IT Manager's Handbook

Getting your New Job Done

Bill Holtsnider, Brian D. Jaffe

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780123914057
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Strategy
• Index: Business

IT Manager's Handbook, Third Edition, provides a practical reference that you will return to again and again in an ever-changing corporate environment where the demands on IT continue to increase. Make your first 100 days really count with the fundamental principles and core concepts critical to your success as a new IT Manager. This is a must-read for new IT managers and a great refresher for seasoned managers trying to maintain expertise in the rapidly changing IT world.

This latest edition includes discussions on how to develop an overall IT strategy as well as demonstrate the value of IT to the company. It will teach you how to: manage your enterprise's new level of connectivity with a new chapter covering social media, handheld devices, and more; implement and optimize cloud services to provide a better experience for your mobile and virtual workforce at a lower cost to your bottom line; integrate mobile applications into your company's strategy; and manage the money, including topics such as department budgets and leasing versus buying. You will also learn how to work with your customers, whomever those might be for your IT shop; hire, train, and manage your team and their projects so that you come in on time and budget; and secure your systems to face some of today's most challenging security challenges.

This book will appeal to new IT managers in all areas of specialty, including technical professionals who are transitioning into IT management.

• Manage your enterprise's new level of connectivity with a NEW chapter covering social media, handheld devices, and more
• Implement and optimize cloud services to provide a better experience for your mobile and virtual workforce at a lower cost to your bottom line
• Integrate mobile applications into your company's strategy
• Manage the money, including topics such as department budgets and leasing versus buying
• Work with your "customers", whomever those might be for your IT shop
• Hire, train, and manage your team and their projects so that you come in on time and budget
• Secure your systems to face some of today's most challenging security challenges

Chapter 1

The Role of an IT Manager

The manager is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business.

Peter Drucker

Chapter table of contents

1.1 Just What Does an IT Manager Do?

1.2 Managers in General

1.3 The Strategic Value of the IT Department

1.4 Developing an IT Strategy

1.5 Leadership versus Management

1.6 Starting Your New Job

1.7 The First 100 Days

1.8 Two IT Departments—What Happens if Your Company Merges with Another?

1.9 Further References

Common issues and questions about IT Managers include:

• What does an IT Manager actually do?

• Did you recently receive a promotion into that job with no prior training?

• Are you glad you got the job?

• Do you eventually want to become one?

Before we help you answer those questions, we discuss the definition and the pros and cons of being a manager. Clearly management as a career path is well suited for some people, but not for everyone. Is it right for you?

IT Managers need to wear a lot of hats. Different parts of the organization will have different expectations of this position, and you’ll have to address them all. Finance expects you to manage costs. Sales and Marketing will want to see IT help generate revenue. The auditors are looking over your shoulder. Your staff is looking for guidance, career development, and a work-life balance. The executive traveling to Dubai wants to know if his cell phone will work there, and how to use the hotel’s Wi-Fi. And the administrative assistant down the hall just wants her printer to stop smudging. This chapter examines the varied roles and responsibilities of an IT Manager.

1.1 Just What Does an IT Manager Do?

IT Managers now have many responsibilities (data centers, staff management, telecommunications, servers, applications, workstations, websites, mobile access and devices, user support, regulatory compliance, vendor management, disaster recovery, etc.) and work with all the departments (accounting, human resources, marketing, sales, distribution, facilities, legal, etc.) within a company or organization.

This is both the good and the bad news. At some companies, an IT Manager can have direct influence on the strategic direction of the company, suggesting and helping implement web initiatives, for example. In other companies, an IT Manager is really only a technician, software developer, or network engineer. And to complicate things even further, those definitions change quickly over time. Yesterday’s network engineer might become today’s website consultant.

Why All That Change and Flexibility Is Good

The position of IT Manager can be very challenging. It is extremely varied in scope, allows you to come in contact with a large portion of your company, provides you with opportunities to directly affect the overall direction of your organization, and is very valuable professional experience to acquire. In addition, you get to increase your range of experience; you are forced to (and get to) keep up with the latest changes in technology (so your skill set will always be in demand) and your network of contacts gets large.

As important as all that is, there is an added bonus: In recent years, IT has taken on a strategic value in the roles companies play in the new economy. Information Technology is now a critical component of many companies and the U.S. economy. In the 2010–2011 Occupational Outlook Handbook released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, “computer and mathematical science occupations … are expected to grow more than twice as fast as the average for all occupations in the economy … driven by the continuing need for businesses, government agencies, and other organizations to adopt and utilize the latest technologies.”

And for IT Managers, the report says, “faster than average employment growth is expected … [and] job prospects should be excellent.” Specifically the report projects employment of computer and information systems managers to grow 17 percent over the 2008–2018 decade, which is faster than the average for all occupations. New uses for “technology in the workplace will continue to drive demand for workers, fueling the need for more managers.” Not only is your job interesting and rewarding, it is also very important and increasingly in demand. Dependence on technology is only growing, and issues such as security, revenue generation, improved productivity, and compliance are making IT more visible throughout the organization. What more could you ask for?

Why All That Change and Flexibility Is Bad

However, being an IT Manager is a difficult, often thankless, task. Like many service jobs, if you do it superbly, most people do not notice. Mess up and they scream. In addition, responsibilities of the job differ radically from company to company. Some companies actually have many IT Managers and several layers of management. At others (although this number is shrinking) an IT Manager is a part-time role someone fills while doing their “real” job.

In addition, the role of an IT Manager can often vary widely within the same organization, depending on who is making the decisions at the time. The “Western Region Sales Manager” knows what his role is—get more sales as soon as possible in a specific area—and that is not going to vary much from company to company. An IT Manager, however, can mean many things to many people, and the job changes as technology and needs advance and evolve.

Addressing all these needs and people can mean that time for “extras” such as sleep and meals have to be sacrificed. As a manager, everyone else’s crises become yours. People (your users, your management, your staff, etc.) demand quick resolutions to problems and look to you to fix them. In this book, we discuss in detail the positive and negative elements of the key components of being an IT Manager. If a process is littered with political landmines (budgeting, for example), we’ll warn you about it; if a process has hidden perks (being an unofficial project manager for a project can put you in contact with many different people at many different layers of the organization), we’ll tell you that, too. But before you decide if you should be an IT Manager, read the next section to determine if you want to be a manager at all.

1.2 Managers in General

Before you decide whether you want to become an IT Manager, you should decide whether you want to become a manager at all. One method of evaluating a potential career is to read books or take introductory classes about how to do it; sometimes, reading a book about a subject will make you realize you do not want to pursue that particular career (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1. Pros and Cons of Being a Manager

PRO	CON
May have more control over your life. You can delegate to others instead of being a resource of one. Of course, you will probably also have a manager above you.	May have less control over your life (since the problems of others now become your problems).
Typically make more money than those in nonmanagement roles, although this, too, is changing. There are technical tracks in many companies that are almost as lucrative as management, but not every company has this option.	Typically, but not always, a manager has more responsibility than a non-manager. There is more credit if things go right and a bigger price to pay if things go wrong.
Do work on a larger scale. A simplistic example might be: one non-management worker may generate $1000 a day in revenue for the company, but a manager may manage six such workers, generating $6000 daily for the company.	Management looks and sounds a lot easier than it is. Often, managers are seen attending endless meetings or just having casual conversations all the time—not doing “real work.” In fact, they often carry a great deal of responsibility and have to make difficult decisions routinely.
Have greater potential to “make a difference.”	Numerous headaches come with managing people: meeting your project’s budget and schedule projections, dealing with challenging employees, and administrative annoyances. (“Those 200 new PCs arrived, where do we store them until we’re ready to work on them?”)
You get the credit for all the good work that your team does on your watch … whether it happened because of you, your staff, or by random chance.	You get the blame for all the bad stuff that happens on your watch…whether it happened because of you, your staff, or by random chance.
Get the opportunity to develop non-IT skills, working with other departments, vendors, partners, etc.	There are tough decisions to make: budget cuts, employee performance, having to choose between Jenine and Peter for the promotion, etc.
Have the opportunity to determine strategy and to set direction for both a department and the company as a whole.
Acquire the ability to add more value to a department and a company.
Have the opportunity to develop, coach, and mentor other people.

Like most topics in this book, we present you with both the positive and the negative aspects of being a manager. We share our experiences and those of other managers we know; managers with over 100 years of combined experience contributed ideas to the following section.

Of course, the comments in this section are extremely subjective. Both positive and negative comments about such a broad topic (“management”) are bound to be generalizations that can easily be counter-argued. So take each comment, idea, and suggestion as something to be considered, evaluated, and adapted; perhaps it applies to your experience and perhaps not.

Definition of a Manager

Management has been defined as “assembling the resources to achieve a mutually agreed upon objective” (G. Puziak, 2005) or as “getting things done through other people” (AMA President, 1980). A more mundane dictionary definition is the “authoritative control over the affairs of others.” All three views are commonly held beliefs.

Note the radical difference between the definitions: the first two have a sense of collaboration (“mutually agreed upon” and “through”), whereas the last one defines management as “control.” As always, flexibility is the key.

Styles of Management

These definitions reflect the two typical management structures American companies now employ:

• Command and Control

• Collaboration

These styles have many different names: “authoritarian” and “participative,” or “military” and “worker responsibility.”

Few companies, or individuals, are either purely one type or another, of course, but most are generally one kind ...

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Content
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the Authors
• Key Changes for This Edition
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. The Role of an IT Manager
• Chapter 2. Managing Your IT Team
• Chapter 3. Staffing Your IT Team
• Chapter 4. Project Management
• Chapter 5. Software, Operating Systems, and Enterprise Applications
• Chapter 6. Managing the Money
• Chapter 7. Getting Started with the Technical Environment
• Chapter 8. Security and Compliance
• Chapter 9. Disaster Recovery
• Chapter 10. Working with Users
• Chapter 11. Connectivity
• Glossary
• Index