MDE News
First IT Manager Development Institute held

A new MDE milestone has been reached. It took me over two years to prepare for, but I finally delivered the first IT Manager Development Institute in June. The Institute is the "flagship" of my IT Manager training initiatives and will be held several times a year.

This program provides the most comprehensive set of practical management insight and tools to help you be an effective IT Manager that you will find anywhere.

Additional support is included and the program is structured to ensure every participant achieves more success as well as identifies cost savings that more than pays for the program within 90 days of returning to your company.

The next Institute will be held in Nashville, TN the week of October 13-17, 2003. The Institute is always limited to 20 participants.

Take a look at the Institute web site at http://www.mde.net/institute and see why this program is truly unique. Practical Technology Tips Newsletter subscribers receive a 20% discount when using the discount code "newsletter".

IT Tidbits Corner
Develop a note taking approach to help you follow up

I've always used a simple note taking scheme to help me highlight key items and to be able to quickly see the follow-up issues I have after a long meeting.

Try one for yourself. Strong follow-up skills sets you apart from the rest of the pack.

My "note marks" and what they mean to me:

  -     issue

MDE and Belmont University to offer the
IT Manager Series beginning Sep. 9th

The IT Manager Series is a series of twelve, one and two-day classes devoted to the development of IT Manager skills.

MDE Enterprises has combined forces with Belmont University's Massey Graduate School of Business to deliver a comprehensive curriculum designed to give IT Managers insight on how to manage an IT Organization effectively and to achieve more success as a result.

Mike Sisco will deliver the training that he has packaged from his twenty-plus years of real world experience in managing technology resources.

For more information about the IT Manager Series and complete course descriptions and outlines, go to Belmont's web site.

important issue

follow-up item

  /        "to do" task

  X       completed task

   ?      needs clarification

Any system you come up with works; the key is to use what you need to help you remember key points and to follow-up as needed.

Practical IT Manager Tips 
You set the "attitude tone" for your IT staff

As the Manager of IT you create an attitude toward your clients and technology users that you may not be aware of.

Your employees look to you for the lead and when they see you complain about User problems, company politics, policies that you disagree with, etc. they will actually begin mirroring your attitude toward these same issues.

It's the manager's role to set a positive tone and to help create a positive work environment for all employees. This doesn't mean you have to like every new policy or that you shouldn't be concerned about how some User Departments deal with technology support.

What it does mean is that when you have issues, you need to try to handle them "behind closed doors" versus in the open where your employees hear your tone and dissatisfaction.

Got a policy that you don't like but one senior management says must be enforced? Voice your concern with senior management in the proper place but never use your employees to share your disagreements. Your staff member's first inclination will be to support your position and in the long run that may be the wrong thing for all.

There is a reason why we are all coached to discipline an employee one-on-one versus in front of others. This same reasoning applies to how you should present yourself to your employees and clients/users when dealing with difficult issues.

Always be mindful of the impact you have on others when you are dealing with these difficult situations. Your staff and clients observe your behavior and if it's all right for the manager they naturally assume it must be ok for the rest.

Your position has more impact on your company's culture and the behavior of employees around you than you might think so take time to think through your options before taking action and consider the impact it has on those around you.

IT Management Models
5 pounds of sugar for a 5 pound sack

IT resources have capacity constraints just like a 5-lb. sack has a limit to how much sugar it can carry.

You may get extra ounces of sugar in the 5-lb. sack by stacking sugar up above the top rim of the sack, but eventually it spills over.

All IT resources, staff, systems, networks, etc. have limits. One of the keys to managing IT resources effectively is understanding the limitations and being able to manage expectations to the limits that exist.

Let's look at an example using a programming team. Each programmer has a certain capacity for effectively producing code to make software changes, new additions, etc. In order to establish my "programming capacity", I assign an average of 100 hours per month that each programmer can effectively complete. Although there are 160 hours in a month, the effective capacity is less than that due to vacation, meetings, training time, etc. Over the years, I have found that 100 to 120 hours per month works out about right.

Once I establish my capacity, I can look at the programming backlog. If the requests are estimated for number of programming hours needed to complete the request, I can more easily manage expectations of how much I can complete each month.

Ultimately, I don't care what we work on assuming the department managers and clients are establishing appropriate priorities. How we use the "5 pound sack" of programming capacity is not as relevant as ensuring we all understand that we have 5 pounds of capacity to apply to the needs of all that need programming support.

Letters from the Field
What to do when staff is bombarded with last minute requests

When I hear this type of issue exists, there are four things I want to understand:
   1.  What are the requests?
   2.  Why are the requests being asked for at the "last
        minute"?
   3.  Who is asking for help?
   4.  What's causing these issues?

If you know the answers to these four questions, you should be able to develop a strategy to reduce or eliminate the issue altogether. Worst case is that you should be able to develop a process by which to avoid the need for "last minute" cries for help.

In many cases, Help Desk logs and incident trends should be able to help you identify the answers to the first three questions. The last question takes a bit of analysis but when you have the data to support the first three questions it usually points to "what's causing the issue".

The answer to this dilemma usually falls into one or more categories including:
   -  quality
   -  capacity
   -  managing expectations
   -  responsiveness

Once you know what, why, who, and cause, then the rest is up to you as the manager to initiate improvements or conduct coaching sessions that improve the situation.

There is always a logical reason as to why "last minute" calls are coming in. Figure out the four questions above and you will get to the solution to reduce or eliminate the problem.

"War Story" Lessons
Don't forget to tell the 3rd shift operator

Security issues come in all sizes and shapes. When I was a young IBM Systems Engineer, I was involved in a project to install a large Payroll system for a hospital.

As it would happen, the CIO was apparently in hot water with the new Administrator of the hospital. During the time I was "camped out" day and night working on the Payroll installation, the CIO was apparently fired.

Word came down from management of the hospital that the CIO was barred from the Data Center and that the locks and security codes were being changed right away. This is a fairly common approach when management wants to "lock down" the computer room and systems if they suspect the possibility of sabotage by an outgoing employee.

The next day, we were asked to review the computer logs. To everyone's surprise, the CIO had logged onto the system at 1:15am in the morning.

The locks had been changed, he no longer had any keys, the security codes were changed but he still managed to tap into the systems back in the day when remote access to systems didn't exist.

How did he do it?

Hospital management told everyone about the CIO leaving the company except for the 3rd shift Computer Operator. When the former CIO buzzed in, the Operator let him into the Computer Room just like he normally would do. Looked like 'business as usual' to him.

Fortunately, the former CIO wasn't there to do anything other than to retrieve a few personal files and to follow-up on a technical issue that he knew about. He was actually very conscientious in his "night maneuvers".

The morale of the story is that when you think you have all the doors locked, check again to be sure.

Product & Services Review
Technical Awareness Series CD

You may have read past articles about my attending a week long course titled the Technology Awareness Series, or TAS for short. It is a course developed by Bill Carico, President of ACTS Corporation and has been presented by him and his excellent guest speakers for sixteen years.

The program was a definite hit with me and something I plan to attend every year. TAS is the fastest and easiest way I have found to stay abreast of the changes taking place in technology that affect the enterprise.

Click here to learn more ,

Now you can take advantage of the program in your office or home. It's not the same as being able to attend a TAS session and interacting with other participants and presenters but the information is just as valuable.  The Multimedia Technical Awareness Series CD is available from ACTS and does a very credible job of walking you through the technology maze and issues we face today. The CD is a great tool to review as you need to and in your own schedule and pace.

ACTS also offers a testing service if you want to assess the level of knowledge members of your organization have. Once tested, ACTS points the students to the most important sessions on the CD to focus on. After they are finished with the course, an additional test is conducted to determine the level of change in knowledge.

TAS is valuable for the first time IT Manager as well as seasoned managers with years of experience. The program does an excellent job of helping you put all the technology pieces together in a framework that is easily understood. This is a difficult task considering the complexity of some of the subject matter, but Bill Carico and his "teach team" have been doing this for a long time.

If you are interested in learning more about the CD version of the TAS sessions, go to http://www.actscorp.com/mmtas.htm . If you decide to order, be sure to indicate you heard about it from Mike Sisco and ACTS will waive the $7.00 shipping charge and send you the CD for only $85.00, a discount of about 20% from the total cost. This is a special arrangement Bill has agreed to do for my Practical Technology Tips Newsletter subscribers.

Information on the fall TAS program to be held in Marble Falls, Texas is available at http://www.actscorp.com/tasmain.htm . Mention Mike Sisco and you will receive a 10% discount off the program fee.

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
Invest in your IT Manager to ACHIEVE MORE.
www.mde.net/cio