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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Tech Planning</title><link>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/17.aspx</link><description>Discuss the essentials of tech planning. How to pay for it? Do you need to renew one?&lt;br /&gt;Hosted by &lt;a href="http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/user/Profile.aspx?UserID=38339"&gt;Kevin Lo&lt;/a&gt; of
TechSoup Global.</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Debug Build: 30619.63)</generator><item><title>RE: How do we get the fun stuff in our technology plan first?</title><link>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/25324.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">caa7681b-025a-49ce-809f-7435bfe4d232:25324</guid><dc:creator>Aniseh</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><comments>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/25324.aspx</comments><wfw:commentRss>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/commentrss.aspx?SectionID=17&amp;PostID=25324</wfw:commentRss><description>It&amp;#39;s often hard to balance the &amp;#39;fun stuff&amp;#39; (Internet connectivity, website building, DSL, etc.) with necessary items (network wiring and installation, new hardware, routers etc.) on your technology budget. Purchasing and implementing the fun things often affects employee morale in a positive way (because they can more readily SEE the improvements). The necessary things can sometimes be frustrating. The process of installing a new network and getting rid of the bugs may drive staff to revolt!&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;In most cases, though, installing the fun stuff first is a mistake. If you&amp;#39;re planning to spend limited resources on technology, you want to avoid as many pitfalls as possible.&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;You need to get all your &amp;#39;ducks in a row,&amp;#39; so to speak. Don&amp;#39;t rush the process, and make sure that you&amp;#39;re making improvements in a logical order. For example, if all staff want Internet access from their workstations, the first step is NOT to install DSL to one computer(although that is a tangible improvement), but instead to install a network and then install DSL, so that the connection can be shared by all staff. If you want a website, the logical first step might be to begin training of a staff member in web development so that site updates can be made regularly.&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;&lt;:LINEBREAK:&gt;Yes, the first steps may take some time and patience, but your results will be much better. You won&amp;#39;t regret it! See the &lt;a href="http://www.techsoup.org/sub_frame.cfm?sec=11&amp;amp;nav=tstopics" target="_blank"&gt;Technology Planning section&lt;/a&gt; for more ideas about the process of planning and prioritizing.</description></item><item><title>How do we get the fun stuff in our technology plan first?</title><link>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/41.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jan 2001 21:45:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">caa7681b-025a-49ce-809f-7435bfe4d232:41</guid><dc:creator>martin</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><comments>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/41.aspx</comments><wfw:commentRss>http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/commentrss.aspx?SectionID=17&amp;PostID=41</wfw:commentRss><description>How do we prioritize to get the fun stuff in the technology plan first?</description></item></channel></rss>