Why IT Departments are Bad for IT Departments

I've worked in a lot ot IT shops. Some good, some bad, some very bad. At each, I notice a very curious phenomenon; everyone outside of IT thought the IT folks were arrogant boneheads.

Sometimes they had a point. But in every case that opinion could have been mitigated by some common sense on the part of the IT department.

Take one shop I recently worked at. It was a pretty large IT department, with managers galore, an employee for just about everything, and dozens of consultants and contractors to do the things the managers didn't trust the staff to do. As you can probably tell, we're already getting into hot water. When a department has such a large headcount, especially in these economic times, other departments begin to wonder what they're getting for the money? And if IT has so many people, why do they still need contractors for everything? Why not just teach the staff to do things, and use the staff?

It all hinges, in large part, to the nature of managers in most IT shops. In the old days, your boss could do your job. That's how he got to be boss, by doing your job so well he got promoted to being in charge of other people doing the same job.

Not anymore.

Somehow administrators became in charge. In the place I worked, my immediate supervisor had minimal IT skills (i.e. he could get his laptop turned on without a call to the Help Desk), and the Department Director had absolutely none. Case in point, I was in a meeting with the Director a full year after I had been hired, when she told me she didn't realize I wasn't a programmer, and she wouldn't have hired me if she had known. I was dumbfounded. I was the Web Manager, hired after an extensive and expensive search for someone with just my particular set of skills. The business hadn't been able to successfully redesign their Web site in five years, so they went on a vast manhunt to find someone who designed portals for a living. I made it very clear I wasn't a backend guy, and the hiring committee (committee!) was ok with that; they had plenty of programmers who would be working for me. To find out after all that - and a year into my employment to boot - that the IT Department Director had no idea what I did...well...that sort of thing shows.

It was no wonder that the other departments felt the IT department was a waste of money. From their point of view, it was.

Although that, admittedly, was an extreme case, similar things are common. Businesses realize that IT is needed in the same way that a car needs fuel, but they don't realize that done right, IT can be so much more. An IT department shouldn't be a complete and seperate entity from other parts of a business. It should be integrated. Managers should have both IT and business experience so that they can do more than push around papers and resources, they can act as real thought leaders, finding the right technology to match with a real business need. Help Desks will always bee needed, but an IT shop shouldn't JUST be a Help Desk. It's an additional way of accomplishing the goals of the business, using a very specific set of skills and experience.

The Art of Managing IT

THE ART OF (MANAGING) IT
By
Christopher O’Kennon

Over two thousand years have passed since Sun Tzu wrote “The Art of War,” arguably the war-monger’s bible. Sun Tzu wrote down simple strategic truths in order to clearly define how war must be fought if it is to be won. Because, as we all know, even the most obvious of strategies can be overlooked. Especially if they’re written in Chinese.
Sun Tzu’s observations were so practical that extrapolations have been used for everything from managing employees to opening flower shops. He was, after all, stating the obvious. As I read through the Art of War, I began to realize another area where Sun Tzu’s work could be applied: Managing an Information Technology shop. It may not be exactly the same as waging war on the Huns, but given enough Mountain Dew, it’s mighty darn close.
So, with a nod to Sun Tzu, here are my equally obvious observations on managing IT in just about any business or government agency. Except I’m not writing it in Chinese. Feel free to translate.
Sun Tzu said:
“There are six situations that cause an army to fail. They are: flight, insubordination, fall, collapse, disorganization, and rout. None of these disasters can be attributed to natural and geographic causes, but to the fault of the general.”
An IT shop, just like an army, needs a good and functional command system. It takes more than having talented employees, it requires leadership that is able to pony up to the bar and get the job done. Slapping a title on someone and thrusting them into fire is no more effective in leading employees than it is in leading battle. A leader must know how to lead.
Sun Tzu addresses these points, of course, and so will I.
Decentralization People have the authority needed to achieve objectives, except for that which is expressly forbidden. This reduces the need for micromanagement and complex control structures, and frees the time of managers at all levels. Every leader commands his own unit, and every employee knows where his orders are coming from. This is especially important in this day and age, with terrorism and homeland security so much in sight. Take out the head and the body falls, take out the body and the head falls. This is the biggest vulnerability to the trend to centralize IT to the nth degree. A single point of failure that can cripple a state or a business. Spread it out, and it becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Freedom
Freedom to function must be delegated through the entire chain of command. Often the breakdown comes in the middle manager level, as middle managers become obsessed with their own feelings of power, and refuse to allow freedom to their subordinates. This isn’t to say middle managers should be removed, although at budget crunch time this is often tempting. Just make sure the middle managers are as well trained as other employees and familiar with what is expected of them.
Information Processing
When senior managers give up control, they must also give up a certain degree of information flow. If they insist on knowing every bit of information available, subordinates will be too busy creating reports to properly get anything done. Senior management’s job is not to approve the use of every nail and each line of code, but to enhance the speed of the work.
Stability
People relationships and informal systems give stability to the structure of the command system. Despite their faults, “good ol’ boy networks” and “back room bargaining” exist for a reason; they work. Not to say you should standardize your business model around these systems, but water cooler discussions often instill a sense of tradition, continuity, and permanence in the workplace. In IT shops where many employees are the equivalent of migrant labor, such stable foundations are important. Which leads to the next point, mutual trust.
Mutual Trust
Long-standing relationships create strong mutual trust. The Human Resource system that brings in new employees should be designed to create familiarity and bonding which is so important in mutual trust. Just as in war, in an IT shop – or any business – you want the person watching your back to be someone you trust to do the job.
A Willingness to Assume Responsibility
A decentralized command system leaves much to the discretion of the individual managers, and puts responsibility equally on their shoulders. Authority must be delegated. This not only serves to make a more flexible organization, but it allows employees throughout the command structure to experience ownership of their departments or units. Such ownership creates loyalty that money can not buy. Or at least not cheaply.
The Right and Duty of Subordinate Commanders to Make Decisions and Carry Them Out
Managers at all levels must be able to utilize their resources in whatever manner they feel is appropriate to achieve their objectives. If they must continuously worry about covering their butts or getting approval for every aspect of every duty, the system will rapidly become clogged with paperwork and doubt. A general can’t be on every battlefield, and a senior manager can’t have his hands in every piece of code and every minor problem.
Expect the Unpredictable
Expect that plans will fail, preparations will break down, scope will creep, and when you least expect it your primary and redundant systems will become engorged with grasshoppers. As the t-shirt says, “Expletive Happens.” Don’t try to overcome confusion by pausing to regroup after each breakdown. Instead keep everyone marching in the right direction. A properly trained team will land on their feet, even if they have to get there from their backs.
Training
Every manager manages the training of his or her employees. The manager doesn’t have to personally train, but they have to ensure that training is taking place. The better trained, the more likely an employee is to remain upright when adversity slams into them. Like any group of professionals, IT employees are constantly learning new things in their fields. They enjoy the challenge. If you, as a manager, can ensure them that they will receive the training they need and want, they will be far less likely to desert for a tastier position.

The choice is yours. You can manage your IT shop like a well-trained wall of marching power, or like a third grade field-trip to a candy factory. Just don’t say you weren’t warned; you were. Over two thousand years ago.


-END-