The hazards of literal listening
I was describing the data sources for each field in my colleague’s report, when I saw her expression transform from interest to upset. “Is something the matter?” I asked. “You did ask why the report is showing the wrong information. Right?” She replied, obviously annoyed, “You know that’s not what I meant. Please don’t be so literal.” After a moment of confusion, I realized that she really wanted to know what we needed to do to fix her report, not a detailed explanation of the failure mode. At some point, everyone in IT has this sort of...
Read MoreEven if you can’t measure it, you still must manage it
The other day, after speaking to an audience of technical people about the importance of building good relationships at work, a young help desk manager asked, “What metrics should I monitor for that?” I realized that he was trying to reconcile the importance of relationships with a conflicting tenet of his managerial faith that says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” We geeks love that idea. It meshes with our preference for objectively verifiable facts over squishy subjectivity. We find metrics comforting, having been taught to expect...
Read MoreBeing right vs. not being wrong
We geeks have a reputation that we neither want nor entirely deserve. To a lot of people, it seems as if we always have to be right — to prove that, no matter the circumstance, we know best. I believe that’s a false impression, but it’s easy to see how it came to be. Some of the most common complaints about technical people are that they interrupt with condescending corrections, become impatient when they have to explain things, qualify every statement so that it is precisely correct and dismiss unsupported opinions as invalid. If you aren’t steeped in the psychology...
Read MoreBuild relationships, and career opportunities will follow
Your future success in the IT industry depends on embracing one simple, but hard-to-accept idea: There are no more jobs. I don’t mean that there’s no more work to do. Of course there is. Nor do I mean that you won’t get hired to do things. Of course you will. What I mean is that in nearly every way that counts, we are all contractors now. The only difference between being an employee and being a contractor is the benefits. The critical features that we think of as part of the employment relationship can’t be relied on: security, career path, skill development and so...
Read MoreRogue IT, and power as an obstacle to influence
After I wrote last month’s column on why CIOs don’t have more influence with “the business,” I participated in a fascinating conversation with a group of big-company IT operations directors that perfectly illustrated how we in IT undermine our own influence. The discussion turned to rogue IT, with a general consensus that it was pervasive. One estimate, which was not greatly scoffed at, was that rogue IT might constitute 15% of the average large company’s IT spending. But while nearly all of the IT leaders agreed that rogue IT was widespread, they showed...
Read MoreHow CIOs can become more influential
Nobody believes that “CIO” stands for “chief influence officer.” CIOs themselves know better, though they’d like to contribute to decision-making. I recently facilitated a conversation among a group of CIOs who collectively seemed both mystified and hurt by their own lack of influence within their organizations. “I give them what they want, but when it comes to the big decisions, I don’t get a seat at the table” was a typical sentiment. The consensus was that, if organizations would seek out the CIO’s perspective when deliberating on...
Read MoreCheck your work, or else
I often wish I had a time machine so I could go back and prevent technical people from taking their first step toward client relationship hell — where all interactions are tainted by the sense of mutual discomfort and mistrust that often emerges when geeks mix with business people. It frequently starts with one small, wholly unnecessary misstep. One of the most common complaints I hear from business people about us geeks is that we deliver things that don’t work. You might be thinking that I mean “don’t work” as in “don’t meet some unarticulated...
Read MoreNEW BOOK: 8 Steps to Restoring Client Trust
We are pleased to announce the release of our new book.
At a neat 118 pages, this book is a succinct, no-nonsense set of instructions for what to do and what not to do when you have an unhappy client. It's especially prized by technical people who, when faced with emotionally charged situations, want a clear and concise set of rules to follow. When your client is really steamed, disappointed, or ready to give up, and your own instincts fail you, this book steps in to save the day.
