> Surprisingly, it isn't that difficult to learn as much as you need. Yes, there's a lot about business you can learn, but you really don't need to learn that much of it. I got an MBA several years ago, but honestly, I could have read a basic accounting/financing textbook, a basic management textbook, and a basic business law textbook and gotten pretty much everything I've used since then. Most of what you need to understand is the basics, the terminology, and some of the newer buzzwords.
Well now that you've put yourself out there ... which books would you recommend? I have read the Phoenix Project, and loved the book. Started reading The Goal (the book that Phoenix Project based itself off of), and find myself wanting more. On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 1:51 AM, Stephen Potter <[email protected]> wrote: > Surprisingly, it isn't that difficult to learn as much as you need. Yes, > there's a lot about business you can learn, but you really don't need to > learn that much of it. I got an MBA several years ago, but honestly, I > could have read a basic accounting/financing textbook, a basic management > textbook, and a basic business law textbook and gotten pretty much > everything I've used since then. Most of what you need to understand is > the basics, the terminology, and some of the newer buzzwords. > > Once you've got that, you just need to be willing to listen to people and > ask a few questions. And, quite often, the questions you have to ask are > "what would it mean if...." or "how could you see that happening" when > someone tells you something; just turning their question around on them to > get more information. It is amazing how people can see 90% of a solution, > but miss the last step. And, if you can provide the last step, you're a > genius, even when it is something really simple. I once - many years ago - > got a $500 bonus (from a director) because I was willing to ask him if I > could move an external disk from one machine in one town to another machine > in another town and explain to him how it related to his business (when one > system ran out of disk space, it killed one or more long running jobs that > cost several hundred dollars in lost productivity each). I was in my > early-20s then, and simply a contractor who didn't know any better than to > ask! > > -spp > > > On 6/16/2015 2:50 PM, Atom Powers wrote: > > +1 million. I wish I had the time to learn that skill. > > On Tue, Jun 16, 2015, 11:13 Stephen Potter <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Several others have already mentioned that it sounds like there's >> management problems at several levels and titles won't help. Some have >> mentioned the split management/technical track with management roles >> such as Lead, Supervising, Managing, etc and technical advancement >> through Distinguished, Principal, Fellow, etc titles. >> >> What I see as the underlying problem is that no one has been able to >> relate what IT does to the business goals and values to help the >> executives really understand where IT fits. You mention that IT falls >> under the VP of Administration, which generally contains groups like >> real estate, facilities, logistics, HR, and perhaps regulatory >> compliance. This is all just overhead and costs of doing business. >> None of these have anything to do with revenue and enabling the business. >> >> If you really want IT to start to get some respect, you need to have >> someone who can talk the language of the executives and tie their goals >> into what IT can provide. Business will talk about market share >> (acquiring/retaining customers), competitive differentiation, business >> innovation, and profitability. You need someone who can take those and >> show how IT can help develop multichannel (buzzword: omni-channel) >> services that provide competitive differentiation and attract new >> customers. Someone needs to talk about continuous delivery of IT >> services that enable other business units (R&D, sales, etc) to change >> the way they do business (mobility, supply chain management, etc) and >> speed up sales (buzzword: "inventory turn", "sales close cycle") or even >> enable entirely new products and services (buzzword: "time to market", >> "go-to-market strategy"). And, finally, you need to be able to show how >> IT can help reduce costs across the entire company (not just reducing IT >> costs), reducing SG&A (sales, general, and administration), and how the >> other things I've already mentioned can reduce unit costs (development >> cycle, manufacturing costs, etc). >> >> A couple of examples I can think of, which wouldn't necessarily be >> relevant to your specific company. One large fashion retailer I worked >> with used to ship store layout, discount information and sales reports >> to each of its several thousand stores weekly. They were spending >> hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on FedEx shipping alone. IT >> was able to work with the store operations teams to figure out how all >> that information could be safely shared through remote access across the >> network. The savings to the company was millions per year. >> >> Another company had dozens of desktops in their distribution facility >> where product pickers went to print off pick lists for packaging and >> shipping. The conditions in the DF were such that the desktops and >> printers crashed regularly, requiring pickers to search for a working >> desktop/printer combination, and slowing them down. IT had a person >> onsite in the DF full time, just to handle desktop/printer issues. >> Orders were batched every couple of hours, so there were often times >> when the pickers had nothing to do. IT was able to work with >> distribution to come up with a combination of thin-clients, touch >> screens, and tablets that enabled more real time access to the lists, >> reduced errors, reduced outages (to the point they pulled the IT guy >> back to the office and redeployed him to do higher value activities), >> and reduced costs. It also enabled the distribution to collect >> efficiency data, which subsequently led to re-arranging how products >> were stored in the DF. >> >> In order for IT to get respect in many companies, there needs to be a >> strong leader who can tie IT to the business, rather than just being >> another SG&A cost. >> >> -spp >> >> On 6/9/2015 9:52 AM, Tim Kirby wrote: >> > I'm not sure if this is actually a repeat of past threads, we >> > spend a lot of time talking about this sort of thing within >> > "IT organizations" but I'm not sure I've seen this one. >> > >> > $WORK is a computer system manufacturer. Thus it is largely >> > technical with an R&D component building software and hardware. >> > Within our IT organization we have two or three highly >> > experienced sysadmin/devop/engineer types that could hold >> > their own against any of the R&D "Principal Engineers" and >> > do, at time, consult for R&D. >> > >> > The politics and handling of "IT" is every bit as dysfunctional >> > as you might expect, however, and the job titles and "official >> > status" of these IT guys make them almost indistinguishable >> > from a front line help desk tech (no, I'm not dissing the help >> > desk tech, don't go there). >> > >> > I am interested in hearing from anyone who works with or has >> > worked with companies that have actually recognized such >> > senior folks within their organizations. One term I've heard >> > the term "IT Fellow", but I'm really not hung up on the name >> > so much as the perceived role within the company and how such >> > people might appear in the company ranks. >> > >> > I suppose I should add that the "VP of Administration" who is >> > the ersatz CIO (in terms of corporate position) denies all >> > CIO responsibility, indicating that the Director of IT, his >> > immediate report, has all IT responsibility. There is an >> > "Office if the CTO", I don't know if it would be possible to >> > hang these highly senior IT people off that instead. I do >> > realize that the de-emphasis of IT at the VP level probably >> > means we're all screwed. Sigh. >> > >> > Thanks for any input... >> > >> > Tim >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators >> http://lopsa.org/ >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > > -- Joseph A Kern [email protected]
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