Anticlue

Credibility, Execution, and Fries with that

Its been a while since I have posted. I have been pretty busy with work and life. Enjoying what summer time I can on the boat.

However, a couple of friends have commented on how far and between posts have been lately. The reason has been trying to figure out a way to grapple with issues that are not technical based, but have the management twist.

So what perls of wisdom in management or have arisen? Several. What perls can be shared in a blog post? Too many and sometimes to few to matter and sometime items that just can’t be shared in other audiences.

However I will state this, there has to be a way to change a culture from order takers of the IT department to collaborators with the business. It is hard to imagine a career for the next 10 to 25 years of asking what fields would you like on that report? Sure I can add that data value to all 20 systems, when would you like it? IT reminds me of upselling or ad on selling from previous sales days.

However in order to collaborate, there needs to be a level of trust, and faith in the ability to get something completed. The backlog inherited was pretty high. A plethora of break fix items, that hadn’t been fixed, and the business placed workarounds in place. A request enhancement customizations to vendor packages that will probably result in the long term solution of having a package that is incredibly brittle. Between prioritization exercises, determining the capacity for work to be done, and ensuring the resources are well spent the day is full.

However, I’d prefer for the day to be full by expanding the skill set of the internal staff, and bringing enlightenment that processes can be streamlined. Perhaps even doing a little feasibility assessment on requests. Viewing items from which is the best for the institution. However in order to make the switch to collaboration, we need to be able to execute. Getting us to that point takes soft skills.

So all the soft skills do matter as you move up the chain.

New SQL 2005 Books Online

The latest SQL Server Books On-line is now available from Microsoft, find it here.