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First Thing IT Managers Do In the Morning?
An anonymous reader writes "When I was a wee-little IT Manager, I interviewed for a position at an online CRM provider in San Francisco, a job I certainly was qualified for, at least on paper. One of the interviewer's questions was 'What is the first thing you do when you get to work in the morning?' I thought saying 'Read Slashdot' wouldn't be what he was looking for — so I made up something, I'm sure, equally lame. I didn't get the job. But the question has stuck with me over the years. What do real IT and MIS managers do when they walk in to the office in the morning? What Web sites or tools do they look at or use the first thing? Remember, this is for posterity, so please be honest."
If it's early in the iteration (we have two week cycles for our agile development plan) then I'll log on to XPlanner which is a Free Open Source project management tool that allows me to control the user stories and tasks for our project. Early on I look for people that have more hours than others and I try to mitigate that by visiting them and just talking over what they have to do on a high level with them. Since I'm still young and know all the technologies we use, I give them drawings and any sort of information they need to get the job done.
If it's near the end of an iteration or someone is empty, I shuffle tasks and then make a note to talk to both the people one on one when they get in. I also take the time in the morning to talk to people about what they need to work on so they don't spend all day on the wrong task. In the event of something pending that isn't going to get done, I schedule a meeting with my manager and maybe the customer. Haven't had to do that yet though.
Now, keep in mind this is only for a 10 person development team so it might not work on your level. But the first thing I do is assess the day by going over what people checked in and completed the day before in my project management tool, XPlanner. If you haven't used it, I heavily suggest and endorse it--you just need a server to host it on and you're ready. Oh and I'm 25 with little or no management experience prior to this so that could also make this advice completely worthless and naive.
In my opinion, the best thing a team lead can do is listen and, well before it happens, stop people from putting themselves in bad positions where they're in until 3 AM one night before a customer meeting. You take precautions at the beginning of every day and your team should be alright.
My work here is dung.
That's how you find out that while your staff was reading slashdot, a customer reported a major outage that nobody has handled.
First thing? I say hello to my team. Because even though "IT" comes before "Manager" in the title, it comes a distant second in terms of priority.
Whole lot of funny comments modded to +5, need more signal to noise I guess.
Heres what I do when I get in:
- Change backup tapes
- Do other things that have to be done (move tapes to off-site safe, make sure AC drip pan isn't full, etc)
- Check Nagios to make sure nothing is totaly f'ed up
- Tea
What I should do:
- Review my to do list and try and create some kind of schedule.
Good reading if your feeling a bit disorganized:Time Management for System Administrators
I think its quite true about your point on the 'annoying' co-worker. I think it takes some/most people a while to warm up to and understand others. Those who don't mope and bicker about the annoying person in the office. I think a different attitude and approach (getting to know them) and point out casually the point of annoyance maintains the best and healthiest workplace. I don't think there's one company I'll ever work for where I will like/agree with everyone -and the key here - is at least initially.
Of course reading Slashdot is one of the first things I do. I check for IT threats mainly.
I also read SANS Internet Storm Center.
Then email.
Once I am sure everything is OK, I further read Slashdot for more entertaining news. Then macrumors, macbytes, fark, eduo.info, lasalasdelalacran.blog.com
The I go to work. (30 minute walk)
We still tell our employees to shut down. But we also have the machines set to automatically start up at 7:30 AM (an option in most newer BIOSes). Updates are applied at 7:40 AM, rebooting in time for any 8:00 AM early birds (office opens at 8:30).
Why shut down vs. other power saving options? I don't like dealing with the power save options in XP. Most of them suck and aren't worth the trouble. And people still shut down even if we ask them not to.
When we finally upgrade to a suitable operating system that can handle true hibernation, I'll change the policy.
That combo used to be the only thing that worked for me too. Then I found I had secondary hyperparathyroidism (Vitamin D Deficiency). My ferritin was high as well though I'm not sure if that was related.
Get your vitamin D, calcium levels and parathyroid checked.
Just another guy with a CRT tan looking out for other guys with CRT tans...
In a decently run programming shop, programmers shouldn't have "emergencies" like system admins and IT people.
The worst thing I can think of is checking in code that breaks the build. Even then, it's usually easier to rollback the changes in the version control system and slap the developer when they get in.
Maybe not
It is good that you think of your employees and that you try, but I suspect you come off as rather phony.
I have had managers that always ask me how I am when they see me. Not just once in the morning, but every single time they come to my desk for something. I can see their brains ticking over..
1. Engage relationship management of employee.
2. Say what they actually came over to say.
We might have a little conversation, but it is so obvious they couldn't give a crap about what I am saying. I remember one particularly bad time when I walked into the office and my manager said "How are YOU? How was your weekend?", then said it again about 2 minutes later when he came to my desk for something.
Granted your techniques are a step above this, but it is still an attempt at manipulating your employees albeit for the good. It is likely they are aware of this, even if it is just a feeling and feel like you don't respect them because of it. I suggest just being yourself. Treat your employees like they treat each other. You may not have so many conversations with them, but when you do your interest will be real. They will pick up on your honesty, respect you and feel respected.
Where would I find this illustrious 'decently run programming shop' you speak of? I've worked in big business and small business and it seems like support tiers 1 and 2 basically just forward every ticket to me.
Check out my lame java blog at www.javachopshop.com
Setting aside the shut down vs. sleep mode argument, can't most computers boot themselves by now?
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
None taken.
Different people like different things. That goes for the employees and the employers. It's why Google does things one way, Fog Creek does things another and why some of us will quit jobs in disgust and never understand why our friends, who we thought were smart, will happily remain there for years.
I'm lucky, I've got a situation where my management have given me a free rein to do what I think is best, a team that appears to appreciate the environment I create and that's been able to pay off in terms of a sustained, significant increase in profitability (any idiot can increase profitability in the short term at long term expense), a huge increase in reputation for my team members within the company, with clients and even on standards bodies, etc. and, off the back of that demonstrable increase in profitability, the ability for me to argue for, and get, a large number of significant pay raises for every single long term team member in an industry where large raises tend to only be achievable by job hopping.
Sure, my style's not for everyone. One contractor we used sent me racist hate mail after we let him go for yelling at the receptionist, bitching that a server admin took too long to set up an account and then leaving after three hours because parking cost $8 for the day. In his case, my beliefs that we're the sum of our reputation, including how we treat others as well as how we perform technically, were so objectionable he needed to resort to vitriol. That's cool, I hope he'll be happy somewhere where you're allowed to attack people for improper care and handling of the self important. The great thing about the world is he gets to find a manager that suits him, reaping the rewards of that, while my team members get to find a manager that suits them, reaping their own rewards.
I'm not in any way denegrating nerds. I'm one first, learning the other aspects on top of that. Technical knowledge remains essential for a technical role and I was careful to state that I don't have respect for the technically illiterate, morally vacuous schmoozers out there. Where I've personally found works well for me, and works well for most employers, is the realization that a combination of strong technical skills with an understanding there's a human level too (where interaction with integrity rather than fake schmoozing is the emphasis) seems to generally make for a good manager.
I'm not perfect. I make all kinds of mistakes. But that's at least the philosophy I've formed, what I've observed many more senior managers seem to look to hire and, aiming for, has at least brought me a fair degree of success measured both in terms of how my team performs over the long term and how well I feel I've been able to do, looking out for the guys who do work for me.
Of course, those're just my observations and the direction I try to head in. That doesn't appeal to you? That's cool, it's a huge industry. Interviews should be as much about you interviewing your potential new management as about them interviewing you. You get to find somewhere that works for you, I get to build somewhere that appears to work pretty well for me, and we all come out of it pretty well.
I work for a small manufacturing company. I am 50% of the IT department. My job title in the HR database says "IT Manager". In practice, that means I'm CTO, system administrator, network administrator, server operator, software architect, DBA, phone guy, cable guy, automated test equipment tech, webmaster, desktop support, and that's just the short list. I also keep tabs on our application software specialist, but ultimately, I manage technology more than I manage people. If it uses electricity and isn't greasy or wet, it's my problem. (If it's greasy or wet, it's Maintenance's problem.) I like it this way; it keeps me from getting bored. To each their own, but don't assume yours is the only way. :)
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
First thing I do is put my glasses on. Check the BlackBerry. Flush. Shower/shave/breakfast. Check real e-mail. Drive 40 minutes.
It is now about 0705. I'm still 25 minutes from my first stop. I'm a field technician by title, but I'm the 'IT Manager' for 12-25 clients. And every single one is the most important client I have. Just ask my boss.
It's either the backup that didn't run again, the Exchange server that once again needs to be rebooted form an overnight &*#$up, the routers need to be reloaded since the power went out cause the UPS can't hold them overnight after the cleaners vacuum the cord out of the wall, or a new Dell workstation doesn't boot two days after being received and Dell won't get there before I can. And I charge them a maintenance agreement, cause they like Dell hardware but can't run a business on the service. And I told them about the capacitor problems a few years ago and they trust me but still buy Dell. Sheesh.
If only I were the IT manager for one single company with just as much stuff on fire, but a lot less driving, usually.
Ha! I ditched it for cubicle life! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm just a tooth on the gears now, not the SAE90 that gets dumped out and changed on some insane schedule...
If you're a good IT manager, you get coffee, check status, make the first call(s) of the morning, and settle in. If you're not a good IT manager, you check status, pee on whatever fires are burning the hottest, get coffee, and pray a little.
You do whatever needs to be done first. Right after coffee.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
05:15 Wake up - coffee
05:30 Clear emails from inbox, check calendar, write out actions for day, send a few emails kicking things off, catch up on digg/slashdot/bbc etc.
06:30 Leave for work
07:15 Arrive at Gym - 30 minutes - 5 cycle, 10 cross trainer, 15 running
08:15 Arrive at work.. sorted.
"I see. The fact that you...`can't explain'.. explains everything."
No lecturer actually collected their assignments at the 5pm cut off. Very few would even see it as a priority before noon the next day. They simply relied upon the department receptionist to tell them who handed it in on time and who gets the instant 20% knocked off for being late.
Befriend the receptionist and you got an extra night on every assignment. For the really big stuff, if she liked you enough, you'd tell her your woes and find she'd offer to tell the lecturer, "I'm SO sorry, Nick handed this to me before the deadline last week but I guess I put it down on the wrong pile." You then got to listen to the lecturer talk about what he had been looking for, after he assumed no one else could submit work, and leave everyone else wondering how you so effortlessly got straight As.
Sure, technically, each lecturer held more power. But every one of them always had students sucking up to them, trying to gradegrub, and was pretty much immune. And you had ten or twenty different lecturers you had to try it with.
Alternatively, one receptionist extended every deadline for you and knew the lecturers well enough to tell you great tidbits like, "Lecturer X admits in the staff breakroom that he likes a glass or two of whisky while he grades. He starts off grading pretty strict but jokes about how his criteria's much more 'relaxed' by the end of the night. I'll slip your assignment in where it'll get the most generous grader. Lecturer Y hates grading and gets more angry as the night goes on, so I'll put your assignment at the top of her stack."
Amazing how much power the people who allegedly don't have any power really wield.
Mind you, social engineering is also the reason why some hackers will spend days trying to crack security vulnerabilities in software while another guy will achieve just as much in a single phonecall.
Instead of going to the gym, I cycle to work. It's 9 miles/half an hour. It means I get an extra half hour to 45 minutes in bed!
In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
Good IT manager exists in exactly the same way as 'normal' good manager i.e. he does not.
"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life." Frank Zappa
In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
1. I arrive at my desk ...One of them gives me an update.
2. I open the lid on my coffee
3. I start to drink my coffee
4. I glare at my minions until...
5.
Delegation. Get others to put out your fires for you. THEN claim the credit.
-Jar.
Together, We Can Make Slashdot Better. I Do NOT Mod ACs. - Check Me Out
I go to sleep at 10 or so in the evening. I was never a morning person at all, I solved it by giving up smoking, and cutting the coffee out after 1 o'clock. Of course I'm a manager now, it was much harder as a developer, I used to sit up to all hours playing away with stuff.
For getting up - I use the default Nokia phone alarm, it starts quiet and gets louder, after I while I panic and jump out of bed before it starts waking the neighbors, then I head for the toilet rather than back to bed, and from there its relatively easy to get the coffee in.
"I see. The fact that you...`can't explain'.. explains everything."
"In the early days of the 20th century, Charles Schwab, president of U.S. Steel, was visited by Ivy Lee, a pioneer in management consulting, who said he could help U.S. Steel become more effective. When Schwab expressed doubt, Lee said he would give him a single suggestion to put into effect for one month and that Schwab could pay whatever he thought the idea was worth. Schwab accepted the proposal, Lee described his suggestion, and they agreed to meet again at the end of the month.
Schwab implemented the suggestion as described, and when the two men met again, he handed Lee a check for $25,000, representing $1,000 per minute for their 25-minute conversation. Schwab said it was the best advice he had ever received. It worked so well for him that he passed it on to all of his subordinate managers.
What was Lee's advice? Something simple: Every morning when Schwab got to work, or every night before going to bed, he was to make a list of all the things he wanted to accomplish that day (or the next) in order of priority. He was to work on the first item until he had done all he could do. He would likely be interrupted while working on the items, but he was to handle the interruption and then return to the task. Lee postulated that when managers are interrupted, they often forget what they were doing and never get back to it."
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Back when my wife had an earlier schedule than mine, I also learned to sleep through her alarm (and her 3 mandatory snoozes...), which also trained me to sleep through mine. I had developed a reflex to shut down my alarm in my sleep, without waking up. I have now moved my alarm clock (which is basically my Nintendo DS) far enough from my bed that I acually have to get up to shut it down. Although it did happen a couple of times that I somehow managed to get up, turn the alarm off, and get back to bed without waking up (!!!), it still ain't bad enough that I need one of these.
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming