Evaluating the Performance of an IT Department?

Daniele Pagano asks: "I have just been promoted from code monkey to manager of the IT department of a construction subcontractor. As far as this industry goes, we are relatively high-tech (and getting better), but like many IT departments we are often considered a necessary money 'black hole' (i.e. they just notice the outages). So one question that arises is: how do we actually value our work? That is, how much money are we actually saving the company, and how do we demonstrate it to them? How do we value the contributions of each IT staff member (say, for a bonus or raise) in an objective, quantifiable manner? I know there is no one correct answer, and I have many ideas, but I thought we could pull our thoughts together for the betterment of small IT departments everywhere."

Comments

Re:Make sure to outsource

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, its self-righteous IT folks that show your attitude that give IT a bad name.

Our IT department is everything you describe. I'm in a business unit, and I can't rely on my IT group. They're worse that the "outsourcing" you describe. It shows that somewhere along the line the IT department forgot their goal: support and enable other departments with technology. Period. I'm a revenue-generating unit (yes, what you deposit in your paycheck.) And, when I observe a signficant bug/problem/issue, I expect my IT department to log it, validate it, spec it, priotitize it, and RESOLVE it.

What happens when that doesn't work? I go solve my own problems, and keep making money for the company. I hire technical staff reporting to my department, I outsource projects that IT hasn't gotten around to yet, I buy my own hardware, and don't give you the root passwords.

I'm happy to play within the lines and work with my IT department--up until a point. After that, I have a job to do.

I keep our Adminisphere informed on what's going on, including the VP of IT. "Hey, Bob, you're team hasn't updated a critical application in two years, I just hired a consultant to fix it."

Out with the old, in with the new.