Mike Sisco's
Practical Technology Tips Newsletter
September  2003 
Can't see the graphics? Also available at: www.mde.net/newsletter/sep03/index.html

ANNIVERSARY  ISSUE

In this Issue:

MDE News:
  Fall training classes
Practical IT Manager Tips:
  Find your replacement
IT Management Models:
  Technology: Facilitator of
    paradign shift
Letters from the Field:
  "How do you focus on tehright
    priority?"
IT Tidbits Corner:
  MDE  -  a look back and a
    perspective for the future
"War story" lessons:
  Toughest User Group meeting
    I ever hosted

MDE is three years old. It has been a great venture so far and our company is positioned extremely well for future opportunities.

August and September have been very active months and I have discovered some great products and services to benefit you in your career. Take a quick look at the special offers we have lined up for this Anniversary Issue.

"The best Project Management book ever written"
No, it's not my book. Tom Mochal has written an outstanding book titled, Lessons in Project Management and it may very well be the best PM book ever written. Can you imagine a project management book that's actually fun to read? Well, neither could I but Tom has accomplished it. He uses real characters that have you working right alongside them as they learn how to deal with 50 separate issues through the eyes of a Senior Project Manager.  Every Project Manager should have this book.

You can get a free signed copy of Tom's book
See the MDE's Special Anniversary Offer below

IT TidBits
A look back over
MDE's 3-year history

9/2000  Decided to leave my corporate CIO role

10/2000  First article published by TechRepublic

4/2001  First issue of Practical Technology Tips newsletter published

5/2001  Sold first book What to Look For in a CIO

3/2002  Completed the 10th book for the IT Manager Development Series

4/2002  Released the
IT Manager ToolKit

7/2002  Published first paperback and selling via Amazon.com.
IT Management-101

12/2003  Downloads pass 250,000 mark

1/2003  Moved company and family"back home" to middle Tennessee.

Need to demystify today's key technology issues ?
MDE has obtained five $700 scholarships that can be applied toward the cost of the fall Technology Awareness Series conference conducted by ACTS Corporation. Bill Carico has held his TAS Conference for sixteen years and brings in some of the top technology people in the industry from both business and vendor companies. After attending the spring TAS Conference, I made a commitment to attend at least one TAS Conference a year to help me stay abreast of what's really happening with technology. Very informal and highly enlightening.

Bill has asked me to present a topic on Technology Cost Saving Strategies at the fall conference so take advantage of the $700 scholarship he has offered my readers and I will see you there. Simply mention MDE or Mike Sisco when you register.

Between jobs or wanting to look for a new one ?
If so, you are in good company because a lot of talented IT people are out of work. I recently discovered a publication that can help. Don Monteith has written, How To Get Your Dream Job... In 30 Days or Less. Don was the CEO of a staffing service for 25 years and has helped thousands of people get their dream jobs. In his new book, he provides insider knowledge of how to use staffing companies and recruiting agencies. Don provides great tips on "how to get in the door" and lots of great advice on how to get the job. Good stuff here that can help anyone find their Dream Job now or later.

Don also offers a free 7-part eCourse that walks you through a systematic process of preparing for and going after your ideal job.

SPECIAL OFFER TO MY SUBSCRIBERS: Don has graciously given me the ability to offer his DELUXE package to my Newsletter Subscribers for half price. The 30-minute phone consultation with Don and unlimited email support are worth many  times this discounted price. Believe me, he has structured this product to help anyone "close the deal" with a new company.

3/2003  100th article published

6/2003  First IT Manager Development Institute held

7/2003  Technology Cost Saving Strategies released

Much more is planned as I dedicate my energy to the development and research of products and services that help IT Managers all over the world achieve more success.

A future perspective

In late October I have a strategic planning session in which I target next year initiatives and gain valuable insight and advice from my closest advisors.

2004 initiatives planned but not yet formalized will include:
- Full curriculum of IT
  Manager training courses
- Institute expansion
- New book titles
- Mentoring services

YOU CAN HELP !  Send me an email message and let me know the specific areas you are interested in getting more of.  Training classes, newsletter content, new book titles, new services?  Whatever it is, let me know and I will take it into consideration in my October planning meeting for targeting our 2004 initiatives.

My whole focus is to provide meaningful insight that helps you achieve more. Here is your chance to have direct influence on my 2004 initiatives. I will respond directly to every message plus enter you into a drawing for a free golf shirt with my ACHIEVE MORE logo.

Practical IT Manager Tips 

Find your replacement--a top priority
You hear it all the time but too many managers limit their opportunity by failing to identify their replacement. Not only should you identify valid candidates, you need to take steps to develop their expertise and experience so that when the opportunity comes, they can do a credible job.

After all, they may be reporting to you.

It's in your best interest to position a replacement for several reasons:

  • You have an obligation to do what's best for your company.
  • Developing a strong team shows maturity and capability on your part
  • Positions you for promotion.

I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations with other senior managers about a young manager's potential to be promoted and we have to pass because it would cause too much challenge when they don't have anyone that can fill their spot. We move on to other candidates that are better prepared to leave their organization.

Finding your replacement should start as soon as you take the new job. This doesn't mean they have to be in place right away. It does mean that you should start determining if anyone can grow to take on the job at some point and how you would begin developing their capabilities.

If you have no candidates, you should be finding one when you have a chance to hire additional people into your staff.

Senior Managers want organizations that run pretty much on their own. Pulling out an excellent manager to give him or her more opportunity gets blocked when your team can't run independently and smooth after you leave it.

Mature managers position their organizations to be able to run without them. Managers who are less mature or insecure build teams that become very dependent upon them.

Senior managers recognize the difference and that's why some people advance and others don't.

MDE News  - FALL TRAINING PROGRAMS

IT Manager Institute   
October 13-17
Practical Technology Tips Newsletter subscribers receive a 20% discount by using discount code "newsletter" when registering. The Institute is the most comprehensive program for the IT Manager you will ever find and has unique support built in to ensure your success long after the training is over.
Learn more at www.mde.net/institute .

IT Due Diligence and Assimilation class
November 10-11
I've had many inquiries to hold this class before next year as originally planned so here it is. This program is based on the 40 acquisition due diligence and assimilation projects that I've conducted. Insight is provided to help you focus in on the truly important issues that provide for a smooth transition, reduce risk, and take advantage of leverage opportunities. Handout materials include the complete process and tools I developed to improve my productivity in these initiatives and to protect the interests of my company.

Learn more at www.mde.net/duediligence

Read my latest article on HP's IT e-Report
"IT Initiatives that win the attention of Senior Management"  Click here

IT Management Models
Technology  -  a facilitator of paradigm shifts

IT managers have an ability to create huge amounts of change for the good of your company. So much so that technology can literally create a paradigm shift for a company or an entire industry,

Letters from the Field
"How do you prioritize your work with so many things needing to get done every day?"

Wow, that's a good one. It's also a very challenging issue. In today's environment, issues are flying at you all the time and coming from all directions. As an IT Manager, many of these issues are things that happen that are beyond your control. Just ask the people on the US east coast about their challenges this week with Hurricane Isabel.

Here is what I try to do.

I categorize issues, projects, open items, etc. into one of three categories. Call them "A, B, or C", "High, Medium, Low", or "Critical, Needed, Nice to have" or anything that makes sense for you.

I try to list all of the open issues I have every week and I reprioritize them into High, Medium, or Low (or the other descriptions we mentioned).

High items must be critical and absolutely required to complete soon.

Medium items are needed but are not necessarily critical.

Low items are good to have but don't have the level of importance as the other two groups.

From the list of High items, I prioritize each of the issues from top to bottom. In other words, I number them from #1, #2, etc until all are sequenced in rank of importance as I see them.

I target the highest priority in the list to get it done or at least to the point required before working on something else. Be aware, however, that you normally have several balls in the air at one time. That's ok as long as you are getting some things completed and off your plate.

I review all the items in all category groups to determine if they are where they need to be. If there are things that help my productivity by placing a lesser important item ahead of others so I can do more, I do so.

Sometimes, I might throw an easy project to the front of the list simply because I need to see some accomplishment taking place. Nothing motivates you more than to see results.

Make a habit of knocking off two or three items from your list every day and you will make big strides. The difference here is that you are being much more proactive and taking conscious steps in focusing on important issues you have quantified. Believe me, others will see the results.

Want to see the impact technology can have on an entire industry and literally turn it upside down?

Two examples:
1.  Airline industry  -  When American Airlines made its proprietary passenger scheduling software called SABRE, it spun off a whole new industry and put power into the hands of the consumer.

How?

Companies like Expedia.com and Travel.com now
give us all access to the best price options for
virtually any trip we want to make and from all
commercial airlines. And it provides access to the
information easy and anonymously. This action
created a whole new level of airline competition
because now the consumer can look at all
possible options and make informed decisions.

2.  Grocery industry  -  Before scanning, vendors told grocery stores where they wanted to place their items and how much they would charge to put their items in the store.

Scanning turned this scenario upside down. Once
items were scanned and groceries had solid sales
statistics, the grocery industry began telling
vendors where they could put their product and
how much they would take, sometimes even
charging for prime shelf space.

Technology has the ability when appropriately focused to turn situations upside down and to totally shift the norm.  Use technology wisely.

"War Story" Lessons
Toughest User Group Meeting I ever hosted

I joined a small company that was on the verge of a significant growth opportunity. Our mission was clear and as the new CIO it became my responsibility to see that our IT organization was ready for the task to come.

The challenge was that IT had a negative reputation at the time within the company. However, the 43 TurnKey clients we supported loved us.

Oh yeah, one other note. Revenue contribution for the company was 94% from our internal Operations and 6% from the TurnKey clients. Our growth was expected to be in the area of internal operations growth, not selling new TurnKey systems.

I'm certainly not a rocket scientist but I understood the company's need in this environment within a week of being with the company.

After spending time to assess the situation, quantify the issues we had, and to develop my action plans it was time to decide what we wanted to do with our TurnKey business. We liked the additional revenue and didn't want to lose it but we also had a mission to take care of.

I scheduled a User Group meeting at Disney World and planned for the task at hand.

At the meeting, I congratulated the Users on their successes and how much we had appreciated our past relationship. When I got to the point that we were going to get out of the TurnKey business, you could hear a pin drop. There were tears, there was anger, and even disbelief. It was a very hard message to deliver and probably harder to receive.

It helped in that we delivered a well thought out transition plan to minimize disruption in their business and gave them a year to make the transition.

The President of the group was very helpful because I reached out to him and asked for his insight when planning the announcement. He understood the change in direction our company was taking and understood why. He is still a close friend and still uses the same system he was using then.

The morale of the story is:

  1. You have to step up to do the right thing.
  2. Things may appear bleak at first, but they usually have a way of working out for the best.
  3. When you put people in a corner, be sure to provide a path out of it.

Do you have a question or insight you would like to share?
Send me an email.

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

MDE Enterprises