InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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December 2, 1997
The age of heroes and stars is prevalent within our profession. The majority of accolades go to the individuals who put in the new system and who directl
y interface with the customer. The support staff (the behind the scenes people) very seldom get the accolades they deserve.
It is the rare project that goes into production without significant hand-holding taking place. However, the moment that an application is installed in production it is forgotten that someone has to make it work. Unfortunately, computer applications are not like fine wine ("never released before its time"). The reality is that many times systems are released before their time. It is almost analogous to a car coming off of an assembly line which has only three wheels, no seats and is still being painted. Would you say that this deserves accolades as a good product delivered on time?
Now to get to the question. No matter how hard we try to acknowledge the efforts of the support staff, there is still a void because they are never on the pedestal when the awards and rewards are given to the "star" who implemented a headache. How can we motivate our staff so that they can rise above accol
ades being showered on just one area of contribution to the overall success ultimately provided to the customer?
Thoughts?
John
You raise an issue that is of key importance in managing an IT shop. In fact, you are correct that frequently the developers get all of the praise while the operations and maintenance staff get all of the late night calls and weekend work.
I do not, however, think that you are going to change the mentality of the user community. First of all, they paid for the new system and they expect it to work when it goes into production. If they reward anyone, it will be the people who did the initial design and development, not the maintenance people. Can you blame them? When was the last time any of us called the telephone company and thanked it for always making sure we have the dial tone on our phone?
The second part of the problem is that IT managers are not likely to make a big issue to use
rs about how hard the maintenance and operations people are working to keep the new system running. It is not in their own best interest to trumpet the fact that this brand-new, whiz-bang expensive application has a whole lot of flaws. They are paid to get it right the first time, so they have little incentive to make a public showing of how things are not working exactly as planned.
The solution is for the head of the IT function and the senior managers within it to realize that the unsung people who get things done are very important to the organization and its success. Their retention as employees and their job satisfaction is important. To ensure this, I always suggest the same two things.
The first and most obvious is for there to be recognition events for these people: throw a lunch, give out awards, make sure that their peers know what they are valued. Treat them with the respect that they deserve.
The second thing is harder, but even more important; it requires planning. When you build the team
that will initially install the system, make the maintenance and operations people part of the team from the start. Not only will you make sure that there is a smooth transition from development to production, but I bet you that there will be fewer design flaws because the people who have to run it will come up with some good ideas. And, finally, as icing on the cake, the users will then be inclined to include these people in the praise that goes to the team for a successful implementation.Try it, it works.
Liked your column "
Serving Food For Thought
." Why did you choose the Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay?
Jay
It's always a pleasure to address a question that raises the level of the column above the mundane technical and managerial aspects of our respective daily endeavors. The Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay
has just the right amount of aroma and body, coupled with a long, smooth oak finish to it. Besides, it has a great looking label.
I just read "Serving Food For Thought" (I know, but anytime I get within a month of reading the myriad trade journals I receive, I count that as "almost caught up," but that's a personal problem). You comment on the need for solid communications skills. I am a senior manager with a consulting company and have been in a leadership or management role for over 13 years.
I have seen many skilled and talented technicians and project managers fail because of poor interpersonal and less-than-adequate communication skills. It is indeed a shame that in college and early career stages, people become adept at only a portion of the skills necessary to be effective, and nobody gives these folks a clue.
I am reminded of two quotes that I heard very early: while in the Insurance group at EDS, one of
our senior consultants told a group of us "young pups": "Remember, you're not programmers or technicians, you're insurance professionals solving insurance problems, and happen to be using computers to do so." Also, a quote from the movie character Cash McCall, "The problem is, no matter what business you're in, it's a people business."
I appreciate your columns and nuggets of wisdom.
Regards,
JRL
I almost didn't publish your letter because we've had so many comments on that particular column, but what you had to say is so important, that I had to share it with everyone.
I love your column and I value your opinion. I am currently working for a major telecommunications company managing corporate WANs. I recently changed my college major from electrical engineering to business because I recognize that to move up the corporat
e ladder I will need to be more business-savvy than technical. My question is, what business specialization and/or courses should I take that will have the greatest impact on achieving corporate success? I would love to have a career solving business problems with technology.
Thank you,
Terry
It is possible that you may never get advice such as this from anyone else, but here goes: Take a public speaking course, a psychology course, a history of science course, and a finance course.
The public speaking course will help you present your ideas to management. If you cannot present your ideas clearly, no one will think you have the talent to move ahead. A psychology course will help you understand people's motivation and hopefully assist in ensuring that you are being sensitive to their needs. The history of science course, if properly done, will help you to ponder how some people can get new ideas and use them to solv
e problems -- some of which, people did not even realize existed. Finally, the finance course will let everyone know that you can talk the same lingo they can, even if you sometimes seem to come up with clever ideas and can communicate them clearly.
I've been a system developer for many years, and am currently working as a database administrator. I have had nothing but success when developing information systems that have had the basis of well-designed, logical data models. Such systems seem to build themselves and are always expandable and flexible.
Lately I've been called in to fix the products of failed development efforts. Without exception, these systems lack the foundation of a well-thought-out logical data model. When I have the opportunity to ask the highly paid consultant/developer from the prestigious company why they rushed through the data modeling, I receive the reply that everybody knows how to
model data. It seems that it is so easy that they don't have to bother doing it; just start coding.
My question is: If data modeling is so easy, why don't they do it? Bonus question: How long will "systems professionals" continue blundering in this fashion?
Best regards,
G. William Brooks
Answer to test question:
Answer to extra-credit question:
I have to admit, I was scared after reading "
So Much for Helping Morale
." Up until "the inevitable" termination, I thought you might have been talking about me. I'm interested to know the specific issues Hal faced or experienced; you were rather vague with the details. If things happened the way you described them (he was a victim), couldn't he have sued for wrongful termination? I'm surprised that, despite the quick departure, he still received a severance package.
Very Confused
In retrospect, Hal realized that his boss was telling him to implement a series of management changes but would never voice his support in front of others. Most of these changes were the sort of things that make sense, but are not necessarily popular. Hal was told, for example, that users were wasting money and needed to justify projects on the basis of value to the company. When Hal asked users questions about the value of a proposed system, they would react that it was really none of the business of t
he IS people since the user groups were funding the work. When Hal's boss would be confronted by the users, he would never admit it was his own idea, but instead would agree with them and then turn around and tell Hal that maybe he should back off because the time was not ripe. In that way he would come across to the users as being a great guy for supporting his own people while at the same time straightening them out so that they would not go beyond their scope of authority. Similar stunts were pulled and I could list them, but I think you get the idea.
So far as the quick departure and the severance package, this is not an unusual situation. In general, professional people serve in a job at will. This means that they can be terminated without a lot of reason. Hal had little grounds on which to sue the company. No one slandered his character, nor did he feel that he could claim discrimination on racial, religious, gender, or age bias. The money helped ensure that he kept thinking that way. It showed he was
treated fairly.
If you felt that the column could have been written about you, up to the very end, then be very sure to think long and hard about you own situation. Otherwise, you may find that the ending is not all that different, either.
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