[1075] in I/T Delivery
Windows 2000 Domains & Servers: February 2003 Delivery Report
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kerem B Limon)
Thu Mar 13 19:37:10 2003
Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.2.20030313193355.032c2d60@po11.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 19:36:27 -0500
To: IS Delivery Process <delivery@mit.edu>
From: Kerem B Limon <kerem.limon@MIT.EDU>
Cc: Windows Delivery Team <windows-delivery-team@mit.edu>,
Windows Delivery advisory council <windows-delivery-advisory@mit.edu>
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(Bob alerted me this somehow did not make it in the first time; sending it
again.)
Project Name: Windows 2000 Domains & Servers Delivery Project
Project Leader: Kerem B. Limon
Report Date: March 7, 2003 (for February 2003)
Project Web site URL: http://web.mit.edu/windows-delivery/
Accomplishments in February:
- An initial draft DART (Design Assistance & Review Team; the design
committee for helping DLCs with their Windows 2000 implementation designs)
process is ready for moving into draft implementation (see next
deliverables). Finalized the first DART membership, presented to Delivery
process and sponsors for approval. Drafted DART announcement (coming in 2-3
weeks from now).
- The Project Web site was revamped and the prototype of the documentation
(in outline form) was produced. Both went live (quietly) late February. A
more public announcement is pending completion of DART documentation in
that outline and announcement of the DART process. Note, from last Delivery
report (January 2003): "… decision [was] made … to merge the team/project
Web presence with that of the actual documentation and information the
Delivery process will generate under a single portal. While the two
segments will remain independently maintained and organized, the goal is to
provide a one-stop location for people seeking to find out about the
project itself, and at the same time be able to see the current status of
what is available and what is being worked on."
- Microsoft & Dell exploratory effort as DART design implementers (to be
contracted by DLCs if they so desire); the revised statement of work has
gone through MIT legal and is pending approval by Dell legal to proceed.
- Met with PLC leadership and IT personnel; received update on current
(mostly finalized) Win.mit.edu deployment status, list of remaining
desires, what worked well in the pilot, and more importantly what did not
and how it can be improved (from a customer standpoint).
- Project sponsors and IS leadership have announced a new vision statement
around IS-managed Windows products and services, something we have felt the
need for and urged recently. See details at
http://mit.edu/windows/winadmin_vision.html.
- (Project Leader & WinAthena liaison) continued participating in WinAthena
Team meetings (as schedule allowed) and WinAthena Container Administrators
meetings regularly.
- (Project Leader) continued to meet with the Software Release Team (SWRT)
and Support HQ representatives in an ongoing effort to enhance the
arrangement of and the tools available to the various *partners
(ITPartners, MacPartners, WinPartners) groups. Our focus here is
specifically to contribute to the design and development of these resources
early on such that some of them can become part of our support (and perhaps
training) strategy later on in our project to avoid duplication of effort
and save IS resources.
Goals for March:
- Gather reports on existing Win.mit.edu deployments (OSP, PLC) and send
out a community status update and pre-DART announcement.
- Document DART process and interfaces on Web site, in preparation for DART
announcement.
- Revise (as necessary) DART announcement to reflect available process,
interfaces, and documentation and publicize through the usual channels
(ITPartners, InfoSys).
- Send out a community announcement and status update at the end of
March/beginning of April.
- Finalize Dell & Microsoft statement of work approval, and launch
independent domain design pilots (carried over to this month due to delays
in legal and Dell).
- Finalize (1) the accessible description of WinAthena and its components,
in collaboration with the WinAthena Team; and (2) a technical version
geared towards network/system administrators that help define the
boundaries of IS offerings in the Windows arena; our goal here is to assist
customers (and DART) in helping make the choice--by clearly annunciating
what's available and how it best works/serves them (still working on this).
- Continue, though in the background, our survey/inventory of academic &
administrative departments and research labs & centers to gauge upcoming
scalability/migration needs; collaborate with the Academic Computing
practice efforts in the same direction. Implement this information in a
secure, internal team database (still working on this).
Next Community Milestone:
- Status update for existing pilots in Win.mit.edu (PLC, OSP, Building 37)
and pre-announcement for DART.
- Announcement of the finalized (initial) Design Assistance & Review Team
(DART)
Issues:
- We are trying to find the right balance between process development and
immediate delivery/information exchange with customers/sponsors on hold.
Process work is core and essential, yet takes a lot of focus and internal
(to the team) collaboration; immediate delivery remains a persistent demand
and takes away real resources. We need better prioritization to balance the
two.
Key Learnings:
- We should have pushed for a Windows vision statement earlier in the
project, if possible, even in pre-planning. It helps clear the way when
necessary, and also puts an end to some unnecessary last minute doubts
about what the direction or commitment is. It's good to be able to point to
the "writing in the sky".
- It is hard to get people to agree, especially with many conflicting
demands, needs, and agendas. This becomes a greater problem on a large
scale project like this one; and it is not often immediately clear where to
draw the line. Diplomacy and continued communication seems to be the key
(though, see next).
- There is a lot of overhead in communicating, and especially communicating
effectively. A speech writer would be useful, sometimes. We feel the crunch
between communicating and meeting vs. producing more as we move along, yet
neither is something we can quite let go.
- This is a tough project (and no, we're not nearly even giving up!)
Team Dynamics:
- Remains strong; there are the occasional (expected) discussions that tend
to digress from the agenda, but mostly kept within control and
professional. No personal issues so far. Availability of some members does
vary depending on background contingencies or other primary commitments.
Working group is doing fine, though.
Additional Comments:
None.
