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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."
I see parallels between the IT field and my own (communications, as in PR, not telcom) because, while you can come up with certain measurements, they mean very little in the end. This is because most of the people who matter don't understand what you do anyway. What they know is leadership, management and teamwork, and IT and communication departments many times really are black holes in these areas. I've been a couple of places where the only reasons people put up with IT and PR is that they don't understand computers and they're afraid of the media.
On the PR side we have a concept called the dominant coalition. I just means the group of people who dominate the organization (it's usually more than just the boss, and rarely mirrors the organization chart exactly). Do a little strategic communications research on them: figure out what they like, how they talk, what they value and how they do things. Then get on board as much as your field and personal ethics will allow. You don't have to go whole hog sycophant, either. Just find out what's important to them and do the things you feel comfortable doing -- learn their staff work, wear "management" clothes, take a couple business courses to learn the lingo. Just remember that sometimes the leader has to take one (or several) for the team. You might have to buy a couple sport coats to wear to meetings so you can better represent your guys while you're there. And it all counts in the end -- how you work, your personal habits, etc. Yeah, it's not fair, but it's fact.
You're not trying to build up brownie points, either. You're trying to do two things, really: show them you're part of the team, and build up enough credibility so they're open to your education and ideas. If you really, really want to resist becoming a "suit," or whatever you want to call it, you might consider telling them you'd rather go back to being a code monkey. You've taken on a responsibility, and most of earning your money now comes down to two things: taking care of the boss and taking care of your guys. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay on the technical side. There's only something wrong with taking the management money, sitting in the management seat and keeping your head on the technical side. You're screwing your boss and your guys.
Once you build up some credibility, you can educate them slowly and carefully about what you do and what you can do. For most people, getting down to the nitty gritty with IT guys is like listening to Geordi LaForge. It's all tachyons and sub-space transmissions. And most IT guys, I must say, seem to cultivate that. As I made my personal journey from a Mac user who was happy to fiddle with themes to a Slackware user who built his own boxes, I discovered what bullshitters many IT guys were. Not that they were evil or lazy, just that they had a perfect cover for continuing to do what they preferred to do, or not taking on something they didn't want to, or for getting money they didn't really need. And while they got away with it quite a bit, people knew. They could rarely pin the IT guys down enough to enforce their will, but in the backs of their minds they knew. That also explains a lot of seemingly capricious decisions: the management just doesn't trust you, and can't base denial on a deep understanding of what you do, so it denies things on whim or intuition, which is sometimes quite wrong. But bullshitters bring it on themselves.
Anyway, as you educate, get your guys on board with the rest of the team. Go where they're going, and don't just be the slave standing in the back with the emergency oar repair kit. Row. Figure out a way. If you take the previous poster's advice and start to get noticed for the fact things run so well you're not terribly busy, manage by walking around. Stop by some drone's desk and ask how you could help him more.
And lastly, remember you're in a service industry. Don't let the hardware fool you. You're the guys who keep the computers and the Internet working. T