This week in links - week 4, 2009

The way people think about work has remained fairly static for most of the 20th century and into the next.  Sociologists say that the concept of work/life balance comes from a world where separation was necessary; work was a dull, necessary evil to support goals that society established for a "normal lifestyle. Today's workers want to merge their passions and profession.  We should choose where we work with an "opt-in" mentality and opt-out just as easily.  Isn't that what at-will employment means?  But what company is ready to foster this type of open culture?
Staff levels must go down....could decimate an already-pressed IT staff, unless measures are taken to automate and virtualize more functions.

Telecommuting must increase. It's time to end IT's resistance to remote staffing. The benefits and savings that telecommuting brings to companies are becoming too compelling to dismiss.

Mobile communications must improve...With telecommuting on the rise, maintaining effective and secure mobile links will be an important element of streamlining IT.

Data management and storage must take center stage....save expenses in a number of ways, including on data center energy costs. 

Service use must become more strategic...cloud computing has become a solid alternative for many applications that formerly required costly in-house hosting. 

IT must go green...There are so many ways to save money on energy that there's no excuse not to investigate the opportunities more closely...You might even save enough to keep someone's job.

IT must cultivate new Web-based approaches...as lines of business adopt social networking for marketing, IT must be flexible and open-minded enough to go with the flow
Some companies are cutting their IT budgets in response to the recession, while others are focusing on smart spending to be ready for the recovery.

Think small, quick, and impactful. That's the current mind-set of CIOs when it comes to IT spending and project planning amid the ongoing economic uncertainty.

Even as the focus shifts to IT strategies for quick ROI, companies can't chuck their long-term plans.

The pressure is on IT to help companies cut costs, even more than it is to slash IT's own spending. 
Finally, a quote by Reid Hastie, Professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, that I came across at the Signal vs. Noise blog by 37 Signals:
"It is certain that every organization has too many meetings, and far too many poorly designed ones. The main reason we don’t make meetings more productive is that we don’t value our time properly. The people who call meetings and those who attend them are not thinking about time as their most valuable resource."

Oscar BergCloud Computing, Strategy