Re: Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread harbor235
Thank you for all your replies, I agree it is a culture change and we have
made significant changes in the last 2 years. The changes
we have made included letting some of the personnel move on which allowed
me to realize some gains.

Regarding ITIL, I made organizational changes to control the engineering
work that is integrated to production by instituting an engineering review
board and change control board for customer visibility and participation.
It is also used to capture project intellectual property and to document
testing and implementation plans.

I believe I knew what noggers were going to say (though very much the same)
but wanted validation, I am overwhelmed with the enormity of the required
changes and the challenges of the customer  interaction to approve of all
changes.  But we are making progress, I need to make a big pivot now to
drive the organization into the correct model.

thank you everyone for your replies, I value this community, if you have
more thoughts please do not hesitate.

Mike

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 5:04 PM Joshua Miller  wrote:

> Mike,
>
> You're essentially trying to change the culture of the organization.
> Unless you have senior management buy-in, it will be pretty fruitless.
>
> Maybe while announcing the restructuring, offer bonuses to keep people
> from leaving prematurely? People can adapt if the rate of change isn't too
> high.
>
> Like others have said, turnover isn't bad as long as you can maintain
> continuity of operations. Keep in mind, the highest performers are the most
> mobile.
>
> Best,
> Joshua
>
> On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 4:24 PM Miles Fidelman 
> wrote:
>
>> Both of those would be my first reactions.
>>
>> Or... depending on how "not professional" your staff is, you might
>> consider sending them out for some training, or bringing someone in to do
>> some training.
>>
>> Heck, you could challenge your your staff with "ok team, go figure out a
>> more mature approach."
>>
>> Miles Fidelman
>>
>>
>> ---harbor...@gmail.com  wrote:
>>
>> Maybe you want some of them to leave, if they're "not
>> a professional organization".  Get some fresh folks
>> from professional minded organizations and see if
>> the others quit being reactionary only and step up
>> their game.
>>
>> and
>>
>>
>> On 8/23/19 2:47 PM, Clayton Zekelman wrote:
>> >
>> > Find a new job.
>> >
>> > At 02:40 PM 23/08/2019, harbor235 wrote:
>> >> Hi noggers,
>> >>
>> >> First some background;
>> >>
>> >> I have inherited a real-time services delivery infrastructure that
>> >> while technically functional is absent of a wworking tiered
>> >> operational support structure. In addition, the infrastructure was
>> >> not implemented with technology best practices and has some remaining
>> >> single points of failure. T3/engineering handles engineering,
>> >> operational support, testing, and development. T1 and T2 perform some
>> >> tasks but not what is expected of a traditional support structure, As
>> >> we are attempting to scale our program our limitations are obvious.
>> >>
>> >> We are trying to scale the program and need to remedy all single
>> >> points of failure and implement technical and management best
>> >> practices. While we try to remedy all of the above, our customer
>> >> expects routine capability enhancements.
>> >>
>> >> Question(s)
>> >> 1) how to pivot to a tiered operational support structure and set
>> >> expectations for each tier level. How do I do that without having my
>> >> entire staff leave?
>> >> Â Â Â Â Â Â  Current staff is not a professional organization and are
>> >> used to a purely reactive state.
>> >>
>> >> 2) ITIL process are great and we have started to implement what makes
>> >> sense but I need a operational support stucture/model to support and
>> >> manage this effort.
>> >>
>> >> 3) How do you manage your engineering and operational projects?
>> >> Currently I am using Excel for all projects short and long term and
>> >> also use a seperate spreadsheet for my short term project sprints?
>> >> Basic project tracking with no mature processes involve.
>> >>
>> >> How are you pulling this all together?
>> >>
>> >> I would like to hire key positions that can bring essential
>> >> capabilities to my project but I am limited hiring new staff.
>> >>
>> >> thoughts, suggestions
>> >>
>> >> Mike
>>
>> --
>> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
>> In practice, there is.   Yogi Berra
>>
>> Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
>> Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
>> In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
>> nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown
>>
>>


Re: Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread Joshua Miller
Mike,

You're essentially trying to change the culture of the organization. Unless
you have senior management buy-in, it will be pretty fruitless.

Maybe while announcing the restructuring, offer bonuses to keep people from
leaving prematurely? People can adapt if the rate of change isn't too high.

Like others have said, turnover isn't bad as long as you can maintain
continuity of operations. Keep in mind, the highest performers are the most
mobile.

Best,
Joshua

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 4:24 PM Miles Fidelman 
wrote:

> Both of those would be my first reactions.
>
> Or... depending on how "not professional" your staff is, you might
> consider sending them out for some training, or bringing someone in to do
> some training.
>
> Heck, you could challenge your your staff with "ok team, go figure out a
> more mature approach."
>
> Miles Fidelman
>
>
> ---harbor...@gmail.com  wrote:
>
> Maybe you want some of them to leave, if they're "not
> a professional organization".  Get some fresh folks
> from professional minded organizations and see if
> the others quit being reactionary only and step up
> their game.
>
> and
>
>
> On 8/23/19 2:47 PM, Clayton Zekelman wrote:
> >
> > Find a new job.
> >
> > At 02:40 PM 23/08/2019, harbor235 wrote:
> >> Hi noggers,
> >>
> >> First some background;
> >>
> >> I have inherited a real-time services delivery infrastructure that
> >> while technically functional is absent of a wworking tiered
> >> operational support structure. In addition, the infrastructure was
> >> not implemented with technology best practices and has some remaining
> >> single points of failure. T3/engineering handles engineering,
> >> operational support, testing, and development. T1 and T2 perform some
> >> tasks but not what is expected of a traditional support structure, As
> >> we are attempting to scale our program our limitations are obvious.
> >>
> >> We are trying to scale the program and need to remedy all single
> >> points of failure and implement technical and management best
> >> practices. While we try to remedy all of the above, our customer
> >> expects routine capability enhancements.
> >>
> >> Question(s)
> >> 1) how to pivot to a tiered operational support structure and set
> >> expectations for each tier level. How do I do that without having my
> >> entire staff leave?
> >> Â Â Â Â Â Â  Current staff is not a professional organization and are
> >> used to a purely reactive state.
> >>
> >> 2) ITIL process are great and we have started to implement what makes
> >> sense but I need a operational support stucture/model to support and
> >> manage this effort.
> >>
> >> 3) How do you manage your engineering and operational projects?
> >> Currently I am using Excel for all projects short and long term and
> >> also use a seperate spreadsheet for my short term project sprints?
> >> Basic project tracking with no mature processes involve.
> >>
> >> How are you pulling this all together?
> >>
> >> I would like to hire key positions that can bring essential
> >> capabilities to my project but I am limited hiring new staff.
> >>
> >> thoughts, suggestions
> >>
> >> Mike
>
> --
> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
> In practice, there is.   Yogi Berra
>
> Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
> Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
> In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
> nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown
>
>


Re: Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread Miles Fidelman

Both of those would be my first reactions.

Or... depending on how "not professional" your staff is, you might consider 
sending them out for some training, or bringing someone in to do some training.

Heck, you could challenge your your staff with "ok team, go figure out a more mature 
approach."

Miles Fidelman


---harbor...@gmail.com  wrote:

Maybe you want some of them to leave, if they're "not
a professional organization".  Get some fresh folks
from professional minded organizations and see if
the others quit being reactionary only and step up
their game.

and


On 8/23/19 2:47 PM, Clayton Zekelman wrote:


Find a new job.

At 02:40 PM 23/08/2019, harbor235 wrote:

Hi noggers,

First some background;

I have inherited a real-time services delivery infrastructure that 
while technically functional is absent of a wworking tiered 
operational support structure. In addition, the infrastructure was 
not implemented with technology best practices and has some remaining 
single points of failure. T3/engineering handles engineering, 
operational support, testing, and development. T1 and T2 perform some 
tasks but not what is expected of a traditional support structure, As 
we are attempting to scale our program our limitations are obvious.


We are trying to scale the program and need to remedy all single 
points of failure and implement technical and management best 
practices. While we try to remedy all of the above, our customer 
expects routine capability enhancements.


Question(s)
1) how to pivot to a tiered operational support structure and set 
expectations for each tier level. How do I do that without having my 
entire staff leave?
       Current staff is not a professional organization and are 
used to a purely reactive state.


2) ITIL process are great and we have started to implement what makes 
sense but I need a operational support stucture/model to support and 
manage this effort.


3) How do you manage your engineering and operational projects? 
Currently I am using Excel for all projects short and long term and 
also use a seperate spreadsheet for my short term project sprints? 
Basic project tracking with no mature processes involve.


How are you pulling this all together?

I would like to hire key positions that can bring essential 
capabilities to my project but I am limited hiring new staff.


thoughts, suggestions

Mike


--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   Yogi Berra

Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown



Re: Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread Scott Weeks



--- harbor...@gmail.com wrote:

How do I do that without having my entire staff leave?  
Current staff is not a professional organization and 
are used to a purely reactive state.
-

Maybe you want some of them to leave, if they're "not 
a professional organization".  Get some fresh folks 
from professional minded organizations and see if
the others quit being reactionary only and step up 
their game.

scott


Re: Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread Clayton Zekelman



Find a new job.

At 02:40 PM 23/08/2019, harbor235 wrote:

Hi noggers,

First some background;

I have inherited a real-time services delivery 
infrastructure that while technically functional 
is absent of a wworking tiered operational 
support structure. In addition, the 
infrastructure was not implemented with 
technology best practices and has some remaining 
single points of failure. T3/engineering handles 
engineering, operational support, testing, and 
development. T1 and T2 perform some tasks but 
not what is expected of a traditional support 
structure, As we are attempting to scale our 
program our limitations are obvious.


We are trying to scale the program and need to 
remedy all single points of failure and 
implement technical and management best 
practices. While we try to remedy all of the 
above, our customer expects routine capability enhancements.


Question(s)
1) how to pivot to a tiered operational support 
structure and set expectations for each tier 
level. How do I do that without having my entire staff leave?
       Current staff is not a professional 
organization and are used to a purely reactive state.


2) ITIL process are great and we have started to 
implement what makes sense but I need a 
operational support stucture/model to support and manage this effort.


3) How do you manage your engineering and 
operational projects? Currently I am using Excel 
for all projects short and long term and also 
use a seperate spreadsheet for my short term 
project sprints? Basic project tracking with no mature processes involve.


How are you pulling this all together?

I would like to hire key positions that can 
bring essential capabilities to my project but I am limited hiring new staff.


thoughts, suggestions

Mike




Tiered operations support

2019-08-23 Thread harbor235
Hi noggers,

First some background;

I have inherited a real-time services delivery infrastructure that while
technically functional is absent of a wworking tiered operational support
structure. In addition, the infrastructure was not implemented with
technology best practices and has some remaining single points of failure.
T3/engineering handles engineering, operational support, testing, and
development. T1 and T2 perform some tasks but not what is expected of a
traditional support structure, As we are attempting to scale our program
our limitations are obvious.

We are trying to scale the program and need to remedy all single points of
failure and implement technical and management best practices. While we try
to remedy all of the above, our customer expects routine capability
enhancements.

Question(s)
1) how to pivot to a tiered operational support structure and set
expectations for each tier level. How do I do that without having my entire
staff leave?
   Current staff is not a professional organization and are used to a
purely reactive state.

2) ITIL process are great and we have started to implement what makes sense
but I need a operational support stucture/model to support and manage this
effort.

3) How do you manage your engineering and operational projects? Currently I
am using Excel for all projects short and long term and also use a seperate
spreadsheet for my short term project sprints? Basic project tracking with
no mature processes involve.

How are you pulling this all together?

I would like to hire key positions that can bring essential capabilities to
my project but I am limited hiring new staff.

thoughts, suggestions

Mike