Slashdot Mirror
Shedding Light On the Black Art of IT Management
Cathy writes "An article by Harvard's Andrew McAfee tells nontechnical managers how not to get overwhelmed by the 'drumbeat' of IT projects. McAfee breaks down IT into three categories — functional, network, and enterprise — and says that this framework 'can also indicate which IT initiatives are going to be relatively easy to implement and on which projects executives should focus. In that light, IT management starts to look less like a black art and more like the work of the executive.'"
Most of the techniques for managing IT Operations have been known for decades. It's just that each generation seems to insist on learning everything the hard way. Believe it or not, the mainframe folks in the 1970s really did know a lot about IT Operations.
Other than thst, the biggest problem I see today is middle managers on up not bothering to talk to their technical people and wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on poorly configured equipment.
Lucky we have commentary Academe to put us people that actually work in IT onto the proper path. Possibly he would be equally open to our suggestions on how universities should operate.
Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three.
...everything I need to know about management from Dilbert.
A friend recommended it (The Mythical Man Month) to me 10 years ago when I was a Sr. C++ developer at a small start-up. I read it, then later re-read it. Years later, after going over to the "dark side" and becoming a manager I often still quote from that same book after going through things like RUP, Agile, MSF, etc. Everyone puts a new spin on the reality that if you have a project with a manager that is not technical they have to have a VERY strong development lead or they are in deep doo doo.
In the past some at some companies people could not fathom a good project manager being a good architect. Where I currently work that is not the case. My strong management skills are important, but my technical knowledge is also valued. I have seen change in the industry in this direction. I hope it continues. At the end of the day what was valid over 40 years ago is still valid today.
--Cally
Here are the real parts of IT management:
1) Risk aversion: throw amazing amounts of cash at an external vendor to manage "risk". This way, when something goes wrong, you can point your finger outside of your domain.
2) Kickbacks: because you are throwing tremendous amounts of money around in step #1, you'll quickly find that the external vendors are willing to throw some back - strictly off the record. They'll also pay for your prostitutes.
3) Blind decision making: since you've paid external vendors to take on the bulk of the risk, there is little reason for your reward (see: risk/reward). This means that you can NOT delegate decisions to the people who have the knowledge to make them as you would be left to do nothing at all. Instead, subscribe to Gartner. They'll tell you what to do. They'll even tell you what to do after you realize that what they told you before was wrong (see: outsourcing, buy instead of build, etc).
Rinse and repeat. Posting anonymously for obvious reasons.
It is really targeted at poeple who find IT confusing and needs to get an idea of what it is. It categorises and simplifies - maybe in a useful way for people who need an introduction. But again: not for the slashdot audience. Move on.
:-)
Read the article again, it's focussed on the non-technical people managing technical people. Yeah, right - one of the "people who find IT confusing" can be YOUR boss tomorrow !! (Surprize!!!!)
When the sh*t hits the fan, you'd need to know what to point her to, and more-importantly - to know what the hell she's been reading!
When you need to babysit your boss, every bit of knowledge helps
- mritunjai