MDE News
New format and focus for newsletter
MDE's Practical Technology Tips Newsletter has just had a "face lift":
a new look with more content targeted to help IT Managers improve their levels of success.

There are three goals:
1. Deliver practical ideas and insight that help IT Managers of all levels achieve more.
2. Give readers a means of interacting and sharing their views, ideas, and stories.
3. Have fun with this newsletter.

New content will include:
MDE News  -  latest and greatest happenings with my company, MDE Enterprises. Here, you will find new announcements and news of the company's progress.

Practical IT Manager Tips  -  the featured IT management article of the month.

IT Management Models  -  a new idea that I've had for months and is content for a new IT management book that I'm developing coincidentally titled IT Management Models. Every month a new model will be introduced using a picture model with bullet points and explanation that supports the management point. A picture is worth a thousand words and much easier to remember. I hope you like this section.

Letters from the Field  -  I receive many letters and comments from IT Managers all over the world. Every month, I will feature a new question and my response or insight from others that is worthy of sharing with MDE Newsletter readers. Send me your thoughts.

"War story" lessons  -  Some of the best lessons I've learned were very funny, painful, even bizarre events. Every month, I will share a new "war story" with the management lesson that can be gained from it. This should be a fun column and one that gets lots of comments. Know a good "war story"? Send it to me and it might be published.

IT Tidbits Corner  -  Little bits of information that we pick up and think you might be interested in. Could be a survey statistic, could be something shaking in the industry, or just an interesting piece of information worth sharing.

Products & Services Review  -  Reviews of products or services that I find beneficial and worthy of making readers aware of. Many will be products/services that I use.

Send me an email and let me know what you like, topics you would like discussed, or your own experiences that might be helpful to other IT Managers. I hope you like the new format and content and above all I hope you have fun with this newsletter.

MDE relocates to Tennessee
After being away for 30 years, we have moved back to our hometown area of Middle Tennessee. My Internet and consulting business has done well and allowed us to return to our roots.  We are very excited about the future and the opportunity to be close to family. It's been a dream for many years that finally happened for us.

The move and the holidays kept us pretty busy for the past 60 days as you might imagine. We are settling into our new house quickly and I hope to be in full swing by the early part of February. Getting DSL installed and a phone connection in my home office today so I don't have to run a phone line from the kitchen was a major step.

Article featured in HP's IT e-Report Newsletter
My first article written for IT e-Report was published this month. The subject titled "Weak economies call for more IT investment" points out that strategic minded companies often spend more in IT while cutting expenses in other departments. The reason is simple  -  to get a bigger overall improvement in the bottom line by investing in technology initiatives that improve productivity, eliminate waste, or help cut costs in other areas that are typically operated by clerical staff with high turnover.
Read the article

IT Tidbits Corner
Why is the IT department so misunderstood?

Here are a few of my own personal ideas:

• IT is not normally the core competency of a company; therefore, most managers of the company do not need to be very knowledgeable about technology.
• Many IT managers have excellent technical skills but lack strong management and interpersonal skills.
• The nature of technology is that equipment breaks and users need support, something they would rather not have to deal with.
• Many companies lack the discipline to manage a true change management process and a project management culture that helps prevent problems.
• Some departments use IT as an excuse for their poor performance.
• IT managers often miss the mark when prioritizing initiatives for the company.

Do you agree? Send me your thoughts.

Practical IT Manager Tips 
Staff meetings are worth the time

Contrary to what a lot of people believe, staff meetings do not have to be a waste of everyone's time. In fact, a well run monthly staff meeting can have many benefits for your IT organization.

As a young IBM Systems Engineer, monthly staff meetings were great breaks from the daily work pressures. It was there that I learned the value of a properly conducted staff meeting. Since those early days in the late seventies, I have incorporated regularly scheduled staff meetings to help me accomplish many things with my IT organization including:

• Keeping staff informed of company events & issues
  
• Reinforcing teamwork
  
• Coaching on key points
  
• Providing group education
  
• Building camaraderie within the IT group
  
• Recognizing successes and achievement
  
• Having fun
  

IT Management Models
Play your position

With the Super Bowl played this past weekend, it reminded me of a model that I've used hundreds of times in coaching others on my team through the years.

It begins with understanding the basics of football and playing your position. In an offensive line (shown as the "O's" in the graphic below), the primary mission is to block defensive players and to protect the quarterback.

Offensive Line

Each lineman has a designated area to block. When one player fails to execute as planned, the team bogs down and forward progress is more difficult. Every player has to play his position and count on his teammates to execute their assignments successfully.

This example works the same for an IT organization. I've seen too many IT organizations perform ineffectively because they either:
-  lack focus due to a lack of specific responsibility
-  team members lack the skill to succeed
-  team members wander away from their assignment 
     to help another area

Focus is key. Mis-assignments of responsibility or lining up your players without the skills to be successful is a management issue. Once proper responsibilities are established and communicated, it is the team member's responsibility to execute in a manner that supports the team's overall efforts.

Key management points:

• Assign every team member specific responsibility
  
• Take advantage of strengths and "shore up" your weaknesses
  
• Provide the tools that allow each person to be successful
  
• Expect each team member to succeed individually and to support the team
  
• Build your strategy around your team's capabilities
  

Letters from the Field
"How do you manage to keep track of your calendar, contacts, tasks etc.?"

I have tried to use a PDA but just didn't like it as much as the pocket calendar that I've used since my IBM days in the early 80's. In it, I keep a calendar organized by month, my printed contact list from Sidekick, and blank pages for notes. It's very small, light, and easy.

The calendar is used to schedule appointments and I also have a technique to track travel miles for tax purposes. I update my address list about twice a year and print it out in alphabetical order. Between printouts, I add new addresses to blank pages in the calendar for retrieval as needed and update Sidekick from these notations and the business cards that were collected during that timeframe.

It comes down to a matter of preference on how you like to manage your calendar and addresses. For me, retrieval is almost instantaneous using the old fashioned paper system, and it's one that has worked well for me for 25 years. If I were out working with new people every day, I would probably use a PDA that syncs up the data with my PC but my business model doesn't require high levels of new contact activity.

For tasks, I carry a small journal notebook that I keep a log of notes, follow-up items, and reminders. I create a weekly to-do list every weekend. New tasks are added during the week as necessary. I also use the journal to log notes from meetings, phone calls, ideas that occur, etc. Projects that require more detail are kept in individual project file folders for alphabetical filing and easy retrieval.

Keeping yourself organized is a discipline that you have to develop a process for that works for you. Determine what's important to track and organize and use the tools that work for your lifestyle.

For me, I like simplicity and lightweight items that are easy to carry with me. If I can go to a meeting with just my calendar in hand, all the better. The key is that you have a system that allows you to retrieve contact information when you need it and that you can make notes for follow-up so your clients and business associates can depend on you.

Whatever your choice of tools, you really can't go wrong when organizing yourself.

"War Story" Lessons
Two diskettes are too many

In the early 1980's, I learned a valuable lesson about phone communication and how easy it is for the person on the other end to "go right" when you want them to "go left".

While sitting in as a guest client support rep for one of IBM's business applications, I received a call from a lady in the mid-West who needed help. She was a new computer user and her system, an IBM System-32, used those big 5 1/4" diskettes at the time for data backup and for new software medium. Most of you don't remember those days but it was a great advance from tape drives and punched cards.

She was trying to run her daily backup process but the system was giving her an error message. Her description of the error sounded like she had inserted the wrong diskette into the system. The system had a process of numbering diskettes sequentially for it's backup and the message sounded like maybe she had inserted the second or the third diskette instead of the first one in the sequence.

This didn't sound like a big problem so making the assumption that she just had the diskettes out of their proper order, I asked her to insert the next diskette into the system. I was going to solve this problem in record time.

She did as I asked and after a short pause told me that she had another error. My initial thought was that we still had not found the first diskette of the group. One difference this time was that the error message she described sounded more like a hardware problem.

Uh-oh, here goes my quick fix idea down the drain.

Thinking that we were still looking for the first diskette of the sequence, I told her to insert the third diskette. There was a longer pause this time, , ,it was total silence. I asked her what was wrong and I will never forget those insightful words, "I can't put another diskette into the slot; there are two in there already and another one just won't fit."

Lesson learned:
When giving directions over the phone, be very specific and don't leave steps out. Instruct a person just as you would a computer to complete a task. Every step is required.

Product & Services Review
TenStep Project Management Process™

Project management refers to the definition and planning, and then the subsequent management, control, and conclusion of a project.  It is important to recognize that all projects need some level of project management. The larger and more complex the project, the more there is a need for a formal, standard, structured process. Smaller projects still need a structured process, but it does not need to be as elaborate or as complex. Obviously there is a cost to the effort associated with project management, but there are many benefits that are obtained as well. These benefits far outweigh the costs.

The TenStep Project Management Process (TenStep) is designed to provide the information necessary to successfully manage projects of all kinds.  It contains the information you need to be a successful project manager, including a step-by-step approach, starting with the basics and getting as sophisticated as you need for your particular project.  TenStep is a flexible and scalable methodology for managing work as a project. The basic philosophy is "large methodology for large projects, small methodology for small projects". TenStep shows you what you need to know to manage projects of all size.

Not surprisingly, TenStep is divided into ten steps - the first two for definition and planning, and the next eight for managing and controlling the work. These steps are as follows:
1.0 Define the Work.
2.0 Build the Workplan.
3.0 Manage the Workplan.
4.0 Manage Issues.
5.0 Manage Scope.
6.0 Manage Communication.
7.0 Manage Risk.
8.0 Manage Documents.
9.0 Manage Quality.
10.0 Manage Metrics.

The www.TenStep.com website contains all this and much more. There is a wealth of content available for free, and much more available to licensed users. In addition, there is an integrated process available for building and managing a Project Management Office. This framework is called PMOStep, and is available at www.PMOStep.com.

Special 20% Discount Promotion for Practical Tips Newsletter readers: If you visit the website and like what you see, you can purchase a TenStep license at a 20% discount. Just enter promotion code "Sisco20%" in the promotion code field or in the comments section when you register.

Tom Mochal, the developer of the TenStep process has over 23 years of IT experience at Eastman Kodak, Cap Gemini E&Y, The Coca-Cola Company and Geac. He is currently President of TenStep, Inc., a project management and methodology consulting and training company. Tom has published hundreds of columns, and has presented and trained on project management and life-cycle topics around the world. He has also developed a complete project management methodology called TenStep (www.TenStep.com), a methodology for implementing and supporting project management within companies called PMOStep (www.PMOStep.com) and an application support methodology called SupportStep (www.SupportStep.com).

Until next time, I hope the little bit of information provided in this newsletter is helpful to you. Feel free to pass it along to other IT managers you know. Work hard and take time to smell the roses along the way.

                                            Mike Sisco