Dear Dx Team,

We've got a busy month ahead, and with so much going on in our division, I want to give you some updates directly.

Recognition & Gratitude 

I am pleased to announce that Cameron Jarman, Sr. Network Engineer, and Todd Harper, Associate Director of Data Collection & Assessment, have been awarded the 2022-23 Digital Transformation Divisional Awards of Excellence for full-time employees. This recognition is well-deserved; Cameron and Todd have created positive experiences, promoted an inclusive culture, taken responsibility, communicated clearly and candidly, maintained area expertise, and delivered delightful experiences. I am extremely proud of them and grateful to have such dedicated and hardworking employees on our team. 

I would also like to express my gratitude to Megan Densley, who has accepted a position in the senior leadership of Institutional Advancement. We are sad to see her go but happy that she has accepted this wonderful opportunity to serve and lead elsewhere in the university. I am proud of her and know that she will continue to transform and improve UVU wherever she is.

Celebration 

We recently experienced a wide-spread and sustained outage, and I want to take a moment to celebrate and recognize all the responsible and proactive individuals who helped to resolve the issue. I am impressed with the diligence and responsiveness of the team as they worked together to overcome the problems in their way. It couldn't have been done without you. Thank you for your dedication!

Reorganization

Thank you for your patience as we continue working through our reorganization. We are working diligently with directors and People & Culture to ensure that we get the structure right and that everyone is listed in their new positions. We will continue this process as we move into our new building. Going forward, we will strive to keep everyone more informed about the process and progress of the reorg. Please join us for regular “Brown Bag” lunch meetings which are an open Q&A forum. Our next meeting will be during the upcoming All-Hands on June 9.

The reorg has revealed several areas where positions need re-classification or re-alignment, as well as key positions that need to be filled. Watch https://www.schooljobs.com/careers/uvu/ for new opportunities that will open up. When positions are filled, we'll post them in Dx Org at appropriate times.

Prioritization

At the upcoming Dx All-Hands meeting on June 9, I will be sharing a presentation about the prioritized goals for Dx for the next year. I urge each person to attend. We must have this discussion before we set our individual goals for the upcoming year.

The Big Move

I am excited about the progress made as we move our division to the new building. A few of us had the opportunity to walk through the building recently, and this new space is fantastic! I want to extend a special thanks to Megan Densley, Pete Ozols, and the rest of the team for their incredible work in planning and coordinating this move.

While there is still a lot of work to be done, we are so close! Teams are scheduled to start moving June 2-6! Please continue to check the Dx Org - General channel in Teams for important updates and announcements regarding the move.

Rising to the Challenge

Dx is experiencing so many changes that it can be overwhelming at times; however, I know that we can successfully adapt and thrive in our new environment as we work together. We can become a more nimble and responsive organization that is better equipped to meet the evolving needs of the university.

We will need to be flexible and adaptable in the face of challenges and opportunities. We will need to take risks and try new things while remaining grounded in our core values and principles. And we will need to communicate openly and transparently with one another to stay informed and engaged in the process. Our focus will continue to be on providing exceptional service to the university community and advancing UVU's mission through our work.

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the mission of UVU. I am honored to be working alongside such a talented and committed group of professionals, and I am confident that we will rise to the challenge of the changes ahead. Please know that I am committed to working collaboratively with you to ensure a successful transition.

There's an old saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin that gets paraphrased so often it's hard to tell the actual origins of the idea: "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." Do you believe that? I do!

For decades I've used planners (both paper and electronic), task lists, and any other kind of system I could devise to plan my projects and tasks at any given time. My efforts have been pretty successful—I can get a lot done by organizing myself this way. But no matter what system I use, there always seems to be a dark side to my process; something else lurks behind the nice-looking list with lots of things checked off. It's the list of all the things I didn't get done—my procrastination list, my too-big-to-start now list, my "oh, I hope I get to that someday, because it could really be great" list. Often, they don't get done for one reason: failure to prepare!

While planning and preparation may seem similar, they play distinct roles in setting you up for success. It's easiest to show what I mean by listing some examples (blatantly stolen from the May 2023 ToDoist Newsletter).

Going to the gym:

• Planning is putting a gym session or class on your calendar.
• Preparation looks like laying out your clothes, filling your water bottle, and grabbing a towel beforehand.

Working on a project:

• Planning is setting aside an afternoon to focus on a work project.
• Preparation involves minimizing interruptions in advance and ensuring you have all the information you need to get started.

Eating less sugar:

• Planning is deciding to cut down on sugar intake for the next 30 days.
• Preparation means ridding your pantry of temptation and finding healthy alternatives for when cravings (inevitably) strike.

Spending quality time with your children:

• Planning is making a conscious decision to be more present with your kids.
• Preparation involves setting intentional boundaries around work and chores to ring-fence time to be with them. You could also search for "fun activities kids enjoy" and hope none involve glitter, paint, or permanent markers.

In his book Hiring Talent, Tom Foster said, "Planning is the intention of doing something; preparation is the intention of succeeding at that." The key difference lies in knowing what you want to do (the plan) and giving yourself the best chance of following through with that plan (the preparation). So how do you do that?

Sometimes it's as simple as adding prep time to your calendar—right before, the night before, or the week before you need to get your primary task done.

Sometimes, it's just putting all the things you need to do to prepare in your task list. Think the task through, top to bottom, to figure out what is actually required. Write it all down in your planner, finish each item, and check them off so that you know you are prepared.

I've learned that by preparing for my daunting tasks ahead of time, I feel much less resistance toward the task. It makes completing my primary task almost frictionless. The prep work is not the main event, but it sure makes the main event easier!

Consider embracing both planning and preparation as distinct and separate parts of your productivity process. Allow time for both. You'll be glad you did!