Thoughts on technology, leadership, security, infrastructure, automation, and the systems between them.
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Technology
Windows 11 accessibility is one of those areas where quiet innovation is creating real impact, yet it often flies under the radar in higher education and workforce conversations. One feature I keep coming back to is Live Captions. Windows 11 can generate real time captions in the lower third of the screen for any audio...
Leadership
We often describe portals, forms, and workflows as self service. The assumption is that technology makes things faster, easier, and more efficient. In reality, many of these systems simply move the friction from the institution to the person trying to get help. I recently watched a simple request turn into a multi week...
Leadership
We all learned the OSI model early in our careers. Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application. Seven layers that explain how systems communicate and how users ultimately interact with technology. My IT department is responsible for mastering those seven layers. We design networks...
Technology
The rapid rise of AI has reshaped how we work, how we communicate, and how we measure value inside an organization. As leaders, we are being asked to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and preserving the integrity of individual contribution. The tension is real. Some people feel empowered by AI because it...
Leadership
One of the most misunderstood parts of modern IT leadership is that every meaningful technology project depends on the people outside of IT just as much as the people inside it. The challenge is that many non technical leaders unintentionally pull back from the early planning because they assume their job title exempts...
Technology
A lot of projects stall because the original vision sounds good in a meeting but never becomes something you can execute. Leaders talk about better student experiences, faster response times, stronger cybersecurity, or more automation. The ideas are solid. The problem is that the teams responsible for delivering them...
Leadership
For years, we’ve talked about automation like it was the finish line. You build the workflow, write the script, and let it repeat. But now we’re entering something new: Agentic AI, where systems can plan, decide, and act with minimal human direction. Imagine an AI that doesn’t just send you alerts, but actually detects...
Leadership
As IT leaders, we are used to working within constraints. We identify needs, set goals, build plans, and then do the hard work of aligning priorities, approvals, and budgets to turn ideas into reality. That process forces discipline. It sharpens focus. It demands that we justify value at every step. Then, sometimes...
Leadership
The phrase “user error” has been part of IT culture for decades. It is quick, convenient, and often used to explain why something went wrong when the technology itself seemed fine. A password was mistyped, a setting misconfigured, or a file deleted. Case closed. But the truth is that saying “user error” does not solve...
Leadership
Have we really designed our systems for the people we serve, or just for the people who have always been here? Higher education is now serving five generations of students at once, and each brings a different expectation of what “great service” looks like. There’s the traditional student who grew up online and expects...
Leadership
Have you ever stopped to think about who’s sitting around your table — not in title or rank, but in influence, perspective, and curiosity? Over the years, I’ve learned that growth often happens through the people we spend time with. The phrase “if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room” isn’t...
Technology
Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is one of those subjects people acknowledge but rarely prioritize until a disruption happens. At that point everyone realizes how critical it is. A BCP is not a binder gathering dust. It is a framework that keeps an organization moving forward when uncertainty is at its highest. The...
Technology
Have you ever stopped to calculate how much value you gain from just 10 minutes saved each day? At first, it doesn’t sound like much. But those 10 minutes a day add up to roughly 60 hours a year. For many organizations, that could mean over $2,000 in value saved per employee. When multiplied across a team or...
Leadership
In technology, we often focus on how efficient we can make our systems. We trim down processes, automate wherever possible, and streamline until we feel like everything is running at maximum performance. The problem is that efficiency on its own is fragile. If one link in the chain breaks, the whole system grinds to a...
