it can be leverage and what they would like to see created in the future. Ask them what their day-to-day pain points and data challenges are.   Q: How do you strategize priorities when there are too many? A: Develop a method for prioritization and consider some type of governance committee to make the decisions on what is the priority. Consider using a prioritization matrix or scoring system to determine the level of effort needed and the value that something brings to the organization as a whole. A good example is the 2x2 prioritization matrix.   Q: What would you suggest I do if my org does not have stated goals and objectives? A: Initially I would start with identifying what the high-level goals are of the organization itself. The determine how is GIS currently supporting the process of achieving those goals. Next, put together a group of GIS stakeholders and sponsors and either interview them or schedule a brainstorming working group session to discuss identifying up to five long term geospatial goals of the organization's GIS program. Then take each goal and brainstorm what the objectives are for each goal in order to achieve success of that goal. Lastly, determine what are the challenges in achieving each goal and objectives and identify what can be done proactively to combat each challenge.   Q: What is an average appropriate length of a successful strategy? Easy to be too wordy or too short to be engaging with an array of participants. A: That determines if we are talking about the development of a strategy or the implementation of the strategy. It can take 1-3 months to develop a strategy depending on whether it is a high-level strategy or a detailed one that includes business units. If it includes business units, then how many are important and impacts the time to develop it. For implementation, I recommend developing a strategy that is no longer than three years. COVID taught us a valuable lesson, just about every organization that had a strategy that year, had to revise it within a year to stay the course of an obtainable vision. Plus, when it comes to all things technology, beyond three years, things can be overtaken by technological advancements and new ways of doing things. As for the length of the output document, the shorter the better. Last week I reviewed an organization’s strategy, and it was comprised of 256 typed pages in a word document. Not a lot of people will read a 256-page strategy, particularly executives. That’s why it is key to use a strategy canvas template to note the key and important points of your strategy into a single page summary that executives and leaders can read quickly and grasp the concept in a few minutes. Even when we develop strategies that end up being over 100 slides, we create a condensed summary for executives. That is what makes the Geospatial Strategy StoryMap example such a great tool. To also learn more about the strategy on a page concept, read Matt Lewin’s (from Esri Canada) article on the topic.   Q: If your "GIS champions" keep finding new jobs, how should one pivot to adapt and keep things progressing? A: Two options here. Either you become the GIS champion, or you have multiple GIS champions spread across the organization. Another approach is to take the major things you are trying to accomplish with your strategy, create working groups to accomplish them, have designated “champion” of that effort and an alternative. If the champion leaves, you still have a group working the effort and you can always designate a new champion from within the working group. ... View more

At the GIS Managers Summit last week, attendees were able to submit questions for our live panel. While we had some great answers, there were dozens of questions we didn’t have time for, so we’re going to answer them here! Our panelists will be posting, Q&A-style, over the next several weeks, so check back here regularly! This week, @Kara_Shindle answered questions about building a proactive team:   Q: How long did your journey take before you recognized success and where there any moments (positive or negative) in your journey that stand out? A: In terms of how long this journey has taken, I started this journey in 2019, and I'd say that I started seeing results for my various initiatives at different times.  In 2020, I was able to demonstrate that we were getting more usage, and needed to update our infrastructure.  In 2021, I demonstrated that we needed more resources to handle requests and more administrative oversight for project prioritization due to limited resources, & started my education campaign.  In 2022, I started seeing the benefits of an education campaign, we've been seeing a steadily increasing number of requests for our services & shown areas of work where we bring more/less value than others to our organization.  This journey is still going and I don't intend for it to ever end! I consider it part of the job now. As for any moments that stand out, I'd say that having people start recognizing us as a service they could utilize was big.  I did end up shifting how I reported up my chain, and that was new, as we worked out reporting & how to communicate needs between both ends of that process.  I'd also say being referred to as the "dashboard queen" was a big one.  Writing an article on my work and having others reach out was truly inspirational, too.  My first presentation on this stands out due to the response, much like the GIS Manager's Summit did. I've certainly had setbacks, but I just look at everything as work towards my end goals and use it to "play the long game."  It may not bear fruit right away, but it helps over the long run.  I've had so many more that stand out, that I cannot include them all here, because this journey has created opportunities I would have never anticipated, and I certainly would do it again. "As for any moments that stand out, I'd say that having people start recognizing us as a service they could utilize was big."   Q: What other metrics do you capture about your program? I’m curious what’s in the other tabs of your StoryMap. A: I capture lots of different metrics, and sometimes I will capture for only certain periods of time to accomplish certain goals or answer certain needs.  Generally, I track the following: - information on requests, their source, & how long we spend on them - specialized requests versus daily operations to highlight need for project management or additional resources and project scheduling - Who is using our applications and who is creating/using in AGOL - I have a separate tracking involving PARs for funding requirements - I also track edits on certain layers (like parcels or addresses) to meet certain project goals - I track work we exchange between other internal departments for utilization needs and to also to provide an "audit trail" for certain reasons involving the public or inefficient communication methods - I have also occasionally tracked communication (i.e. to show how much time I was spending as the help desk for our public applications or how much time I spent on meetings for a new process that I felt was redundant).  This type of metric I usually do to prove a point or provide evidence for an issue. Wow, writing that out seems like a lot!  In reality, I have automated a significant portion of this using scripts and forms to aggregate and report so I can focus on more important things.   Q: (Asked to everyone) Where is the best place for one to start and why, for a one-person team? A: I would say that you start by identifying what your priorities are.  I think that there are some common steps that everyone can take, but knowing where you want to head can help you identify a good place to start.  I suggest sitting down and identifying your priorities, their importance, their effort levels, and then planning out which ones you want to tackle first.   Q: (Asked to everyone) What have you seen that most engages customer participation in GIS device delivery or stakeholder active involvement? A: I can talk about the awesome benefits of GIS until I'm blue in the face, but visual examples make the most impact.  I often make test dashboards or concepts with dummy data to spark conversation for the actual requestors of GIS work.  For stakeholders, I often try to tailor my efforts in a way that resonates with them.  For example, if I'm presenting to business people, my report may take on a business report feel, and focus more on money and hours saved rather than on technology.    Q: (Asked to everyone) We talked a lot about lack of engagement of executive sponsors/departments. On the other end of the spectrum how do we manage over engagement of these people groups, when their enthusiasm manifests in micro-management of internal GIS only processes etc.? A: I've managed micro-managers in the past by using frank communication & sitting down with them to identify what their needs are and why they feel the need to be so involved.  I've found that it sometimes come down to communication differences, and it can often taper off over time once they understand or start to "trust" the GIS processes.  I've also gone to them with a prepared list of tasks and said "this is what I need from you."  When all else fails, I've also tracked time spent on dealing with these overzealous reporting processes 🙂  Usually, there is a reason or perspective that fuels micro-managing that I try to figure out and solve.   Q: (Asked to everyone) Could you send out a list of the resources mentioned by various folks today. Particularly the ones on executive engagement. A: I post my resources for each presentation on my County Hub site at: https://gisportal.franklincountypa.gov/pages/presentations I will also be posting this to the ESRI GIS Manager's Group forum. ... 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At the upcoming GIS Managers Summit, ArcGIS users will be sharing from their experience leveraging GIS across their organizations, and @Kara_Shindle will be talking about how your GIS team can take a proactive approach to leveraging GIS in your organization. The bottom line – Too many GIS teams spend their time responding to urgent needs, and can’t get ahead of the game to be more proactive.  So, Kara uses a four-step approach with her team to get to a more proactive place. “I have established boundaries that protect us so we can grow as a department, and we now look forward to new projects” – Kara Shindle Whether you’re preparing for the GIS Managers Summit on June 9th, or preparing to make a shift in how your team operates, you can consider these four steps: Defining goals – What measurable objectives can you set for your team, what are the barriers to those objectives and how can you manage or break down those barriers? Determine capabilities – What does your team need, what requests are coming in, what can you handle and where does your time actually go? Kara’s team keeps a dashboard of time spent Communicate – Where are the places in your organization where you can communicate success, and where can you receive communications about needs? Commit – Staying on the path and trusting the process once you’ve established the first three steps, measuring success and reporting outcomes to key stakeholders   Want to dig into more details?  If you’re in San Diego early for the Esri User Conference, you can join Kara and others at the GIS Managers Summit on June 9th – it's free for registered attendees to Esri's User Conference.  If you can’t make the summit, Kara will be sharing more afterward, in the GIS Managers User Group in Esri Community.  You can also read her ArcNews article detailing more.     Kara is the GIS Director for Franklin County, PA. Kara earned a Geo-Environmental Studies degree & GIS certificate from Shippensburg University in 2010.  She earned both a Geospatial Programming and Web Map Development certificate from PennState and her GIS professional certification in 2021, and is planning to graduate with a Masters in GIS from PennState in the fall of 2023. In her free time, she chases after her 3 year old and likes to sew, garden, and take care of her chickens. ... View more

At the upcoming GIS Managers Summit, @JamesPardue2  will be talking about how many of your peers have successfully developed a strategy to apply GIS to their business needs.  Of all the Esri customers Jim has helped with, to drive a strategy, they all started with three key roles.  The key to these roles is to include people from the beginning, who are not GIS users like you.  Jim will be highlighting these key roles next week, and if you’re joining us at the summit, you can consider the following, and come prepared with some ideas of who that might be in your organization: Briefly, the first role is the champion, of course, the person who will evangelize GIS in your organization.  As a GIS Manager, that may likely be you, but could be someone who works closely with you.  You likely already have one or more ideas of who that might be. The second and third roles, however, will likely be those who do not work with GIS technology, but who see the potential benefits and understand the technical needs. An executive sponsor is someone who is invested in the vision and goals of your greater organization – this may not be someone who even thinks about GIS, but what matters is that they get motivated about the impact GIS can make.  Beyond that, they also need to be a good resource in getting the right people in your organization to the table with you, in your strategy.  Think of people in your organization who demonstrate a commitment to your mission and an investment in key people around the organization, and often it’s best to have as many as needed, to cover each part of your organization.    In the process of applying GIS strategically to your business, you’ll need someone who can bring an understanding of the technical capabilities, now and future-state, of your organization.  Good potential members of the technical leadership part of your strategic team, are those who have a direct role in your enterprise technologies and related initiatives, so they will not likely be invested only in GIS technology, but will understand how it can fit alongside your complete technology stack.  Think of the people who are IT-centric and roll out new capabilities to your organization.   The Champion, Executive Sponsor, and Technical Leadership are the three critical roles to your successful application of GIS across your organization – we’ll be talking more about them at the GIS Managers Summit on July 8, so bring your ideas of who these are in your organization – we hope to see you there!   ... View more

At the upcoming GIS Managers Summit, ArcGIS users will be sharing from their experience leveraging GIS across their organizations, and @MarnaMcLain will be sharing about Governance in the City of Austin. Two key principals of approach to governance for City of Austin, are transparency and collaboration – but how do you apply these principles to your GIS, in an organization of over 1500 users?  The answer for Marna is an operating board – a group of stakeholders from levels of the organization, who plan and track GIS initiatives in the organization.  The Geospatial Information Management Operating Board (GIMOB), as they are called, shares important resources, updates, and governance documentation, and enables ongoing lines of communication, in one central site internal to staff at the City of Austin.       "The operating board meets monthly, tracks initiatives in a digital planner board, and engages in internal chat boards, while providing recommendations for our Enterprise GIS", said McLain.   You can hear more about this and the other key components of the the City of Austin's GIS, ask questions and share your feedback on governance, at the GIS Managers Summit on June 9th – it's free for registered attendees to Esri's User Conference – we hope to see you there!   Marna McLain is the IT Corporate Manager for Enterprise Geospatial Services at the City of Austin. Originally from the Houston area, she moved to Austin to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Geography from University of Texas and never left. She has over 22 years of experience in the industry, with a background in data editing and maintenance, GIS project management, and application and infrastructure management. She has watched Austin’s use of GIS grow exponentially and is excited to see what comes next. ... View more