IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (5 page)

•
Will you “win some and lose some”? Absolutely.

The purpose of this book, however, is to help you succeed—and to help your company succeed. We want you, your IT department,
and
your company to work together as successfully as possible.

1.4 Developing an IT Strategy

The cosmic question “Why are we here?” applies to corporate departments as well. It is entirely possible that many, if not all, of your staff don’t have the full understanding of how the IT department serves the entire organization. When it comes to their job, they may understand what’s critical for
today
. But, although today is important, it’s also vital to know about tomorrow and beyond. If they’re only looking at the trees, you have to be the one to let them know about the forest. The strategy should include feedback from your employees and should be cleared by your boss, but you should drive its formulation.

Without an IT strategy, you won’t be able to align your long-term goals with your short-term responsibilities. You need to have these items decided and written down so that when your boss tells you to do X, your employee needs Y, and the other manager down the hall that helped you last week needs Z, you have a clear idea of which task should be addressed in which order.

Some companies have huge IT departments, with layers and layers of managers. Organizations of this size have formal IT strategies and sub-strategies. However, many smaller companies don’t have formal IT departments with managers, budgets, and expectations. Wherever you are on the size and formal structure spectrum, you should have a strategy. And you should write it down. Your strategy should include the following:

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Who are your team members and what can they do?

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Why or how is technology important to your organization?

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What are your assets?

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Who are your customers?

•
What are your customers’ needs?

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How do you plan to satisfy these needs?

Although this all sounds simple, it’s definitely not. Your customers may not even know what their IT needs are, for example. However, the very act of getting this in writing can be of great value. For more information on both the visible and the hidden benefits of documentation, see
Chapter 8, Security and Compliance
on
page 205
.

Determine Who Your Team Members Are

This also seems like a simple task—just list the people in your department. In fact, though, your team members may or may not be all the people on your staff. You may have someone on your staff who has part-time responsibilities to another department. This person is on your team, but you can’t count on having his or her time when you need it.

Alternatively, there may be people from other departments who aren’t on your payroll and report to some other branch of the organizational chart, but could be very useful to your department. They might call you when they hear about certain problems on the system, for example, or help you when someone in your department is out sick. They may have intimate knowledge of the
business applications
and could be in a better position than your team to do testing, understand the impact of changes, and how the application is used. These people aren’t in your budget and aren’t in your department, but they are on your team. See
Chapter 4, Project Management
on
page 103
for a discussion of how to work with, recruit, and “manage” people who are not directly under your supervision.

In addition to determining who the team members are, find out their skill sets and backgrounds. You may know a team member as a cable installer but he may have rudimentary .NET skills that the Applications Development team could use. She may be a sales manager who has some project management experience that could help you coordinate new phone system rollout.

Determine How Important Technology Is to Your Organization

The technology in use can vary tremendously from organization to organization. Originally, in a law firm, technology was used simply for word processing or for tracking client billings. Additionally, it could be used to scan and archive documents so that every single piece of paper related to a case is online where it can be indexed, cross-referenced, and immediately retrieved. But now, law firms are increasingly involved in technology through e-discovery, digital forensics, and lawsuits related to use of technology. In a retail organization, technology can be used for all the traditional back office activities (billing, purchasing, etc.) but probably serves its most vital function by helping the store managers know what products are generating the most sales and profits and which should be dropped from inventory. The store might also use it for space planning so that the shelves are stocked in a way that maximizes space usage, as well as sales and profitability. Customer lists and purchase history can be used to create customized marketing campaigns and increase sales.

Determine Who Your Customers Are and What Their Needs Are

Whether your customers are other employees, suppliers, consumers, or other businesses, they are the ones you need to serve. Find out who your customers are. Figure out what their needs are. Then spend your time addressing those needs. Issues to consider include the following:

•
Your customers are not necessarily
retail
customers (although they could be).
More likely, your customers are other internal departments in the company and your boss. Different jobs have different customers, and there are departments (such as Sales and Marketing) who should spend all day figuring out what their external customers need. IT, however, commonly serves other departments
within
the company, such as sales, marketing, accounting, and management.

•
Figure out what your customers’ needs are.
Are they products or services? Data and information? Reduced costs? Mobile services? Improved efficiency or productivity?

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Ask your customers directly about their needs.
Set up meetings with representatives from different departments, ask questions, note the answers, and change the way you’re doing business to reflect your customer needs and concerns.

Keep Your Department Central to the Company’s Operations

Make sure the strategy mentioned in the previous section is carefully aligned with the goals of the entire organization. This is critical. If the needs of your immediate boss are out of alignment with what the entire company is doing, you have a serious problem. (See the section
“Company Mission, Vision, and Values”
in
Chapter 2, Managing Your IT Team,
on
page 34
about the company’s mission.)

Let the rest of the organization know what you’re doing in IT. To many of the other department managers, IT may not mean much more than “the people at the Help Desk who can reset passwords.” Periodically, have a meeting with the other department heads. Let them know what you’re doing in IT, what you’ve accomplished, and what you plan to do. With a little luck, light bulbs will start going off. They may see uses for the technology that you hadn’t thought of. Get some good discussion going and you may learn a way to deliver a lot more value by modifying your plans slightly. See the section
“Sharing Information”
in
Chapter 10, Working with Users,
on
page 266
.

The reality is that in today’s corporate world, IT departments are by default in the middle of action. Everyone is aware of the values that computerization can bring to an enterprise. Wineries, toy shops, bookstores, and sandwich places now have sophisticated computerized inventory systems, customer service mechanisms, online ordering components, and pay by mobile phone capabilities. Information technology is everywhere. (For a more detailed discussion of this complex issue, see the section
“Consumerization of IT”
in
Chapter 10, Working with Users
on
page 271
and
Chapter 11, Connectivity: Social Media, Handhelds, and More
on
page 287
.
)

1.5 Leadership versus Management

Before you became a manager, the word “management” was probably the focus of your career path. Now that you’re a manager, “leadership” should be in your sights.

If you do a search on “leadership vs. management” you’ll find lots of definitions and examples. However, the common theme is that a manager is generally focused on daily operations and meeting deadlines and budgets, whereas a leader is more of a visionary and strategic planner, someone who can transform an organization, who inspires and motivates. From another perspective, managers are focused on the
short term
, whereas leaders are focused on the
long term
.
Table 1.2
describes the differences between leadership and management, and has been highly regarded as the definitive comparison for years

Table 1.2.
Comparing Leadership and Management

Source: Kotter, John P., A Force for Change, Free Press, 1990.

Of course, leadership and management are not mutually exclusive. Managers frequently have to show leadership in their roles, and leaders must have some management skills to ensure that their visions are realized. While there is an incredible volume of resources to help people become leaders, there are those for whom leadership comes naturally. Even at an early age some people show great capacity for leadership. Think about your own childhood: In all likelihood one of your friends (possibly even you) was the one the others followed (sometimes into trouble) and looked to—perhaps to decide how to spend a free day, resolve a dispute, or find the way out of a jam.

1.6 Starting Your New Job

Taking on new responsibility is always a little scary, but if your company promotes you to a manager’s role, you can take comfort in the familiar surroundings. You know the staff, you know the organization, you know the technical environment, and you know how things operate. Nonetheless, you have new sets of responsibilities, new expectations, and your relationships with others will change.

Changing companies
and
changing jobs, though, is a whole different animal. It immerses you in unfamiliar surroundings. Aside from the people who interviewed you, the only familiar things may be the technology products being used (and even some of those may not be too familiar).

As you first get settled, your boss will be looking for signs to confirm to him that he promoted or hired the right person. And you’ll be trying to determine if you made the right decision in your career path. Whether your new job is at a new company or not, it’s vital to start things properly.

The First Day

Even if you went through an extensive interview process, you probably spent less than eight hours talking with people at your new company, and most of that time was spent for them to learn about
you
. There was only a limited opportunity for you to learn about
them
. You’re hoping that your gut instinct about the company and its people have led you to the right choice. Your boss is hoping that the person he met on the interview, and to whom he extended the offer, is the same person who shows up for work.

Don’t be nervous. The first day in a new position isn’t all that different from the first day at a new school and trying to figure out the lay of the land. (Remember the tension of those days?) You’ve got every reason to be nervous, but keep it to yourself. You want to demonstrate confidence. In fact, in a manner not too different from the interview, you want to show a combination of confidence (but not cockiness), and experience (but not a know-it-all attitude), enthusiasm (but not giddiness). And, a little humility in showing that you don’t know everything, and welcoming help from others can go a long way. In short, it’s a good idea to try and maintain your interview persona, perhaps relaxed just a notch, when you first start a new job. And remember, you won’t be the only one who is a little nervous. Your staff is probably just as uneasy about getting a new boss.