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Learning to Manage IT workers
- 1. Bridging the Geek Gap in Your Business University of St. Francis School of Business
- 7. The CHAOS Study Standish Group Survey, The Art of Lean Software Development December 2008
- 8. Turnover rates Courtesy of Gartner Research August 18, 2009
- 12. Technology Worker = Geek The put down is not what it used to be and is a source of pride among the technology workers. Geeks are the knowledge workers who specialize in the creation, maintenance , or support of high technology. These are the people who will help you address these technology trends
- 15. Courtesy of Paul Glen, Leading Geeks , 2003
- 21. Why…understanding the Geek. Courtesy of Paul Glen, Leading Geeks , 2003
- 24. Courtesy of Paul Glen, Leading Geeks , 2003
- 28. Motivation of Geeks Courtesy of Paul Glen, Leading Geeks , 2003
- 30. Courtesy of Paul Glen, Leading Geeks , 2003
Editor's Notes
- Introduction, ask the others to introduce themselves.
- Review the learning objectives.
- What is all this about.
- What about your experience. Technology just doesn’t work like it is supposed to and the people who work with technology are different from typical workers. This is a profound cause of frustration.
- The Standish Group Survey exposes some very ugly trends in the technology business. One third of technology solutions you promise to your client are going to be on time and on budget. Over half will cost more and take longer than promised. The typical IT person stays at their position only three years according to ComputerWeekly.com July 12, 2007.
- The only reason the trend line went down is because of the great recession. The figure will rise again when the economy improves.
- Only 8.1% of all undergraduates take a computer science major according to Network World March 17, 2009. Compared to 13.1% for all undergraduates who take an accounting major according to Accounting web weekly news, September 27, 2009. 56% of major IT resources are outsourced because there are not enough American workers to do the job. (source The Geek Gap 2001). 44,900 H1B Visas for foreign workers to work in technology plus and additional petitions with Masters Degrees exemptions. All of this combines into the following.
- Most of us view the leadership of our firm this way. The leader at the top with followers tied together by the organizational culture. This does not work for technology professionals.
- The leader, technology worker, and the geekwork all tie together. All of this takes place in the organizational environment.
- The technology worker sees the world very differently from how other business people view it. They represent two very different tribes inside the same organization.
- These two tribes then have conflicts for three reasons. Because of a lack of respect and trust this undermines the effectiveness of the organization.
- The story of the “office technology weenie”. Complaints about geeks: 1) Geeks don’t understand- or want to understand anything about the business they work in; 2) Geeks love technology for its own sake; 3) Geeks expect – sometimes demand – that suits understand as much as they do about technology; 4) Can never seem to meet deadlines or stay within budget; 5) Rules do not apply to them; 6) Geeks are bad with people. Geek Concerns about suits: 1) Some refuse to learn anything about technology; 2) Suits who don’t understand technology nevertheless insist on making technological pronouncements; 3) Suits don’t value technology; 4) Suits care only about money; 5) Resist innovation; 6) Value Image over substance; 7) Set and expect unrealistic deadlines for task completion.
- Reason is to know, and to know is to be certain and to be certain is to be right, and to be right is to be safe. All things have reasons and all decisions must be reasonable. All problems have solutions, reality is endlessly fascination to geeks and it is the ultimate puzzle to solve. Smart people have lots of street cred. with Geeks. This is why the Nobel prize and other awards for achievement are just like gold stars. Talk about the Bozo bit. The technologist is more like a painter or a filmmaker than a standard employee. The way to stay employed is to keep your skills up to date. The Hacker ethos. Identify with heroes from Science fiction and fantasy.
- Lead this discussion.
- To illustrate estimates are wrong bring a crossword puzzle to someone and ask them to give an estimate to how long it will take to complete. Ask how much they know about their network. That illustrates that they don’t know more than their network people.
- Leadership has two very different motivations.
- For your IT staff you are going to act like a football coach.
- To the rest of the firm you are going to have to act as cheerleader and spokes person.
- These are some proven techniques which improve IT performance.
- Want to alienate your IT staff just do these things.
- Review the Ambiguity pyramid.
- Don’t joke about ethics. It is a big deal.
- In the next module we are going to talk about project management and how agile is one way to address it.
- This is the most touchy feely part of Ambiguity management. You are actually giving people roles they have to fulfill.
- Project management, understanding the motivations of geeks and how they view the world is going to be crucial to your success.