A buddy of mine sent an email one day and asked if I'd be interested in working for the Church. Sounded intriguing, but I frankly had no idea of the scale of the Church's operation.
Think about it, though. The LDS Church:
- uses a global satellite system to broadcast general conference translated into hundreds of languages.
- has web sites which service almost 5 millions users per month with over 40 million unique page views per month.
- builds and services thousands of chapels and hundreds of temples all over the world.
- has a large-scale welfare operation which manufacturers, packages, inventories, and distributes goods all over the world and which mobilizes massive relief operations in emergencies.
- keeps track of, supports and distributes the Gospel message for over 12 million members.
- has an employee base and mission-critical systems to support the varied Church functions: missionary and temple work, priesthood leadership, tax, finance, investments, printing, translation & distribution of content, collection of tithes, employee travel, human resources, and many more.
In short the Church is more than just a Church; it's an enterprise. But it's an enterprise with inspired leaders, with employees who are faithful members, and with an extended work force of millions of members who are willing to contribute their time, talents and money to the Church.
I met Eric Denna, who was then the CIO, and others and was intrigued, but I wasn't ready: maybe some day.
After working for Microsoft in Redmond, WA for almost 11 years, our family moved to Utah ostensibly so that we could be closer to extended family, but actually so that we wouldn't have to take all of our vacations in Utah.
The Church called again and asked if I was interested. I felt like our family had been blessed so much that we ought to try to give back. We were already living in Utah, and I was driving my wife crazy trying to figure out whether to start a software company or teach school.
You could have heard a pin drop when I told my friends back at Microsoft that I was going to work at "my Church."
"Huh? Does your chapel have a server or something?"
"Wow. How much do they pay?"
"So are you maximizing profits or prophets?"
"Who's your competition?"
And so on. I had decided that it would be a fun challenge and an exciting opportunity to make a difference to an organization I care very deeply about.
So here I am.
In this blog, I'll talk about the technology we use at the Church, about what it's like to work at the Church and some random musings about this or that. I take responsibility for anything I say here.
I hope I can say something useful.
I'll definitely be paying attention as I'm interested in what you are doing.
ReplyDelete[Usually the name/email/website goes above the comment field. Is it formatted this way on purpose? Might be an interesting change.]
Thanks,
ReplyDeletekeep it comin... :)
Congratulations for starting a blog. I would be very interested in reading about your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a web developer for BYU Broadcasting for a while, and I was indeed amazed at how much traffic some of the websites get. Also, as a CS student, I am happy to see the Church's use of technology to reach even more people and fulfill its mission.
I've been thrilled to see the internal tech voice of the Church emerge through this blog and NorthTemple.com. I'm glad to see the Church is gathering talent to step everything up a notch or two.
ReplyDeleteSince I have your attention, I think online home teaching reporting would be cool. I developed a system for that once, but if integrated with a ward's website and the updates made in MLS in each unit, it would work even better.
I look forward to reading more from you.
Thank you very much for this blog. I worked for Microsoft from 1989 through 1993, a few years after I was baptised and right after my wife and I were sealed in the Arizona Temple. It was a huge culture change for me. I remember deciding to go to the Temple in Bellevue early one morning, for the first session, before work. Becuase of this, I just wore my suit and tie to work instead of going home to change. I didn't want to sound like I was bragging, so when my coworkers asked me why I was "dressed up," I just told them that I had a meeting that morning. Apparently, everyone was convinced that I had a job interview, so by lunch time I was summoned into my manager's office and interrogated. When I finally told him why I was dressed that way, I was told to never do that again. :-)
ReplyDeleteSince leaving Microsoft, I've been amazed at the professionalism and quality of the Church's technological offerings. In particular I'm awestruck at the quality of the web sites and the amazing variation of things you can find there. I've always wondered about who produces these things and how they accomplish what they accomplish. So I want to say "Thank You" again, both for this blog and for the amazing quality of the work you and all of your staff produce.
You're correct. The church is an enterprise and if there was any organization that should be held to a higher standard it should be that of the church. You have a big responsibility and a lot to clean up. You mention that there is an 'extended workforce of millions'... My question, how do you plan on "employing" the technical subset of that extended workforce to enable the rest to be more effective in their service? The church systems are closed, monolithic, and quite frankly unusable in many ways... I know you have thought of this but my question begs for more detail on how to create an LDS Platform whereby the technical subset can create a software ecosystem around it to empower each other... I think of the sociological and technical implications of the Web 2.0 (and beyond) trend and if there were ever a scenario where an organization could benefit from such a momentous shift, it would be the church. So, since you've put yourself out here (on the web in the blogosphere), it's accountability time... Are you the leader to take the church into the 21st century, and more importantly, is the church leadership willing to allow you to?
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments.. :D
ReplyDeleteNice site you have!
ReplyDelete