The IT Manager's Survival Guide

Accessible, refreshingly candid, but above all helpful, this pragmatic guide addresses a real need by dealing with the problems that face the new IT manager. By providing a number of practical recommendations and approaches including how to make the transition from technical professional to manager and dealing with people, to giving advice and guidance on organization structure, architecture and planning approaches, this book covers a whole raft of issues essential to managing an IT unit. If you have chosen to move from the safe haven of technology to the unpredictable world of management, this book could make the difference between success and failure. The IT Manager's Survival Guide is well named. Aimed at the techie becoming an IT Manager it covers the many alligators of IT management - from legacy systems to managing vendors - in easy chunks with checklists. It also provides the new manager with help to get ahead of the game by including articles from experts on what is wrong with IT management and a set of short reviews of management theorists from Strassman to Mayo. I recommend this book for those who would like to buck the trend - the average tenure of an IT Manager is about 900 days - and run an IT outfit appreciated by customers and staff. Gill Ringland, Fellow of the British Computer Society and Member of the BCS Management Forum. Author of Scenario Planning: Managing for the Future. The IT Manager's Survival Guide......Page 3 Contents......Page 9 Foreword......Page 17 Preface......Page 19 Acknowledgements......Page 21 1 Introduction......Page 23 BECOMING A MANAGER......Page 25 MANAGING RECRUITERS......Page 27 TIPS FOR QUICK-WINS......Page 28 BENCHMARKING......Page 29 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT......Page 30 STRUCTURING THE IT ORGANIZATION......Page 31 PART C MANAGEMENT THEORISTS......Page 32 PART A MANAGE YOUR WORLD......Page 35 CHANGING YOUR FRAME OF REFERENCE......Page 37 ACTIVITIES OF A MANAGER......Page 39 I’M GOOD AT SOME THINGS AND NOT SO GOOD AT OTHERS......Page 40 PEOPLE AND WORK......Page 42 CHECKLIST......Page 43 HERE’S HOW......Page 45 BENEFITS......Page 46 BUSINESS PROCESSES......Page 48 ORGANIZATION......Page 49 CHECKLIST......Page 51 BUILD A HUMAN RESOURCES DATABASE......Page 53 PROCESS......Page 54 CHECKLIST......Page 56 WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?......Page 57 THE MAJOR TASKS......Page 58 IDENTIFY FUTURE NEEDS......Page 60 IF YOU HAVE NO FUTURE PLANS......Page 61 DON’T OVERLOOK NON-TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES......Page 62 INCLUDE SUPPORT COMPETENCIES......Page 63 CHECKLIST......Page 64 DIY......Page 65 USE A SPECIALIST......Page 66 CHECKLIST......Page 68 THE COST OF RECRUITING......Page 70 BEFORE YOU LEAP......Page 71 RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGNS......Page 72 INDUCT NEW STAFF......Page 73 CHECKLIST......Page 74 THE BENEFITS......Page 76 SOME BACKGROUND......Page 79 CHANGE CONTROL......Page 83 DISPUTES......Page 84 CONCLUSION......Page 85 CHECKLIST......Page 86 THE TRADITIONAL IT STEERING COMMITTEE......Page 88 BENEFITS......Page 89 THE ROLE OF THE CORPORATE GOVERNORS OF IT......Page 90 BTOPP......Page 92 MEASURING THE 4 RS......Page 93 BUSINESS CASES AND GATES......Page 95 PROGRAMME-APPROVAL GATES......Page 96 THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE......Page 97 CHECKLIST......Page 98 WHAT ARE SLAS?......Page 100 BENEFITS......Page 101 SLAS FOR WHAT?......Page 102 THE FIRST TASK......Page 103 SCOPING THE SLAS......Page 104 DEFINING SLAS......Page 105 MOTIVATION......Page 107 MEASURING ACHIEVEMENT......Page 108 CHANGE......Page 109 TIPS......Page 110 CHECKLIST......Page 111 THE PROBLEM WITH HOT SPOTS......Page 113 CATEGORIZING HOT SPOTS......Page 115 OUTCOMES......Page 117 CHECKLIST......Page 119 BENEFITS......Page 122 APPROACH......Page 123 CHECKLIST......Page 124 THE FIRST PROBLEM......Page 126 THE FIRST TASK......Page 127 PATHWAYS TO REPLACEMENT......Page 129 BENEFITS......Page 130 LIFESPAN......Page 131 CHECKLIST......Page 132 WELL-MANAGED VENDORS......Page 133 HOW DO I DO IT?......Page 134 CONCLUSION......Page 138 CHECKLIST......Page 139 WHY IS MANAGING CONSULTANTS AN ISSUE?......Page 140 APPROACH......Page 141 CHECKLIST......Page 144 SOME COMMON WEAKNESSES IN BPR......Page 145 DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY......Page 146 SOME TIPS......Page 147 CHECKLIST......Page 148 THE BENEFITS OF GOOD BENCHMARKING......Page 149 OBTAINING AND SETTING BENCHMARKS......Page 150 MEASURING BUSINESS OUTPUTS......Page 151 SELECTING MEASURES......Page 152 TYPES OF MEASURES......Page 153 ISSUES WITH HELP DESK MEASURES......Page 156 STATISTICS, STATISTICS AND DAMN LIES......Page 157 WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?......Page 158 SUMMARY......Page 159 CHECKLIST......Page 160 ISSUES......Page 161 EFFECTS......Page 162 APPROACH......Page 163 CHECKLIST......Page 165 IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME......Page 166 WITH A DRP......Page 167 NEXT STEPS......Page 168 CHECKLIST......Page 169 NARROWLY FOCUSED CHANGE MANAGEMENT......Page 171 WELL-MANAGED CHANGE......Page 172 APPROACH......Page 173 CONDITIONS FOR CHANGE......Page 174 A FABLE......Page 175 CHECKLIST......Page 176 WHEN IT IS BAD . . .......Page 178 HOW DO I DO IT?......Page 179 CHECKLIST......Page 180 DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR......Page 182 MAKING PEOPLE AWARE OF THE OBSTACLES......Page 183 EXPLAIN WHY AND HOW MUCH!......Page 184 RATIONALIZE THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE......Page 186 THE DATA WAREHOUSE......Page 188 CHECKLIST......Page 190 I’LL TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME......Page 191 HOW DOES FORECASTING THE FUTURE HELP ME?......Page 192 SEMANTICS......Page 193 HOW DO I DO IT?......Page 194 TECHNIQUES......Page 195 TABLING YOUR FINDINGS......Page 198 READINGS ON STRATEGY......Page 199 CHECKLIST......Page 200 HOW DO WE USE ARCHITECTURES?......Page 201 BENEFITS......Page 202 USING THE ARCHITECTURES......Page 206 CHECKLIST......Page 207 THE BAD NEWS......Page 208 HOW MUCH WORK DO I HAVE TO DO?......Page 209 DISCOVERY ISSUES......Page 210 MAPPING YOUR DOMAIN AND SLAS......Page 211 THE DISCOVERY TEAM......Page 212 TECHNOLOGY DOMAIN ISSUES......Page 215 SUMMARY......Page 216 CHECKLIST......Page 217 THE PROBLEM......Page 220 THE SOUNDLY STRUCTURED ORGANIZATION......Page 221 THEORY......Page 222 APPROACH......Page 223 TIME-SPAN AND COMPLEXITY ANALYSIS......Page 224 AFFINITY ANALYSIS......Page 225 STRUCTURING......Page 226 FINALIZE ROLE DESCRIPTIONS......Page 227 OBSTACLES......Page 228 INTRODUCE THE TEAMS......Page 229 IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES......Page 230 MAINTAINING THE STRUCTURE......Page 231 MODIFICATIONS......Page 232 CHECKLIST......Page 233 CHANGING STRUCTURE......Page 235 CHANGING FACE OF WORK......Page 236 BUSINESS FOCUS......Page 237 LEARN......Page 238 PART B WHAT IS WRONG WITH MANAGEMENT?......Page 241 ESSAY 1 INCOMPLETE EDUCATION......Page 243 ESSAY 2 LEADERSHIP SKILLS......Page 245 ESSAY 3 SPEAK PLAIN ENGLISH......Page 249 ESSAY 4 FINDING THE RIGHT JOB......Page 251 ESSAY 5 ASK: ‘‘WHAT DOES MY COMPANY WANT OF ME?’’......Page 253 ESSAY 6 THE TROUBLE WITH IT PROJECTS......Page 255 ESSAY 7 MAKE TIME TO GROW YOUR IT STAFF......Page 261 ESSAY 8 BE RESPONSIBLE. CALL ‘‘HALT!’’......Page 263 PART C THE MANAGEMENT THEORISTS......Page 265 WEBER......Page 267 JACQUES......Page 269 PFEIFFER AND SALANCIK......Page 271 FAYOL......Page 273 MINTZBERG......Page 278 MAYO......Page 281 MCGREGOR......Page 283 HERZBERG......Page 285 HILMER AND DONALDSON......Page 287 STRASSMAN......Page 289 MOLTKE......Page 291 Appendix A Yukl’s specific behaviours for managing relations......Page 293 Appendix B Business initiative proposal......Page 296 Appendix C Thorpe’s 4 Rs......Page 301 Appendix D1 Jacques’ time span......Page 303 Appendix D2 Jacques’ complexity measures......Page 305 Appendix E1 Software inventory......Page 307 Appendix E2 Hardware inventory......Page 308 Appendix F Examples of principles......Page 309 References......Page 312 Further reading......Page 315 Index......Page 317