Livingston: “There’s not a single problem we can’t solve together”

The IT Professionals meeting on Wednesday, April 6 kicked off with Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jim Livingston giving an informal talk on the need for collaboration.

“One of the big concerns I have is how we proceed together as a campus to solve some of the big problems that we’re facing,” he said – issues like network architecture, identity and access management, and cyber security threats.

“We have incredibly bright and talented IT people in this organization,” said Livingston. “It’s a shame that we’re not tapping into that collective to solve some of these really tough issues.”

Livingston went on to explain that part of his role as CTO for the U will be to help strengthen collaboration between University departments and organizations, with an emphasis on increasing collaboration between University Information Technology (UIT) and the numerous IT Professionals across campus.

Livingston also directly addressed the concern that UIT is, as he put it, “looking to take over the world.”

“Trust me. That is the furthest thing form the truth,” he said. “What we are looking to do, though, is collaborate much more closely with everyone – and bring people together in a collaborative fashion to solve some of these big problems.”

“I have no doubt that there’s not a single problem we can’t solve together,” he added.

Livingston went on to share details about the new IT governance structure and the need for IT professionals to participate in the many working groups expected to arise from specific governance topics.

“How can we bring our heads together and come up with a solution that does work?” he asked. “Let’s get the input we need, let’s get the issues out on the table, and let’s brainstorm through them.” 

Finally, Livingston talked about the effort to define a service catalog for the University and how IT Professionals can play a role in that process, as well.

“As that evolves, we’ll be asking some of you to jump on board and give us your input, give us your use cases, and help us understand what type of service you want to consume,” he said.

Livingston closed with a call to action.

“If you’re interested in being involved in these discussions or participating in working groups, send me an email,” he said. “Let me know who you are, and we’d be happy to involve you in the process.”

He added, “If you bring good people together with the background, the knowledge, and the ideas, you can create some amazing things.”

 

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