Shedding Light On the Black Art of IT Management 57
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.'"
Tunnel Vision (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure about that? My boss answered your post with "Maybe I'm not the greatest technical mind, but I know what I need to - to trust in the people I hired to do these IT projects, that they'll make sure there's enough return on each dollar spent. Pretty simple."
One of the reasons I work here.
Soko
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hmmph.
Re:Tunnel Vision (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Not for slashdot audience (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not for slashdot audience (Score:5, Interesting)
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
Re: (Score:1)
Black Art? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Black Art? (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed, the whole article scores a giant, "DUH!"
The real problem with IT project management is that very few people can functionally integrate management/business skills with IT skills. They are fundamentally different ways of thinking and not very many folks are that flexible upstairs.
So you generally end up with one of two types of project managers, those who can manage but don't know enough about IT to read between the lines and translate a programmer's estimate of 1000 hours into a real world 4000 hours, and those who are ridiculously capable behind the keyboard but can't handle personnel issues worth a damn.
(Speaking as that very rare third type who IS that flexible and has to deal with the other two types on a daily basis. Sometimes I think I should change my title from "Consultant" to "Bi-directional Tech/Management Translator".
Re:Black Art? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other"
Each generation has far more fools than the previous one. Population expansion and all that. You can spot these people because they never learn from anything other than their own mistakes. Ironically, many of them think that this is a virtue.
In the 1970s, mainframes were hard to work with. You had to be good to get anywhere at all. Nowadays, it is far easier for an idiot to use a computer.
Oh, and in recorded history, there are no significant instances of people learning from history. That's why it always repeats.
A heartfelt thank you.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Black art... oh, that... (Score:2, Funny)
I've already learned... (Score:5, Funny)
IT Management and Fred Brooks (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Not who I want to get tips from (Score:3, Funny)
name of ill omen (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Lucky we have commentary Academe to put us people that actually work in IT onto the proper path.
Hey, someone's got to, and I can count on a very few fingers the number of IT managers I've met who know who Fred Brooks is.
Our IT Department (Score:1, Funny)
Firefighting - finding those lovely bad caps
Suspect Web Development - adding spaghetti PHP code
Trolley pushing - bring out ya dead PCs
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I think you are talking about two different things. Personally, I would prefer to be managed by someone who admits that they don't understand all of the details, but instead trusts the team and does a good job of helping them work together to reach the project's goals. It's one thing to understand the long term goals and have an overview of the technology involved, and another thing to stick your nose in because you have some cursory knowledge.
I think it boils down to the difference between a project ma
Re: (Score:2)
It's not only mainframes were hard to work with, you also have to squeeze out every bit from it and every clock cycle. Today, you can easily add more memory, cpu and disk for almost nothing to any computer. So, a badly written application, sub-optimal system can be made working about right just throwing hardware at it. Something like trashputing instead of
Don't ask me to fix your computer. (Score:1)
P.S. All of the desktop administrators I have known have been extremely helpful, skilled in multiple areas and far from lazy. Maybe I'
Re:It's unfortunately just like any other manageme (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And regarding iterative design, part of that process lies in prototyping and getting feedback as soon as possible from the users. The "waterfall" has its share of issues too. Plenty of projects have been designed and designed and designed and then built, only to find out afterwards that none of the users read or understood the hundreds of pages of "specs" and what was built doesn't
Re:It's unfortunately just like any other manageme (Score:1)
His philosophy was quite similar; "IT is by no means important, it's just a necessary evil. A means to an end." He then went on about how no one is even truly dependent on IT, computers, or information.
Re: (Score:2)
As have many managers... which is why Dilbert exists in the first place... wait, Dilbert is creating some kind of tear in the space-time continuum, isn't it?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
No, you are not correct. Project manager needs to facilitate the design, they do not have to get involved on the technical level - if they have good people whom they can trust. Project management is not about delivering, it's about managing the delivery. Sometimes it is even a disadvantage to mix these two. You have to draw a line between your responsibilities as a project manager and the team who delivers. Otherwise you can be side
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Ever hear of the PMP certification? It is handled by the Project Management Institute. They state that it is a necesity that a project manager have technical knowledge. You certainly don't need to be an expert, but if you aren't capable of understanding a detailed progress report, you will be incapable of managing the project.
Howbout Engeneering? (Score:2, Insightful)
WTF (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Tunnel Vision (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Obligatory... (Score:1)
In a perfect world... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
wrong categories (Score:2)
Oh wait, that third one falls into the second category, but the magic of "I'm in charge, do what I say" comes into play and suddenly the need to determine whether or not the project is worth the money being spent flys out the window.
If you work on projects that
reply (Score:1)