No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 1

Issue 16 | 2015

CIO Message

Welcome to 2016!

It’s great to be back after finishing 2015 on such a high note with our family picnic. Thanks to all who

attended.

It was very encouraging to see so many of you return from holidays ready to hit the ground running and

enthusiastic about delivering on our many projects for the year, including Transport Equip, which continues

to build in momentum every day.

Many of you have been working to support the relocation of staff to refurbished offices in Parramatta,

Rozelle and Ennis Road, as well as Roads and Maritime’s broader move into Activity Based Working

(ABW).

These office relocations are complex undertakings, which involve shifting 1000 employees to new

workplaces and ensuring their personal technology travels with them – without disrupting the agency’s

critical operations. Congratulations to all of you who helped make the recent moves such a success.

The move to ABW is a significant change in how we work, but it also signals a wider cultural shift within the

agency toward greater sharing, collaboration and openness in general.

Nothing illustrates this idea better than our recent efforts in the area of Knowledge Management, where we

are simplifying how we capture, store and share knowledge to improve collaboration. Please read our in-

depth article on page 4 to learn more.

US President John F Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life.” This is certainly a time of great change

for our organisation. Most of us, myself included, sometimes find it a challenge to accept and manage

change. So be sure to check out our ‘7 tips for dealing with change’ on page 5. Even if you consider

yourself a person who’s receptive to new things, you’re bound to find helpful advice you can use in your

day-to-day work – and hopefully in your life outside of the office, too.

Joe

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased constantly, or it vanishes. Peter Drucker Management consultant, educator & author

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 2

Calendar Events

Star team members

IM&IT use WooBoard to recognise individuals who deserve a pat on the back for outstanding work! This

month we recognise the people who are living the IM&IT team norms!

Top Sender # of Woos Sent Summary

Kevin Dulson 22 woos sent Kevin was on a roll last month sending woos to colleagues and

recognising them for collaboration, quality conversations and

solutions.

Hugo Ribeiro 14 woos sent Hugo was also busy recognising his colleagues for their knowledge

sharing, collaboration and problem solving

Top Receiver # of Woos received Summary

Linda Martin

7 woos received for

being Calm and

purposeful, collaboration,

solutions, and ownership

and action

Linda was recognised by her colleagues for her great work in

resolving MAIP defects and being very helpful to her colleagues.

Sheldon

Easterbrook

7 woos received for being

calm and

purposeful, collaboration,

quality conversations and

solutions.

Sheldon was recognised for assisting his colleagues in resolving

complex issues and for being a great SME and mentor.

Padmakumara

Matarage

6 woos received for his

collaboration and

solutions

Padmakumara was recognised by his colleagues for always being

helpful and providing quick solutions.

24 February IM&IT New Year Launch 8:30 am for a

9:00 am start, Parramatta RSL.

14 March Equip Release 1.1 – HR, Payroll and

Taleo.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 3

Around the Office

Activity based working arrives at Rozelle

Activity-based working (ABW) officially opened at

RMS Rozelle last month and staff were welcomed

to their new environment with a busy orientation

period of educational and extra-curricular events.

A total of 240 staff were inducted and familiarised

with the new-look Rozelle, over a period of six

working days. Several project teams brought the

IT environment successfully into play. In addition

to the ABW team, headed up by Steve Gerzabek,

key project teams also included the Maritime

Integration Program, managed by Nick

Michalopoulos and Windows 7, managed by Andy

Roberts.

Contributing highly to the success of the roll out

was the strong, collaborative relationship between

Corporate Programs, Tracy Webber and Penny

Raffaele and Project Director, Jim Katehos with

the IM&IT Teams, as well as the IT concierge

service.

Faster, modernised technology and ergonomic

office design has been successfully deployed in

Rozelle, with specialised training ongoing, as we

continue to familiarise staff and respond to

feedback about the look and feel of the new

workplace and its tools.

The IT is designed to support and enable the

environment and includes state of the art Shoc

room technology, video conferencing, Evoko

meeting rooms, smart whiteboards, wireless

presentation, Follow me Print, Windows7 and

Softphones.

Thanks to this improved technology, an example

of which being the Follow Me Printing solution,

RMS is now a ‘Greener’ environment and will see

increasing savings by avoiding excess printing and

paper costs, as the new printing system is taken

up at Rozelle.

Thanks to all of the IM&IT staff involved: Sherry

Hawkins, Anirudh Sud, Daniel Marinas, Duane

Dempster, Dev Babu, Jamie Lovick, Madi

Gunasekera, Raj Hedge, Jithendra Kumar Sai,

Dani Malone, Shweta Sharma, Mark Burgess,

Victoria Lapteva, Hamish Salburg, Phyllys Naidu,

Douglas Ramsay, Vanita Bhat, Vas Hairis, Chris

Diamantopoulos, Ferdinand Matillano, Danny

Tsang, Fiona Felstead, Matthew Parsons, Fabrizio

Latin, Tim Anderson, Jude Dias and Elias Helou.

For more information about this exciting time at RMS at

Rozelle, please visit the IM&IT Intranet page:

http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/on_the

_move/rozelle/it_training_hub.html

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 4

Attention all basketballers!

Are you the next Lebron James or Andrew Bogut?

Calling all you Ballers out there – RMS tolling has

a basketball squad you can join. Come and shoot

some hoops with us!

Objective Training

The Q1 training schedule for Objective is now

available. If you’re interested please get your

Manager’s approval. More info can be found at

this link:

http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/news/index.html#o

bjective_training_150116

Rozelle Shuttle Bus

A special bus service is available for staff working

at the Rozelle offices, with pickup and drop-off

points located near Wynyard and Central railway

stations.

For more information, including timetables, visit:

http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincor

p/on_the_move/documents/qrg_rozelle_buses.

pdf

Knowledge Management in IM&IT

Why would we store our knowledge in a bank of

really interesting stuff?

A truly effective knowledge management practice

is one that breaks with current support and

development strategies and enables organisations

to deliver greater value with more efficiency. The

secret? Capturing and sharing our most important

asset – our knowledge.

This means we don’t reinvent the wheel each time

we face a new issue. Instead, we have a central

source of truth and great advice at our fingertips,

enabling us to easily see how others have

resolved or addressed similar issues in the past.

It also means we need to contribute by sharing our

knowledge when we have resolved a ‘new’ issue,

so everyone can reap the benefit of our

experience.

We know the information is there, somewhere, or

we know the ‘go to people’ to solve it. But those

people take holidays or, worse, leave the

organisation and take all their knowledge with

them. The other major waste of time is searching

endless databases and sites looking for the

information.

Successful knowledge management requires a

cultural and perspective shift to view knowledge as

an asset owned and maintained by the team, not

by an individual or a small group of dedicated

content creators. Once this breakthrough in

thinking is achieved, teams have a new focus: to

capture and improve the collective knowledge –

not only to solve individual customer issues, but

also to improve learning for everyone.

Many organisations across Australia that have

standardised their knowledge management report

dramatic improvements in operational efficiency,

training times, in customer satisfaction and in job

satisfaction. According to the Consortium of

Service Innovation, the benefit these organisations

realised include:

50 per cent to 60 per cent improved time to resolving enquiries and common problems / bugs

Improved employee retention by 20 per cent to 35 percent

Improved employee job satisfaction by 20 per cent to 40 per cent by reducing rework and simplifying knowledge retention.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 5

Joe Attanasio has endorsed a program to

standardise our knowledge practice across IM&IT.

In Dec 2015, we formed a working group with

representation from all sections.

The main objective is to drive the standardisation

and deployment of knowledge management

across IM&IT to simplify how we capture, store,

share and reuse knowledge, reducing rework and

improving collaboration across the business unit.

The working group objectives are to:

1. Establish an IM&IT knowledge management baseline.

2. Organise and consolidate knowledge stores across IM&IT.

3. Prioritise knowledge entry based on operational and strategic priority.

4. Standardise a knowledge quality measure and provide feedback to continually improve creation of knowledge.

5. Establish a “train the trainer” schedule and deploy standard knowledge processes.

6. Train participants on how to capture, maintain and reuse knowledge.

7. Establish weekly entries (at minimum) into a knowledge repository that is based on defined standards, ensuring that knowledge is captured as a by-product of almost everything we do.

If you or your team would like to be involved or

would like further details on the knowledge

management initiative, please contact Sebastian

Michalak from the Service Management Team.

Transport Equip – 5 weeks to go Live!

As you may be aware we are preparing for the implementation of Transport Equip for HR functions on Monday 14 March, there a number of key dates and activities we should be aware of, Please see below for more info. http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/erp/documents/rms_equip_cutover_instructions.pdf for details.

An on boarding freeze is the first business ready

activity coming up. For key dates and activities

over the next five weeks and more information on

Transport Equip, please visit

http://home.rta.nsw.gov.au/org/structure/fincorp/er

p/index.html.

Handy Tips

Seven tips for dealing with change

Dealing with change isn't always easy. It can be

uncomfortable, stressful or even scary at times.

But the good news is there are things you can do

to make coping with life changes a little easier.

1. Recognise the worst

Understanding a change is the important first step

to managing it. We're usually scared of change

because we’re afraid of the unknown. Try to figure

out if the worst that can happen is actually as bad

as what you think can happen. Learning about the

details of the change can help things feel easier.

Remember how scary the idea of starting high

school or learning to drive once was? Sometimes

it's not as bad as it may seem at first, and it just

takes a little time to get used to.

2. Ask yourself how much you can control

When a big change happens, figure out how if it's

something you have control over, and how much

control you have. Understanding your role and

how much you are able to change can sometimes

help you to put things in perspective. For example,

if you've just moved out of home, there are many

things you can do to make it an easier process –

choosing a good place to live, filling it with items of

your choice, obtaining a job that covers your

regular bills, etc. Other changes, like unexpected

sickness, are much harder to control – and a far

greater source of stress.

3. Celebrate the positives

Focusing on the positives can help you feel better

about the change overall. The positives in your

situation might not be completely obvious to begin

with, and it might take some time to realise they

are even there, but it’s worth it. For example, if

you’ve moved recently, you might be away from

your friends, but it's also a great way to learn how

to be more independent. In time, you might also

find a new group of friends to keep you company.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 6

4. Take action

If the unwanted change is within your control,

taking an active approach to coping has been

shown to be useful. Try engaging in problem-

solving or goal-setting to proactively address

unwanted developments. Focusing on the problem

at hand, developing a plan of action and asking for

advice are useful active strategies.

5. Accept and reframe

If the unwanted change is beyond your control,

taking a reflective approach may be the way to go.

Accepting that there are things beyond your

control and choosing to be comfortable with this is

more likely to bring you calm than playing the

blame game or waging unwinnable wars. Viewing

change as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather

than a setback, can help you turn that frown

upside down!

6. Manage your stress

There are many techniques you can use to

improve your ability to handle stress. Finding the

one that works best for you can go a long way

improve how you deal with change. Try practicing

mindfulness or engaging in other relaxation

techniques.

7. Seek support

Changes come in all different sizes. It’s perfectly

normal to feel overwhelmed if there is too much

happening at once. This is why the best approach

is sometimes to seek support. Consider talking to

friends or family for advice or emotional support,

or by investigating options for professional help.

Whether you’re coping with a Game of Thrones

season ending or dealing with something more

serious, there are always others in similar

situations and professionals available to help.

Transformational Leadership

What is Transformational Leadership?

Leadership expert James McGregor Burns

introduced the concept of transformational

leadership in his 1978 book, Leadership. Burns

defines transformational leadership as a process

where "leaders and their followers raise one

another to higher levels of morality and

motivation”.

Bernard M Bass later developed the concept of

transformational leadership further, this kind of

leader:

Is a model of integrity and fairness

Sets clear goals

Has high expectations

Encourages others

Provides support and recognition

Stirs the emotions of people

Gets people to look beyond their self-

interest

Inspires people to reach for the

improbable.

Did you know- Octagon Building? For those who have just moved to the Octagon building, there is a large dining room located on L3 in pod E that can also be used for a breakout area where you can have lunch or catch up with colleagues. There are two showers located on Upper Basement and one shower is on L5 at the Phillip Street side of the building.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 7

Feature Article

3 Myths that kill strategic planning

In its simplest form, strategic thinking is about

deciding which opportunities deserve your time,

people or money, and which opportunities deserve

to starve. Michael Porter said it like this: “The

essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”

At the highest level, this usually means deciding to

sell off one company in order to buy another one.

More often, it simply means deciding to move

some initiatives to the back burner in order to

concentrate the bulk of your resources in a single

key area. Yet, three pervasive myths continue to

make strategic thinking an elusive skill set in

today’s organisations.

Myth 1: Productivity is the goal

Productivity is about getting things done. Strategic

thinking is about getting the right things done well.

The corollary of that truth is that strategy requires

leaving some things undone, which stirs up a

potent cocktail of unpleasant emotions.

When you leave projects undone or only half-

completed, you must sacrifice that feeling of

confidence and control that comes from pursuing a

concrete goal. You will have to fight through the

universal psychological phenomenon of loss

aversion that results from saying goodbye to a

cherished project in which you have already

poured heaps of time and money. You will also

have to deal with the social pain and feelings of

rejection that come from telling some people on

your team that their big idea or entire functional

area has been demoted in favour of something

else more valuable.

The problem is that productivity is strategically

agnostic. Producing volume is not the same as

pursuing excellence. Without a strategy,

productivity is meaningless.

Myth 2: The leader’s job is to identify what’s

“important”

Here’s a quick exercise: Make a list of every

project and initiative your team is working on right

now. When you finish the list, draw a line through

all of the things that are not important. If you’re like

99 per cent of teams, not one project on your list

will get crossed out.

Why? Because every project your team is working

on is “important” to someone, somehow. They can

all be assessed as “adding value” in some way,

and that is why debating about what’s important is

futile. Strategic thinkers must decide where to

focus, not merely what’s “important”. Strategic

leaders must consciously table some “important”

projects or ignore some “important” opportunities.

Myth 3: Strategic thinking is only about

thinking

Strategic leadership is not a math problem or a

thought experiment. Ultimately, strategic thoughts

must lead to strategic actions. Thorough

cost/benefit analyses replete with mesmerising

forecasts, tantalizing linear trends and 63-tab

spreadsheets beautiful enough to make a newly

minted MBA weep with joy are utterly useless

without an actionable decision. Despite

uncertainty, complexity and the ever-present

possibility of failure, a strategic leader must

eventually step up and make the call about what

the team will and will NOT focus on.

Top read more about this article please visit this

link: https://hbr.org/2014/05/3-myths-that-kill-

strategic-planning

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 8

Issue 16 | 2015

Getting to know you

In this edition, we introduce a whole team that have been transitioned to IM&IT, the Journey

Information & Integration team. They provide data integration and management, as well as the

business intelligence capabilities that Roads and Maritime is looking to grow and provide across

the agency as a core Information Management capability.

Position: Information Design Officer (BI/DW Information Architect)

What motivates you to come to work? I like working with people.

What is something that people do not normally know about you? I can cook Chinese dishes.

What do you in your spare time? Riding road bike on M7.

Position: Senior Data Quality Officer

What motivates you to come to work? Tackling complex and challenging problems motivates

me.

What is something people don’t know about you? I am a keen sportsman and a music lover. I

always strive to become better at any sport by observing, learning and practicing hard. Leading a

team of people always give me a sense of responsibility and pushes me to lead by example.

William Chan

Amit Singh

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 9

What do you in your spare time? Spend time with my family, play cricket and guitar. Getting

exposure to – and hands on – new technologies keeps me involved.

Position: Senior Information Officer

What motivates you to come to work? Trying to solve challenging tasks.

What is something people don’t know about you? I’m an orange belt in Go Kan Ryu karate.

What do you in your spare time? Spend time with my family and train for karate.

. Position: Information and Systems Integration Officer

What motivates you to come to work? Sharing my experience and resolving challenges.

What is something people don’t know about you? I like to visit the jungle and watch the wild

animals.

What do you in your spare time? Photography.

Jeremy Bryant

Ramachandran Ramakrishnan

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 10

Position: Manager, Information and Integration

What motivates you to come to work? Getting paid to play with information and technology –

something I do for free at home.

What is something people don’t know about you? I have done over 1000 dives as a PADI

scuba instructor. This picture of me from 1995 will scare you:

http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1575&context=campusnews&#search=%22Denni

s%20Entriken%22

What do you in your spare time? Family, golf, StarCraft, poker guitar and scuba diving.

Dennis Entriken

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 11

IM&IT staff photography

Thanks to Francis Lotho for the pics at Watsons Bay and the Rocks!

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 12

Issue 16 | 2015

Recipes to keep you running

BACON AND CHEESE QUICHE

INGREDIENTS Pastry:

1 2/3 cups plain flour

125g butter, cubed

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

Filling:

2/3 cup sour cream

3 eggs and 1 egg yolk

Pinch of grated nutmeg

1 cup sliced ham or bacon

1½ cups grated Swiss cheese

METHOD

1. Grease a 26cm spring form baking tin. Preheat

oven to 180°C.

2. In a bowl, knead flour, butter, salt, egg yolk and

2 tbsp water into a smooth dough. Shape this into

a ball, wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface

to line the tin.

4. Prick pastry base several times with a fork,

cover with baking paper and dried beans and

bake for 12 minutes. Remove baking paper and

beans and cook base for a further 45 minutes.

Allow to slightly cool.

5. To make the filling, combine sour cream with

eggs, egg yolk, nutmeg, pepper and a little salt.

6. Cut ham into strips and spread over the pastry

base with the cheese. Pour in egg mixture.

7. Bake for 25–35 minutes. Cover top with foil if it

browns too quickly. Allow quiche to cool in the tin

for 5 minutes before serving.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 13

Issue 16 | 2015

PLUM AND WHITE CHOCOLATE

DESSERT CAKE

INGREDIENTS

6-8 plums, halved and stone removed

3 tablespoons light butter or margarine

1/3 cup caster sugar plus extra tablespoon

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

1/3 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup self-raising flour

100g white cooking chocolate, chopped

Cream to serve

Icing sugar for dusting

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23cm

round cake tin.

Whisk together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla

and buttermilk and beat well.

Fold through flour until batter is smooth, then pour

into prepared cake tin.

Arrange plum portions onto cake batter then

scatter with chopped chocolate. Sprinkle with

extra tablespoon of caster sugar and bake for 25-

30 minutes or until cooked.

Cool to room temperature then serve on dessert

plates with a dollop of cream and a dusting of

icing sugar.

No Limits Newsletter | Issue 17 | Page 14

Fun stuff! Six Villages - Good luck! - There are some very cluey people out there in IM&IT, so we have found a puzzle

that will hopefully give you a challenge!

There are six villages along the coast of the only perfectly round island in the known universe. The villages

are evenly distributed along the coastline so that the distance between any two neighbouring coastal

villages is always the same. There is an absolutely straight path through the jungle connecting every pair of

villages. These paths create thirteen crossings in the interior of the island, one of which is in the middle of

the island where paths from every village meet.

The island has a strange courtship custom. Before a father will give permission for his daughter to marry,

her suitor must bring the father a fish each day until he has travelled by every route from his village to the

father's village. The young man only travels along routes where he is always getting closer to his

destination. The young man may visit other villages along the way.

On April first a father's three sons come to tell him of their intent to woe a bride, each from a different

village. The brides' villages are the first three villages encountered when travelling clockwise around the

island.

If the sons begin their courtship today and the couples are married on the day following each son's last trip,

what are the three wedding dates?

Bonus Question: If the coastline of the island is 10 miles long, how long is the longest route that any of the

sons takes to reach their fiancé's village?