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IT Management Slideshow:
The Geek's Guide to Navigating the Business World

By Dennis McCafferty on 2011-09-12


Chances are, your love of all things tech is what set you on your current career path. Likewise, you hire staff primarily for their technology skills. But, too often, IT people at all levels find themselves “lost in the weeds” of systems and applications, losing site of business objectives. In fact, more than 90 percent of large IT projects fall short on schedule, cost and quality goals, according to industry research. The book Going Corporate: A Geek's Guide (Apress/Available now), demonstrates how CIOs and other tech-department leaders can foster a sense of corporate focus among IT teams. Author Shailendra Kadre contends that CIOs must ensure their team members understand and appreciate the total business environment that they’re hired to support. In the end, these employees will reap career benefits. “By becoming aware of what’s important to your superiors, and what’s current in the industry, you will do your job better,” Kadre says. “And it will prepare you for bigger, more lucrative jobs that can amplify the positive impact you have in the companies you work for.” Kadre is a prolific writer/author on tech topics, as well as a 17-year leadership veteran within the IT industry, having worked for companies such as Oracle Financial Services Software. Here are selected highlights:

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Cultivate Emotional Intelligence within Your Teams
Encourage strong communications/listening skills when interacting with other departments, as well as the ability to remain cool under fire.

Put Together the Puzzle Pieces
IT teams need a total IT view of how modules or sub-systems fit in with applications or transactions – and interface with other systems internally and externally.

Know the Four Signs of Trouble
1. A silo-based IT structure
2. Apps that run on multiple platforms/technologies
3. Legacy apps that are expensive to maintain
4. Non-responsive, highly inert systems that distract from core businesses/new initiatives

Put Lean IT to the Rescue
Address classic tech-operations challenges with pay-per-use, cloud, or SaaS-based IT delivery models to increase efficiencies, reduce TCO.

Learn the Three Factors for Project Success
1. Objectives: From beginning, have your team project managers clarify and document goals, making sure they’re aligned with organization mission.

Learn the Three Factors for Project Success
2. Deadlines: They must be respected. Set these according to factors such as budget cycles, quarterly reports, regulatory needs and even key executives’ vacation schedules.

Learn the Three Factors for Project Success
3. Risk management: Your team must identify a project’s potential for technical, external and organizational risk, then calculate the probability of occurrences and cost impact.

Four Essential Questions that Metrics Must Answer
1. Were stages completed on time and within budget?
2. What resources were required?
3. Did scope remain within forecasts or did it creep?
4. What quality standards were met?

Three Steps to Get Your Project Accepted
1. Secure strong executive support.
2. Manage expectations of influential stakeholders.
3. Practice your change-management plan.

Keep End Users Happy
The user experience -- including response time to fix any problems -- will heavily influence whether or not your IT project is considered to be a success by the ultimate customer: your end users.

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