staceydouglas.com

Who is Stacey Douglas? 

I am an IT and business consultant by profession. I analyze business and technology processes and design solutions to improve them.  What sets me apart from traditional business analysts is that I am a translator. I know the detailed nuts and bolts of technology from programming to systems administration to networking to quality assurance. I have worked in and have expertise in all major operational functions of modern IT. I also know and understand business and management process. My family has been in management all my life; I was raised in management theory and understood business long before I ever considered IT as a career. I believe technology is there to make people’s jobs easier and faster. If it is not easy to understand, implement, and use, it is not contributing to your bottom line.

The number one thing I have learned in my career is that anything is a bad idea if it is planned poorly enough. Someone stopping you in the street and handing you a million dollars can go terribly wrong if not handled well.  Hollywood has made movies about just how bad that can go.  Look at the track history of most lottery winners to see this in action.

Bringing good technology to your company is not good enough. You need a plan, you need adoption, you need users to understand and welcome your project, and you need for business to continue as usual while new products are being developed and implemented. If something saves your employees two hours a day, but it chews up four hours a day for weeks because of problems with implementation- poor training, communication, execution- how long will it be before you actually break even on the project? How much business will you be behind when you finally get it running smoothly in your operation? These are problems I understand and can help with.

The best way to have great people in your company is to educate the good people you have. Train them not only in hard skills, but soft skills and management principles like I have mentioned above. Teach them about what your company cares about and your management values. Do not just train them what to do, but teach them why what they are doing matters and what role it plays in the big picture. Your employees should not want to be managers in your company- they should want to be leaders. They should not want to have a good job, they should want to be a good team member. They should care about what they are doing. I believe in working with people to help them understand their place in the team, in the company’s Big Picture, and to look forward to what they want their role in that picture to be someday- and then help them learn the skills they need to get there.

A Writer, Artist, and a Curious and Creative Person

In spite of all of this talk of business and technology, I do of course have a life outside my career. Some of my hobbies include:

• Writing short stories and fiction

• Screenwriter for local-market television shows

• Game designer and avid player

• Painting, drawing, sketchwork

• Graphic Design

• Restoring antiques

• Woodworking and furniture making

• Photography

• Books and online media

•  Sports

• Travel

• Good food

• Outdoors

• Classic cars

• Creative people

I also participate in a wide range of forums and creative ventures online that allow me to be involved with creative and innovative people- independent artists, developers, podcasters, television writers, craftsmen of all types. I find nothing more inspiring than creative people attempting to find new ways to get their creations out there in the world and finding new ways to use technology to help them.