The IT Manager's Survival Guide

✍ Scribed by Rob Aalders, Peter Hind

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 322
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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.

✦ Table of Contents

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