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Organizational Practices of an IT Department?
fbg111 asks: "I've recently joined a company, a regional airline, with an IT department that has grown organically (ie in response to immediate, rapid-growth-driven need, rather than according to any organizational plan). In the past five years the company has come to rely on IT, specifically the web team, for about 3/4's of its revenue. However, this unstructured growth has caused some problems, like this one: the lack of defined career paths and clear promotion 'triggers' makes techs feel 'stuck' in dead-end situations, and we tend to lose good people who find more transparent advancement opportunities elsewhere. I've recently joined the new CIO's task force for putting together a plan that addresses the immediate problem of defining career advancement paths and payscales. Does Slashdot have any ideas on this subject?"
"I'm particularly interested in industry best practices that cover providing breadth and depth of experience and training, dual (or more) career tracks that allow techs to go the management route or the technical guru route, and aligning promotion triggers and career paths with IT department & corporate goals, and anything else relevant to the matter. Do any of you have anything in particular to recommend?"
This ilk of article is a tired saw, but its frequent appearance here at slashdot may be a sign of the times, i.e., the problem may be getting worse (I doubt it's getting better).
The bottom line is you, as an individual, fend for yourself first and foremost. If IT is messed up, management doesn't seem to care, or know how to do their job(s) that's not something you can fix. Decide what you want and need, weigh those criteria against what you experience in your job and management. If it's bad, it's unlikely to improve (much).
You, as an employee, owe the company little other than doing the work expected of you. (I used to be much more gung ho pro-company... but that's another and long story.) Businesses today don't view employees as valuable resources, nor do they care what upheaval they toss employees' ways. If you want something from your job and they say okay, get it in writing. Be suspicious. Be paranoia. The next visit to your desk from your manager may be a stroll to the front door.
Most companies aren't interested in grooming, triggers, etc., they're interested in their bottom line. Unfortunately they don't (typically) associate healthy career paths and directions with business performance. That you've been "tasked" (hate that word) by joining the CIOs task force is scant evidence of addressing the problem (I know, people will ask "what else do you expect them to do?"). But a company that doesn't "get it" isn't going to "get it" by organizing some CIO appointed task force.
As I mentioned, I used to have more faith in business and companies. Under the auspices of cutting costs, improving the bottom line, "right-sizing", (and very little mention of better customer service), articles are popping up almost every day about companies "making adjustments", but if you read a bit closer and between some of the lines, there are a whole lot of bent-over employees being victimized in these scenarios.
I'd be inclined to be more sympathetic and say "business is business" and companies have to make hard decisions, but when a recent article showed the average ratio of pay for CEOs compared to their employees increased to 431 times (did you hear that?, 431 times!) the pay of their employees it started to feel wrong (actually it'd started to feel wrong quite a while ago). When CEOs are getting this disproportianately higher compensation than their employees, I expect better performance numbers from businesses. I haven't seen that. Aside: Heads up, since you've joined an airline... make sure you keep the jackscrews lubed!)
Well how to feel like you not in a dead end job.
If you do good work you get better pay, also the longer you work the better you should get paid. This way we keep the most salt of the earth of the workers, if they can get better pay elsewhere then they will go there.
Titles and advantages to the titles. If the person doesn't want to go into management positions they still should get titles that represent their status. Sr. Programmer or whatever. Besides just giving the name there should be some benefits of earning the title, other then pay, they should have higher priority on what projects they want to do, depending on their status. If they have 10 years of experience and have done a good job for you in the past they should get earlier pick on the more fun jobs and leave the more mundane to the less experience people who need experience (But depending on the person you may be surprised what jobs are quickly taken up early)
Say in policy as people advance they say in company IT policy should have more weight.
Job Security, the higher position the more secure you job should be from layoffs.
Improved Benefits, Like allowing to work at home during normal hours, Flex Hours, More vacation time. With ¾ of the business they should also get some commission on their work.
Constant training, allow them if they choose to keep their skills up with modern technology, that way you are not stuck with software on a dead platform with a near dead language and IT staff who is afraid of changing because they don't have training on newer tech.
The main trick is to figure out what do you want in a job and break it into priorities and the higher you are the more you get.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
B. Accept task requests
C. If too many task requests then
1. Deny addtional requests
2. Have users fight among themselves to determine what is highest priority
D. Work until you feel like going home. (if you like your job this may be late)
E. Be criticized for when you come in, despite having worked until x:xx AM previous night.
F. When time permits (often on employees on time) develop or research powerful new tools that make everyone's life easier with greater access to higher quality information and services.
G. Department gets outsourced to a bunch of chislers who end up providing terrible products and service because they adhere rigidly to terms of the contract.
H. Bonuses all around for executives.
(Ok, that was real and I'm still bitter about it...)
Seriously, you need to develop Positions. A position has defined certain skills and responsibilities and commensurate compensation. Set up a number of these like Webmonkey I, II, III, IV, ... When there is a need for a certain skill and responsibilty, assign the position to it and open it up for candidates to apply for.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
How the heck does the web-site of an airline account for 75% of revenue? Do you mean that most of your ticket sales come from your web-site? Or do you mean the company is focusing on selling hats and T-Shirts from its web-site and isn't actually doing any flights? (Granted, with the cost of fuel lately, it might be a better solution than actually flying.)
Geez. I don't recall ever seeing such a formalized "choose your own career-adventure things".
There is no "you rolled blue, advance three steps towards tech-guru", or "you rolled yellow, advance to middle management".
I've worked for people who used to code for a very short period of time, but moved into management. I've known people who coded for a very long time and switched to management. And I've known the old-school holdouts like me who have no interest in becoming management.
If you want to be a tech guru, well, you'll just simply have to be more knowledgeable and skilled than most people. Knowledge of arcana is amust for guru status.
If you want to go into management, start reading books on that or enroll in your MBS program.
Sadly, in my experience, nobody is going to manage your career more than you will.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I interviewed for a position in the web team of a regional airline that gets 75% of its revenue from the web, has grown organically, and where their guys feel 'stuck'. You don't happen to work for Jet Blue, do you?
When they didn't call me back for a second interview (I had almost no IIS experience) I was somewhat relieved. The biggest reason was that I knew it would be a rough few years working for them while they worked out their issues. Their problem (which sounds suspiciously like your problem) is not just that you don't have a clearly defined organizational plan, but that you let the business drive the department. With three-fourths of your revenue coming out of the web site, *everyone* watches the daily and even hourly sales numbers. When there's glitches in the system, *everyone* from the sales guys to the CEO knows about it and *your* butt is on the line. Structure a business plan for the IT group. Lay out simple and clear lines of responsibilty, disaster mitigation plans, and (to get to the heart of your question) career paths. Make sure that all layers of managment understand that IT can be subject to forces outside of its control (network/power outages and acts of God anywhere in the world affect everyone else). Have set goals for each employee and set rewards for meeting them. Yearly bonuses, raises, and other perks will go a long way to the retention you seek.
I know it isn't the specific advice you were looking for, but you're not going to find that kind of answer on Slashdot. You know your business better than us. You know your IT needs, and only you can fix it. Start with the basics (career paths, goals/rewards, clear lines of responsibility) and the rest will fall into place. Good luck!
ASCII tastes bad dude.
Binary it is then.
Before I acquired my most recent job, I worked for a company where I was in a similar situation. No raise/bonus/promotion in sight, etc. More importantly, however, I didn't feel like what I was doing was important.
Companies need defined ways of moving ahead. Performance reviews, raises to acknowledge good work, yearly bonuses for the staff - all great ways to help people feel motivated to go the extra mile. But in addition I would argue that you have to make their job feel needed - like they are the only ones who can do it, specialists in some way. Knowing people rely on you is a good feeling, and one that will make most people work harder and better.
The first thing is to definite what jobs you have there. Web designer vs network engineer vs help desk level 2 or whatever you have. List out their responsibilities and required skills. Do this like HR, but make it seem important, don't over do it It's important to define the role as best you can and identify if the job that person is either completely unique or can be taken over by someone else. For example, if you have one DBA who manages the database for your system, and no one else really has his responsibilities or his skills then that's a specific job. If some guy is responsible for keeping an eye the email server but 5 other guys could do it, then his role is more broad, that of a generic IT tech.
Once you have a definition of their jobs, then create levels. Four levels is typical. Each position has levels for which for which the level gets both more responsibilities and more pay. First level is entry level. Second level is "certified" in that they've proven themselves over months or even up to a year as being good employee. 3rd level is senior in that they know the processes well, are fairly independent, and have high quality of work. 4th level are those few shining examples of great employees who do outstanding work on many different levels and would be very hard to replace.
Create paths to different groups to. For example, in a lot of IT departments, the path from a department that helps with desktop leads to network or server support as advancement.
Create requirements for each level to move from level 1 to 2. Some people use written tests to grade someone skills, others simply use management review. Some require a specific certification in a computer technology.
Finally, make sure everyone in IT starts out as level 1 and create a short term plan to have everyone move through the levels. This will help you figure out who's worth holding onto, and reward them appropriately. Be Prepared for a little backlash from those who don't warrant promotion, but if they don't warrant it, you have documentation as to why not.
And make sure you have guidelines for how managers should document everyone under their pervue so that they have a more standardized way of grading people and don't go off doing their own thing. When one manager grades easy and one grades hard, the people under the harsh manager feel left out while the easy guys get the money.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
"the lack of defined career paths and clear promotion 'triggers' makes techs feel 'stuck' in dead-end situations, and we tend to lose good people who find more transparent advancement opportunities elsewhere."
I've come to figure out thats just about every job everywhere.
Start your own business. Thats the only way anyone ever truly gets ahead.
I'm starting several right now. One is a software support company, just mostly fixing home internet connections and cleaning crapware. You may think big deal, but its 160$ for about 3 hours. Not too bad, and just word of mouth gives us as much business as we care to take on.
Also I've made some good friends in Europe and the middle east and we are starting some import/export companies. Niche markets to be sure, but who knows where that might lead...
Sure beats the cube farm.
From a business perspective, if someone is doing a job very well, why on Earth would you want to promote them out of that position?
Promoting talent should be in the form of having first-dibs on projects and a healthy bonus package, unless the person's skills can be adequately used in another position and a suitable replacement has been found.
My $0.02...
... lots of things are helpful. Here's 12...
1) Fair pay and good raises.
2) Certification / Education re-imbursement/paid by company.
3) Bonuses based on company's profits (Quarterly or Half).
4) Work from home for jobs where it's appropriate as long as they are meeting goals.
5) Listen to them
6) A small gym and recreation area is nice... computer work is mental, sometimes helps to be physical to work off stress.
7) Free Food Friday (God, I miss this!) (Different restraunt each week...)
8) Tie any holidays possible to "long weekends" or "multiple days off" so employees can get good R&R and enjoy home life.
9) No NDA. NDAs just pisses people off and is largely unenforceable against MOST employees.
10) Good Severance Package.
11) Good Medical/Dental/Vision.
12) Talk to individual employees. Find out what is important to them.
Those are all things I've seen done to good effect that improve moral and make the employees more likely to stay.
Basically in our society today, techs are finding out the hard way that most companies don't value you, they don't care one bit... no matter what you put into your work they're gonna screw you first chance. If the company tries to show it DOES care and provides for the employees you would be surprised how far the employees will go for you. I got layoff notice at one company I worked for 3 months in advance of the layoff, I got 2 months worth of pay as severance, and I busted my ass the last 3 months I was there for them because they weren't just trying to do me from behind at the last minute trying to milk all they could. They gave me a fair shake so I gave them the same in return... even though I knew I wouldn't be there in a couple months.
Treat your employees as a valued asset and they'll do your company right. Sure you'll get some duds, but for the most part the good ones will return any ammount you invest into them in effort many times over if they feel the company is doing its best for them.
But hey what do I know, I've just been through 3 buyouts, 2 department closures, 3 company closings... since 1997. You do your best for the ones who do their best for you, you do the minimum possible and jump ship asap on the ones who treat you like a disposable commodity.
Shadus
Ah yes!! The company who gave us these jewels of knowledge.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082-997868.html
"By standardizing on one operating system and using other Microsoft software, the JetBlue CIO says he cut the company's technical staff by 50 percent." - sounds like a dynamic and exciting place to work in IT
"When I joined the company in January 2000 and from my inception as VP and CIO in April 2000, I standardized on the Windows platform. I chose to do that because I felt from the server platform all the way out to the desktop and back that to have one type of operating system and to be able to train one type of technician" - pure genius!
"We don't have any Unix; we don't have an AS/400; we don't have any mainframes--we don't have anything outside of Windows." - yeah... we get it from the above already.
Sounds like a blast to work there...I bet their IT people can wait to get to work, heck they probably have to push them out the building at night and lock the doors so they can't come back in and start working again until the morning.
-- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
ALL industries that are primarily concerned with burning tons of fuel are being effected negatively recently. Truckers, airlines, power plants, agricultural, etc. I know on the big farm where I work this winters projected cost of propane, because of the massive price increases lately, will put us into the red, actually cost money, zilch net profits. You can't double the cost of doing business in a relatively short time span and not expect it to ripple down. ALL domestic industries are vulnerable, you'll just see the drastic effects at shops like that first, so don't worry, your turn will come, too. You are GOING to see the cost of most everything just climb though the roof soon. Did you check this last months stats on consumer prices? HA! Double ha!
It doesn't have as much to do with unions as you think, although that is certainly part of it, unions exist because management has ALWAYS been "unionized" in a sense since the first two companies did the same work, they just call it something else, industrial working groups, etc. You think those fatcats don't get together and collude,a litle sub rosa understandngs worked out at the golf courses, etc??
The extreme discount airlines are only showing meager profits because they buy old used airplanes so they have slightly lower costs, all the first tier airlines are hurting and the second tier will be right behind them shortly, unless people suck up to a doubling of ticket prices soon.
Truth is, the desire for personal advancement is a sickness.
Just think logically for a second. Imagine if everyone on the planet was justified in desiring advancement and actually got their wish? Well gee, then all the old people would be CEOs and Presidents and Popes, and all the young people would be supporting this immensely top-heavy upside down pyramid. Would this be a healthy society? Personally, I don't think so.
Just look around and pay attention: what kind of person is advancing? Are they moral or immoral? Are they compassionate and selfless, always immediately giving away the fruits of their labor, or the one who is always looking out for the NUMERO UNO, who, at best, make a gesture of giving, while their core practice from 9 to 5 is to cheat, steal, and to spread misinformation about the real situation to all the people around them?
Frankly, I don't see a single person, NO, HONEST, who is "deserves" advancement.
Now, don't get me wrong! I am not against advancement in and of itself. Just try to see that advancement is not a right. There is no way to deserve it. Advancement is something that egoistic people do, by fighting for it, either openly or covertly behind the scenes, but still fighting, still forming hostile intent toward others.
The very meaning of the word "advancement" discloses the truth. How do we recognize someone who has "advanced"? We recognize them as being advanced in relation to others, less advanced. Without this distinction, the word "advancement" has no meaning. So desire for advancement is really a hostile desire, because essentially you desire to be above others. Saying that "a person desires others to be seen as being below oneself" is just a different way to describe the very same dynamic. This is not the same as desiring to benefit the community and oneself and being spontaneously promoted by the community without actively seeking it out. A person who has been promoted by the community does not attach much sentimental weight to it, and sees it as a service to perform, rather then spoils of "hard work" to enjoy. And should the community want another person to supercede such community-promoted individual, such individual gladly gives up their top spot, because all along they had no hostile motivation to make others seem as below themselves.
"Hard work" doesn't mean good work or moral work. Many people work hard at self-promotion and getting others to buy into their ponzy schemes. Some of them work 70 hour weeks and make big risks, and extract big rewards. That doesn't mean it's good. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it leads to a good life.