Comment Don't Believe the Hype (Score 1) 231
fbg111 if you're reading through these responses and feeling discouraged, please keep your chin up. I've noticed that many (not just in IT) resist organization and planning. However as an IT professional with 10+ years of experience in the field (and I'm still in the trenches mind you) I believe that IT is like any other department within a company and can leverage planning & organization in order to operate smarter and be more effective. (BWT... This is the sort of thing that has to be embraced from the top down & in the culture. Tactical execs / managers & workers will never see a need for planning anywhere and will quickly dispatch the planners.)
There's always going to be people that say project management and IT are like oil & water. Here are some random reasons why I think this is:
#1 - BAD MANAGERS: There are plenty of crappy middle (and higher) managers out there using plans, policies and procedures as an excuse for people skills - if one has only been subjected to poor planning & organization, of course they will avoid it! Respect cannot be gained with a piece of paper, sorry.
#2 - DOERS: Many talented technical folks are "DOERS" and despise anyone recording, let alone dictating their hours, work or behavior. I think more managers need to respect these people and manage them accordingly. It's ok to put plans and policies in place, but don't expect everyone to salute. Let them come to you. Good managers keep everyone believing they are being treated equally, but always treat everyone individually according to their need (within reason people... always remember common sense!)
#3 - Disbelievers and Cynicals - See the posts above saying "run away" and "that's a pipe dream on paper" ? Let them run. If there is just cause, stay and fight. You'll learn more fighting than running.
#4 - Upper Management - If a company is built to flip, or run by DOERS then forget planning. For example, do the top brass of your company share the same views as your new CIO? If not then expect the plan to fail. It simply won't be embraced, and the nay Sayers are right in this case. However if the new CIO has some power and can sell organizational packages to upper management, then you will be part of positive change. Otherwise you'll all still be floating around in limbo, and that might be how the president likes it.
Ok that's the end of my brain dump. I'm a hybrid planner & doer. I can do with the best & plan with the rest. I believe that small companies should not plan, but most large companies must to be competitive. It sounds like your company is at a cross-roads. My most important advice to you: BE PATIENT.. wait, watch & learn. Don't stick you head out far enough to be cut off, but don't stick it in the mud either. Observe, listen, decide in a direction and move that way, then reassess often.
Good luck!
Here's a sure-fire way to see if you're talking to a fire-fighter or
Ever listen to Dale Carnegie or Franklin Covey? You can't be efficient with people. You just can't. Doesn't work. Sorry. People aren't robots.
But enough ranting about the status quo! Let's be positive. Let's participate in change instead of resist it... Let's talk about how companies get "good to great" and so on.
>fbg111 asks: "I've recently joined a company, a regional airline, with an IT department that has grown organically (ie in response to immediate, rapid-growth-driven need, rather than according to any organizational plan).
Ok. This sounds typical, and you're having growing pains now. As the company continues to grow & evolve the culture will too.
>In the past five years the company has come to rely on IT... 3/4's of its revenue.
This sounds naive. Let's
lack of defined career paths and ... promotion 'triggers' makes techs feel 'stuck' in dead-end situations,
lose good people who find more transparent advancement opportunities elsewhere.
joined the new CIO's task force for putting together a plan that addresses the immediate problem of defining career advancement paths and payscales
There's always going to be people that say project management and IT are like oil & water. Here are some random reasons why I think this is:
#1 - BAD MANAGERS: There are plenty of crappy middle (and higher) managers out there using plans, policies and procedures as an excuse for people skills - if one has only been subjected to poor planning & organization, of course they will avoid it! Respect cannot be gained with a piece of paper, sorry.
#2 - DOERS: Many talented technical folks are "DOERS" and despise anyone recording, let alone dictating their hours, work or behavior. I think more managers need to respect these people and manage them accordingly. It's ok to put plans and policies in place, but don't expect everyone to salute. Let them come to you. Good managers keep everyone believing they are being treated equally, but always treat everyone individually according to their need (within reason people... always remember common sense!)
#3 - Disbelievers and Cynicals - See the posts above saying "run away" and "that's a pipe dream on paper" ? Let them run. If there is just cause, stay and fight. You'll learn more fighting than running.
#4 - Upper Management - If a company is built to flip, or run by DOERS then forget planning. For example, do the top brass of your company share the same views as your new CIO? If not then expect the plan to fail. It simply won't be embraced, and the nay Sayers are right in this case. However if the new CIO has some power and can sell organizational packages to upper management, then you will be part of positive change. Otherwise you'll all still be floating around in limbo, and that might be how the president likes it.
Ok that's the end of my brain dump. I'm a hybrid planner & doer. I can do with the best & plan with the rest. I believe that small companies should not plan, but most large companies must to be competitive. It sounds like your company is at a cross-roads. My most important advice to you: BE PATIENT.. wait, watch & learn. Don't stick you head out far enough to be cut off, but don't stick it in the mud either. Observe, listen, decide in a direction and move that way, then reassess often.
Good luck!
Here's a sure-fire way to see if you're talking to a fire-fighter or
Ever listen to Dale Carnegie or Franklin Covey? You can't be efficient with people. You just can't. Doesn't work. Sorry. People aren't robots.
But enough ranting about the status quo! Let's be positive. Let's participate in change instead of resist it... Let's talk about how companies get "good to great" and so on.
>fbg111 asks: "I've recently joined a company, a regional airline, with an IT department that has grown organically (ie in response to immediate, rapid-growth-driven need, rather than according to any organizational plan).
Ok. This sounds typical, and you're having growing pains now. As the company continues to grow & evolve the culture will too.
>In the past five years the company has come to rely on IT... 3/4's of its revenue.
This sounds naive. Let's
lack of defined career paths and
lose good people who find more transparent advancement opportunities elsewhere.
joined the new CIO's task force for putting together a plan that addresses the immediate problem of defining career advancement paths and payscales
