Lifeguard It

Open offices are office layouts where cubicles are retired, and employees are placed in close proximity—a move that businesses hope will improve innovation, transparency, and collaboration while also reducing real estate costs. Open offices have their fans (large tech companies in particular), but critics worry about privacy as well as decreased productivity caused by excessive noise and other stimuli.  So, for today’s episode, we thought we’d look into the good, the bad, and the ugly of the open office concept to see how much power IT really has in influencing employee perception of the workplace. How much can IT, by listening to user needs and monitoring end-user experience, affect the success of the open office? Time Stamps "The Good" 2:50 "The Bad" 9:35 "The Ugly" 26:35 Solutions 32:50 What Can IT Do About It? 38:40 Tech Pick of the Week 46:10 www.theverge.com/2018/5/15/17357368/google-wifi-feature-device-home-struggling-connect www.theverge.com/2018/5/11/17346122/youtube-take-a-break-notifications-google

Hosts Heather and Linda explore the definitions of the terms "user" and "end user" and offer their thoughts on when to use each. Later on in the episode, they discuss articles on wearables in healthcare and smart home privacy concerns. Episode Links: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/an-open-bar-for-beta-testers https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/05/fitbit-wants-to-more-easily-give-data-to-doctors-with-google-partnership/ https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-spied-on-me-1822429852

IT Service Management (ITSM) is an approach to designing, implementing, and managing how IT is used within an organization. Optimizing service desk operations is important in ITSM, as the service desk represents the primary point of contact between users and IT. In this episode, we take you through five strategies for delivering better service and improving ITSM.  Episode Links: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17241710/google-cyark-partnership-vr-virtual-reality-preserve-historical-sites https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17241996/uk-ai-government-report-lords-ethical-leadership

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda discuss the relationship between end users, technology, and productivity and what IT can do about it. The discussion spans three main productivity trade-offs: the benefits of digital transformation vs. the time it takes to learn new skills; increased cybersecurity concerns; and how technology shapes our ability to focus. Later on in the episode, we introduce a new segment, "Tech Pick of the Week," where we share and discuss tech news of interest, including a cat robot for lonely people, Microsoft's changing focus, and machine learning's taste for ramen. Episode Links: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3869915 https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/technological-innovation-hurting-productivity-by-jeffrey-frankel-2018-03 https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/5/17201646/fribo-robot-social-lonely-young-people-home https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/30/17179328/microsoft-windows-reorganization-future-2018 https://news.microsoft.com/2018/03/29/satya-nadella-email-to-employees

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda discuss famous Stephen Hawking statements on technology, including parallels between computers and organic life and the implications of AI.

In this episode, we turn our focus to what it's like to work in IT. Heather interviews co-host Linda about her experience as level one help desk support at a university. What challenges did her customers face and how did Linda help resolve them? What aspect of the job would she have automated if she could? How is the help desk like an emergency room? Send us your answers to those questions or your own help desk stories at lifeguardIT@lakesidesoftware.com!

In this episode, co-hosts Heather and Linda discuss the Quantified Self movement and how similar concepts can be applied in IT to deliver continuous end-user experience improvements. Articles mentioned: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/24/16926350/apple-watch-series-2-fitness... http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2055207616689509

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda are joined by Ben Murphy, Director of Applied Engineering at Lakeside Software, to talk about the cybersecurity threats known as Meltdown and Spectre. Ben shares his initial findings on CPU load differences pre and post applying patches against the threats (time stamp: 6:40) and we discuss what that could mean for VDI users. Finally, we close out with some suggested steps IT admins can take to protect users and mitigate performance impacts.

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda interview Ryan Purvis, a digital workplace strategist with 14 years of experience in the banking and real estate industries. They discuss the ideal state of enterprise user experience, how to get there, what GDPR means for IT, and what the future of work could look like.

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda discuss implementing and using Microsoft Teams with special guests Dan Salinas, VP of Americas Sales and Business Development at Lakeside, and Kaushal Mehta, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft.

In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda share their solar eclipse experiences and follow-up thoughts from last episode's Cortana discussion. Lakeside's Product Marketing Manager, Patricia Diaz, joins to talk about UX design and the process of updating a website. From there, the discussion turns to end-user experience as an IT concept, focusing on three main questions: (1) What is it? (2) How can you measure it? and (3) What are the benefits?

In the first episode, hosts Heather and Linda discuss the depreciation of MS Paint and their Windows 10 user impressions. Special guest and Director of Applied Engineering at Lakeside Software, Ben Murphy, joins in to explore the current state of Windows 10 from an enterprise IT perspective.