JLMIT–Meeting Summary
 
Meeting Date/Time: 3/06/08 1:00pm-2:00 pm
Location: Chinook Building, Coconut Conference Room
 
Attendees: Fred Bentler (DNRP), Samuel Cardenas (HRD), Steve Coffing (Transit), Patti Cole-Tindall (OIRM), Sharon Glein (OIRM), Judy O’Leary (Public Health), Janet Parks (IFPTE Local 17), Matt Pope (Roads), Beth Sohlberg (Public Health), Peg Taglianetti (OIRM), Azziem Underwood (OIRM), Chris Ynzunza (OIRM)
 
Discussion
 
Patti introduced Chris to the group.  Chris will be working on the planning phase.  Also Patti presented Sharon and said Sharon would be replacing Jim Keller for the technology piece of the reorg.
 
Patti mentioned the responses to questions at the last All-Staff meeting (November 27, 2007) that had been placed on the King County website.  She asked what people’s impressions were about them.  Steve said he thought they were very thorough.  Fred said he had passed the info on to his group.  Azziem had forwarded to his group.  Matt also skimmed the information and thought it was good.  Matt asked at what point the employees were to give input.  Patti said input has been provided to the consultants from staff, supervisors, and managers.  That input has informed what will finally be the structure.  Steve asked if the draft structure will provide a chance for more input.  Patti said there will be another All-Staff meeting and input can be given then.  There will be 2 sessions to roll out the new structure.  A JLMIT meeting will be held prior to that.  The Executive Steering committee also reviewed the proposed structure over several review sessions.  Matt asked if the SLR (Strategic Learning Resources) consultants’ findings would be validated.  Peg suggested that what the consultants had presented thus far could be called their findings.  Patti said the findings, called “learning’s” by the consultants, will be further evaluated.  Matt asked if there will be more detailed info.  Patti said yes that will be happening.  Judy asked about the comparisons that were made across county groups and how much was the diversity of the groups taken into account.  Patti said they recognized that would not be a “one size fits all” solution for all groups.  For example, DAJD is a small group and managed by IT managers.  Public Health, by contrast, is a large group and not all with IT managers.  The proposed structural framework will be used as a guideline while acknowledging that each department has different needs.
 
Matt said that the organizational study findings could be helpful to analyze before going too far with making decisions.  Steve asserted that the consultants had made certain assumptions and it would be important to see how well their assumptions fit with reality.  Patti reinforced the idea that there was a contract with the consultants and that their finding were part of an overall set of deliverables on the contract.  Each part of the consultants’ products can be considered like chapters in a book.  Chris said that through the process there will be feedback and opportunities for course correction.  Patti said it will not all be happening in one day; some groups will move quicker than others.  Judy asked about flexibility at each site and whether department managers will still have autonomy to make independent decisions for their groups.  The answer was that they would to a degree but there would be more central oversight.
 
Steve and Fred asked about project training and what kinds of IT standards were being used.  Patti said there would be professional training to assist staff in adjusting to the changes.  She and others leading the IT reorg project have engaged in ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) training and become ITIL certified.  This kind of training can help in giving staff better understanding of the need for better IT organizational structure as well as helping people adjust to changes.  There were plans to put such training in place. 
 
People talked about how better communication could be provided.  Chris said it was recognized that there was not enough communication or that it was not effective enough.  She solicited ideas for how the OIRM website could be improved to better convey the important IT reorg info.  Steve said more frequent communication would be better.  Beth suggested the information should be more specific.  Patti said they would also have a link to the union IT website to show employees it is there (http://www.ifpte17.org/units/county/king/it/index.html).  Azziem and Peg emphasized the value of a project plan and visual timeline that staff could follow to mark the progress of the reorg.  Chris said they would provide that.
 
Sharon described the thin Client alternative workstation status.  The environment will be Citrix that will expose services that thin-client machines will consume.  These will replace many existing desktops.  They will be rolled out when machines need replacement for those who meet the criteria.  Not everyone will be considered candidates for thin-client machines.  Steve asked if the new support model implied RIFs for the desktop support staff.  Patti responded that the Executive recommendation for the reorg indicated about 15 overall IT staff reductions.  These would occur through attrition and be proportioned out across the functional types as considered appropriate.    Beth questioned if adding new central servers would imply new jobs.  Patti answered that possibly additional servers might indicate a couple of new server admin positions.  Steve asked about retraining for those potentially displaced from their existing roles.  Sharon said there would be training.  For example, Bob Neddo’s group has received training on [thin client].  Beth asked about training in the outlying sites.  Steve and Peg expressed concerns about the thin-client pilot and the need for more thorough testing in order to verify effectiveness of employees being able to do their jobs in that environment.
 
Matt wondered about the JLMIT charter status.  It was agreed that the charter needed to get finalized and that would get done over the next few meetings.
 
Patti suggested it would be good to meet more often.  The next meeting was planned a couple of weeks out (4/2).
 
The meeting adjourned shortly after 2:00 pm.