Archive for the ‘mismanagement’ Category
Dysfunctional IT attitudes: processes are more important than people
The service desk phone rang one morning. The guys were busy attending to other jobs, so the manager picked up the call, “Morning, IT service desk, Jake speaking. How can I help you?”
“I had asked for Consolidate to be installed on my new computer, but have just noticed that it wasn’t.” The lady at the other end of the line sounded irritated. The software should have been installed on her computer – it was on top of the list she had provided to the service desk when she’d put in the request for her new computer.
“Have you logged a service request?” enquired Jake.
“Yes,” she said, ‘but this is urgent. I have to send my sales figures for the month to head office this morning, and I can’t do it without Consolidate. Could you please send someone up right away?”
There was a short pause at Jake’s end. “I’m looking at the SLA right now, and Consolidate isn’t listed as a business critical application. There’s no way we can do this right now.”
“Look, it’s critical as far as I’m concerned. It’s got to be done right away or head office won’t get their sales figures. So, when can I expect a response?” Her annoyance levels were starting to increase
“Not before tomorrow, or may be even day after, depending on how soon we clear other, pending jobs.”
“I think I’ve made it clear this is important. Can’t you do it sooner?”
“No.” Jake clearly thought that no further explanation was necessary. Can’t have folks jumping the queue; service desk processes were put in place for a reason.
She took a more conciliatory tone, “Please understand,” she said, “I wouldn’t make an issue out of it if it weren’t important… the sales figures must be done by this afternoon. I just need the application installed; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”
“Sorry, you’ll just have to wait.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.
She’s starting to get really ticked off now. “It was a help desk mess-up in the first place. You should take responsibility and fix it now.”
“Perhaps you didn’t hear what I said; someone will come by tomorrow or day after. That’s the best we can do given that Consolidate is not a business critical application. You’ll just have to wait your turn.” There was no response from her side, so he added, “We have processes in place. We can’t bypass them for just any request.”
Jake’s reference to processes only annoyed her further, “Obviously your processes – whatever they may be – don’t work. The application should have been installed when I got my computer.”
“I’m sorry about that, but I can’t make any exceptions to the way we deal with service requests.” He sounded even less sorry now.
She seethed. “Thanks….you’ve been so very helpful.” Her tone made it clear that she thought Jake was being singularly unhelpful. She hung up, not waiting for a response.
—
Jake had a point: proper functioning of a service desk depends on processes. Bypassing these can lead to problems – not the least being that everyone would expect an instant response. Service desk processes ensure efficiency and transparency. Everyone knows what they can expect when they lodge a request; expected service levels being documented in excruciating detail in service level agreements. Yes, all this is true, and can’t be argued. Even so, I can’t help but think that the lady deserved better. Jake could have explained his position in a more acceptable way, or damn it – even got off his rear and fixed the issue himself in five minutes flat. He would have bypassed his beloved processes, but gained much goodwill in doing so.
Over the years, processes have become entrenched in corporate IT, as witnessed by the plethora of best practices such as ITIL and CMMI. Implementation of processes based on these frameworks and methodologies helps standardise the way corporate IT carries out its functions. This, in most cases, is a good thing. Yet, processes aren’t the be all and end all of IT. At the receiving end of IT services are ….yes, real people doing real work that keeps businesses ticking. Conflicts between IT and the business occur when IT folks forget that people are more important than processes; like Jake in the true incident described above. This holds not just for operational IT (like the service desk), but also for development work (i.e. projects) as I’ve mentioned in an earlier post. Trouble is, processes trump people more often than not. When that happens, things aren’t working the way they should- processes are intended to help people, not to hinder them. This is something folks who work in corporate IT would do well to keep in mind; especially these days, when business leaders are being seduced by the call of outsourcers and the IT-as-utility crowd.
All too often, IT management thinks of processes as a panacea for all IT ills. The way I look at it is a little different: processes are fine and good, and even necessary; but the people who are served by IT must come first. If that means making the occasional exception to a mandated process, then so be it.
A corporate outsourcer’s spiel in five stanzas
Note: Despite references to this sorry saga, the author affirms that this is a work of fiction.
Good morning, Mr. CEO Sir,
we offer services complete.
We’ll take care of your computers,
and fudge your balance sheet.
We’ll overstate your revenue,
and inflate profits.
Thus boosting your share value
in global stock markets.
We’ll find you well-known auditors
to sign off your accounts.
A thumbs-up from their managers
will put to rest all doubts.
Soon you’ll get rewards for sure,
despite such malfeasance.
Trophies and awards galore
for corporate governance.
I trust our varied expertise
gives you confidence.
We’ll take good care of your IT
…and your finances.
Management games
It is an unfortunate fact of corporate life that management is sometimes practiced as a series of games between the manager and the managed (with the odds stacked against the latter, of course). In this post I list some of the more common games I have witnessed over time. As with all games, it is useful to know the ground rules before proceeding. In this case it’s simple because there’s only one: the manager always wins. Now that the ground rule is set, let the games begin…
Two cents up: Some managers feel obliged to contribute to any and every discussion – even those involving topics they know nothing about. These gents (and ladies) are professional players of the game of Two Cents Up. The game is played as follows: contribute your two cents (or equivalent in any other currency) to all discussions. There is no limit on the number of turns, and at the end of the discussion you simply tot up your contributions to get your net score. In case it isn’t clear, only managers get a turn. Expert players of this game routinely end up with several dollars worth of pointless contributions.
Now I delegate; now I don’t: This is essentially a game of delegation peekaboo. The manager delegates responsibility to an employee then, a little while later, takes it back. Then, later still delegates again and so on. The game can be played through several such delegation-undelegation cycles, driving the subordinate to responsibility uncertainty: a state where the subordinate knows not what he or she is (or isn’t) responsible for. The best exponents of this game can ensure that nothing ever gets done because no one on the team (the manager included) knows who is responsible making decisions.
The second guess: This game is the favourite of managers who find it hard to delegate real responsibility to their subordinates. They delegate only when forced to (by their managers), but then constantly second guess decisions made by the delegatee. As per the Merriam-Webster definition of second-guess, the game can be played at two levels: a) criticise decisions when they are made and then b) criticise them again after the result of the decision is known. Two bites of the cherry! What more could a second-guesser want? No, no… don’t bother answering that.
My way: This is the management version of the well-known childrens’ adage: he who owns the ball, makes the rules. In the grown-ups game the manager insists on doing things his or her way, riding roughshod over his team’s opinions or advice. The best way to sum up this game is through the (edited) lyrics of the eponymous song:
I’ll plan each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
We’ll do it my way.
A more cut-throat version of the game is called my way or the highway – a cliche that nicely sums up what happens to those who choose not to follow the leader.
Bolt from the blue: This game is invoked by some managers when their opinion is challenged by an employee with a well thought out, irrefutable case. Just when the employee reckons the manager is about to concede, the manager invokes a bolt from the blue: a statement that has no relevance to the discussion, but serves as an effective distractor to confuse his opponent (sorry, I mean, employee). Here’s an almost true example from real life:
Ben – “So, from the evaluation, I think we can safely conclude that Oracle is a better than option SQL Server for this project.”
Manager – “May be so, but have you considered using SOA…”
This non sequitur usually results in game, set and match to the manager.
Leap of logic: This game is an insidious variant of the previous one. Like the bolt from the blue, the leap of logic is aimed at distracting the employee. However, it is harder to tackle a leap of logic because the argument isn’t as obviously unrelated to the discussion as the bolt from the blue. Illustrating the leap of logic using the previous example, the manager’s response to Ben might be:
Manager – “Ah, but what about non-relational databases…”
Brilliant! Although the manager is ostensibly talking about databases, he is really spouting nonsense. Ben’s gobsmacked, and doesn’t know where to begin refuting the point.
Picking nits: This game is played when the manager wants to find fault with work done. It’s an axiom that nothing’s perfect, so one can always find things that haven’t been done right. Some managers are specialist nitpickers – expressing great creativity in finding so-called errors or problems with the work done. Like the first game described in this post, this one can be scored. too. The scoring works as follows: a point per nit picked. At the risk of stating the obvious: only the manager can score.
Although management games are common in corporate settings, they aren’t particular to the business world. Games such as these are played out everyday in organisations ranging from government bureaucracies to universities. I should caution my readers that the foregoing listing is far from comprehensive – it is but a small list of the more common games that one might encounter. No doubt, other games (and variants of the ones I’ve described) exist, and still more are being invented by creative managers. Please feel free to add in management games that you have come across – if they’re good you might even score a point or two.
Eight to Late 