Terry White answered the questions of the masters.
One of the leading specialists in IT management, the author of the book “What does a business want from IT?” Terry White answered the questions of habra users. Together with Mr. White and representatives of the publishing house “Grevtsov Publisher” we selected the most interesting questions asked in the comments on Habré.
davojan : Did you have to solve the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel? If so, how did you do it?
All IT companies are faced with a shortage of personnel. But it is important to distinguish two types of employees - 1) those who understand IT, 2) those who understand business, its goals and apply technologies to achieve business goals. Finding the first is difficult, the second is even more difficult.
')
Many companies give contractors the solution to technological problems, leaving them to manage the services - in which case the company needs only an Operations Manager. The main thing that a business wants from an IT department is the implementation of IT functions without delay, involvement in business and leadership in its field. It’s difficult to do it yourself, so companies often turn to third-party IT service providers and simply manage them.
To find business professionals who are knowledgeable in IT, a company needs to have a high-quality program to search and hire people involved in the business. The management of the entrusted area of work assumes that IT specialists are imbued with the overall goals of the company and have figured out how high technology will help the entire company achieve these goals.
Business involvement and leadership are critical factors from a business perspective. And only the implementation of IT functions is important from the point of view of technology.
I have a “wine glass” concept. Imagine that he is forked. This is a career development model for IT-specialists: after they pass the initial period of work in the field of technology, they need to choose whether to become IT-experts or businessmen.
mikhanoid : What should be the ideal operating system for a business?
As always with answers to such questions, I will say it depends on a lot. The company must choose the operating system and the set of software that is most adequate to solve its problems. Factory, shop, bank - they can all use completely different software. In one case, it is important to conduct transactions, in the other - interaction with the buyer, etc.
So when it comes to software, we always need to ask about the basis of the business. Will we have a lot of transactions? A lot of buyers? How many employees? What is the geographical location of the branch network? How many changes in the assortment will happen in a year? All of these issues must be resolved before software is selected. We need to first solve the problems of business, not technology.
mikhanoid : Which office suite in the history of these packages is the most successful and why?
I'm not a fan of any particular integrated package. At one time, the company I worked for used three different software packages: one for the needs of an engineering company, the other for the needs of our small companies scattered around the city, and another one for our 17 hospitals.
No perfect software package. The root of the problem is the difference in horizontal and vertical integration. If you use software that can do everything, it is standardized by definition, i.e. It will not allow to solve any specific tasks, but to consistently solve standard ones is horizontal integration. On the other hand, there is vertical integration - best-in-class systems that cope with specific tasks, but when there is a question about their integration with other systems, problems arise. The confrontation of these approaches will exist forever.
I believe that for non-core business operations it is worth using the most economical software package with the possibility of full horizontal integration. To solve the basic problems is to find the best software.
tagire : What ways do you see for closer integration of IT and business in the field of web2.0 projects?
I think Web 2.0 (or “networking”) is one of the greatest achievements of recent times. The main question for businesses is how to use this achievement for their own purposes. Companies should not make a website with an interaction system simply because it is “cool”, or because everyone is doing it. It is necessary to carefully examine our goals and ask the question “How can we achieve these goals faster when interacting with stakeholders?” Charles Handy identified a circle of stakeholders: 1) shareholders, 2) employees, 3) consumers, 4) suppliers, 5 ) community, 6) environment. The business should ask: “Can we produce better products or services using the input from our customers or suppliers?”
Web 2.0 is useless for business, as long as there is no reasonable reason to use Web 2.0 methods.
posya : According to the current trend (in particular, ITIL), the IT structure is often presented as internal outsourcing, with its leadership, tasks, and commitments to the business. As a result, this is obtained as a separate organization in the organization. At the same time, in a large company, the time taken to make a decision and coordinate it with the business (the way to IT management, coordination with the business, the way back) significantly increases. Sometimes it comes to an absurdity - to solve a serious problem, you just need to restart the server, and making this decision (and its approval) can take hours! How can this be avoided without destroying the logic of interaction between IT and business?
There is a “three-month project concept”. According to her, you agree with the main tasks and then thoroughly plan the next three months. Do your job and track performance. After three months, review all your experience and plan the next steps for this experience. This usually prevents a situation where people constantly argue about certain final goals, and helps to focus on identifying operational objectives, which, of course, should be consistent with global, strategic goals.
maniaque : What does business want from IT in Russia?
I am not familiar enough with the business in Russia. So the only way to find out is to ask a business! It would be nice to conduct a study on this topic.
At the same time, I managed to identify three common "desires". First of all, a business wants IT specialists to do their work without delay, so that business does not have to think about it. Businessmen are well aware how hard this work is, how expensive it can cost the company. But they, like you or me, are absolutely not interested in how the car engine is arranged (although ... I'm still a little interesting), and it is absolutely uninteresting to deal with IT issues. They just need everything to work!
Many businessmen told me that IT-specialists have unique knowledge in their field that could be used for business development. So no need to tell businessmen about the subtleties and complexity of the work; just explain what business results you should expect. And then give the business these results.
Finally, business expects leadership from IT - new products, new markets, new channels of promotion. Technologies can open up access to new markets, reach out to more potential consumers. Take a look at the airlines: is their main business - not to fly? But they spend a lot of time and money on websites to make it easier for everyone to deal with the company. That's what IT leadership is.
joint : “How do you evaluate the prospects of the Internet? Does it worry you that in the near future the Internet may become controlled by Gos. corporations, which through the network will seek to manipulate public consciousness just as they do through Television? Can the Internet become another state monopoly?
The Internet is one of the most free communication channels. Read “Wikinomics” or “The long tail” to understand how the business world is changing. Many ideas of Adam Smith may not be applicable at all if your business is based on the provision of services via electronic channels. If not, be sure to find out if it is possible to use these channels for the realization of your product.
I know nothing about the fact that the Internet can be controlled by state corporations. He is too mobile, changeable, to become controlled. Of course, in some countries (China, Zimbabwe, Algeria, etc.) they try to do something, but it doesn’t really work. Just because a regular phone line or satellite allows you to access everything in the world. If the state wants to become the only provider (and such attempts also take place), people will still find a way around the restrictions.
The problem of the Internet is still different - besides a lot of good, it also has a great many bad things. Traveling on the Internet, do not forget about their security - and in this case, the state can offer some protection. But it cannot make the fools smarter, and the smartest - more stupid.
nertz : What tasks should the informational site (not an online store) of a production enterprise not directly related to IT have to solve? What does a studio that makes such a site cost to promise a customer, and what should one refuse to do outright?
Products and services - the simple answer. Many corporate sites contain information, reports - but do not provide any services at all. It is necessary to determine the most important thing in the company and allow people to quickly get it. Form for online ordering, product catalogs ... A lot of things you can think of. The main problem is high-quality integration with the Internet: people do not need an online order form if this order is not executed.
nertz : What exactly theses should be kept in mind when forming the TK for the creation of a site designed to increase the profits of the enterprise?
The main thing is to clearly understand why the company needs a website. It is necessary to understand whether the site can help a business, make a profit. Need to work out a business model. Without an understanding of this, all the work of creating a site is a waste of time.
The most interesting thing about the network economy is that you can forget about local products and consumers. The Internet allows you to reach anywhere in the world. You can sell your product to someone in Kenya or Alaska - they can see it too.
nukanukanuka : The expert's opinion on the application of IT in enterprises with outdated technologies and appropriate qualifications of personnel (unfortunately there are still many such in Russia) is interesting, especially given the experience in South Africa. Thank.
I will say this: a successful company will still succeed, thanks to or against technology. There is no clear relationship between the success of the company and the quality of the technologies used in it. Management and employees make the company a success. There are banks that still use systems developed in the 1980s - and nothing: they put a nice looking interface on top and work further, providing world-class services.
twisterrrrr : Has the IT management criteria changed much in the last 10 years? What is the fundamental difference between "now" and "then"?
10 years ago in the field of IT priorities were the development and implementation of new systems. Now IT is more than just a product. IT professionals are now more concerned about the effective use of their technology. In the West - an unprecedented growth in the field of distributed data processing. IT now consumes as much energy as airlines do - about 20%. The main task now is to minimize costs using virtualization and much more, in fact everything possible.
twisterrrrr : Is Russian information business far behind the West?
I am sure that Russian companies are lagging behind and overtaking European ones. If they want to do business the same way as all those Western corporations, then they are lagging behind. If the Russian company itself creates the rules for its successful work, then it is much more progressive. I am sure that Russian companies have a “fresh” view of the world and their place in it - and Russia may well become one of the leading countries in the business sphere. If you follow the experience of the West, Russian companies will always be second. Set the rules for yourself, let nothing stop you.
rossomachin : How did you overcome the inertia of thinking of the authorities?
Supervisors are often wrong. And often they refuse to listen to reasonable arguments.
The most obvious way, of course, is communication, controversy. Give your reasons - and carefully listen to the arguments of your opponent. If it does not help, do this: draw a “relationship map”, displaying on it colleagues with whom you often communicate, and make the same “map” with reference to the boss. If there are matches, chat on the topic you need with these “matching contacts”. No need to complain - just give them your opinion, and the ideas somehow reach the authorities.
nafigator : What education would you recommend for people to get the most effective management of their IT business in the future? Is fanaticism enough to create a successful business or without a proper education? Is this a matter of good luck?
You need to fully explore IT, IT management (design, finance, etc.), business management (marketing, sales, operations, HR, etc.) and business development issues.
exdeniz : What should be prof. IT director skills other than management education?
Human skills and leadership skills. Working with people is not as simple as saying these words. You need to take special care about the goals and needs of the people. If you are an IT director, you should talk with all the managers of the company and find out how you and IT can facilitate their work. The same is worth doing with your team. You need to communicate, be aware of everything that happens in the company. “Why did my company buy another?”, “Why are our stocks falling?”, Etc. The leader stands above the crowd, understands what is happening, and knows what needs to be done. You will not be taught this at school.
nafigator : Please give a couple of “golden tips” on time management.
Need to decide why you do not have enough time. Maybe you are trying to do everything at once? Or still succeed in the small? Read Tim Harris’s “Four Hour work week”. He manages a successful company, travels the world, engages in several sports, leads many negotiations. He perfectly manages the team - he lacks his employees, but they don’t get him. And while he works 4 hours a week - from anywhere in the world.
nafigator : What is the most effective way to motivate you to observe or use?
You need to do what you really like. Even those things that you don’t like go better if you do your favorite thing at least an hour a day. Ideally, you need to understand how your favorite business will help the work.
Regards, Terry White.
Unfortunately, because of the busy schedule of stay in Russia, Mr. White was able to answer the questions of habra users only recently. Nevertheless, the authors of the most interesting questions of the book with the autograph of the author will definitely get it.
The book "What does the business want from IT" with an autograph, Mr. White offered to donate David Galoyan davojan , Tagir tagire , Arseny Kamyshev nafigator and twisterrrrr .
davojan : Did you have to solve the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel? If so, how did you do it?
All IT companies are faced with a shortage of personnel. But it is important to distinguish two types of employees - 1) those who understand IT, 2) those who understand business, its goals and apply technologies to achieve business goals. Finding the first is difficult, the second is even more difficult.
')
Many companies give contractors the solution to technological problems, leaving them to manage the services - in which case the company needs only an Operations Manager. The main thing that a business wants from an IT department is the implementation of IT functions without delay, involvement in business and leadership in its field. It’s difficult to do it yourself, so companies often turn to third-party IT service providers and simply manage them.
To find business professionals who are knowledgeable in IT, a company needs to have a high-quality program to search and hire people involved in the business. The management of the entrusted area of work assumes that IT specialists are imbued with the overall goals of the company and have figured out how high technology will help the entire company achieve these goals.
Business involvement and leadership are critical factors from a business perspective. And only the implementation of IT functions is important from the point of view of technology.
I have a “wine glass” concept. Imagine that he is forked. This is a career development model for IT-specialists: after they pass the initial period of work in the field of technology, they need to choose whether to become IT-experts or businessmen.
mikhanoid : What should be the ideal operating system for a business?
As always with answers to such questions, I will say it depends on a lot. The company must choose the operating system and the set of software that is most adequate to solve its problems. Factory, shop, bank - they can all use completely different software. In one case, it is important to conduct transactions, in the other - interaction with the buyer, etc.
So when it comes to software, we always need to ask about the basis of the business. Will we have a lot of transactions? A lot of buyers? How many employees? What is the geographical location of the branch network? How many changes in the assortment will happen in a year? All of these issues must be resolved before software is selected. We need to first solve the problems of business, not technology.
mikhanoid : Which office suite in the history of these packages is the most successful and why?
I'm not a fan of any particular integrated package. At one time, the company I worked for used three different software packages: one for the needs of an engineering company, the other for the needs of our small companies scattered around the city, and another one for our 17 hospitals.
No perfect software package. The root of the problem is the difference in horizontal and vertical integration. If you use software that can do everything, it is standardized by definition, i.e. It will not allow to solve any specific tasks, but to consistently solve standard ones is horizontal integration. On the other hand, there is vertical integration - best-in-class systems that cope with specific tasks, but when there is a question about their integration with other systems, problems arise. The confrontation of these approaches will exist forever.
I believe that for non-core business operations it is worth using the most economical software package with the possibility of full horizontal integration. To solve the basic problems is to find the best software.
tagire : What ways do you see for closer integration of IT and business in the field of web2.0 projects?
I think Web 2.0 (or “networking”) is one of the greatest achievements of recent times. The main question for businesses is how to use this achievement for their own purposes. Companies should not make a website with an interaction system simply because it is “cool”, or because everyone is doing it. It is necessary to carefully examine our goals and ask the question “How can we achieve these goals faster when interacting with stakeholders?” Charles Handy identified a circle of stakeholders: 1) shareholders, 2) employees, 3) consumers, 4) suppliers, 5 ) community, 6) environment. The business should ask: “Can we produce better products or services using the input from our customers or suppliers?”
Web 2.0 is useless for business, as long as there is no reasonable reason to use Web 2.0 methods.
posya : According to the current trend (in particular, ITIL), the IT structure is often presented as internal outsourcing, with its leadership, tasks, and commitments to the business. As a result, this is obtained as a separate organization in the organization. At the same time, in a large company, the time taken to make a decision and coordinate it with the business (the way to IT management, coordination with the business, the way back) significantly increases. Sometimes it comes to an absurdity - to solve a serious problem, you just need to restart the server, and making this decision (and its approval) can take hours! How can this be avoided without destroying the logic of interaction between IT and business?
There is a “three-month project concept”. According to her, you agree with the main tasks and then thoroughly plan the next three months. Do your job and track performance. After three months, review all your experience and plan the next steps for this experience. This usually prevents a situation where people constantly argue about certain final goals, and helps to focus on identifying operational objectives, which, of course, should be consistent with global, strategic goals.
maniaque : What does business want from IT in Russia?
I am not familiar enough with the business in Russia. So the only way to find out is to ask a business! It would be nice to conduct a study on this topic.
At the same time, I managed to identify three common "desires". First of all, a business wants IT specialists to do their work without delay, so that business does not have to think about it. Businessmen are well aware how hard this work is, how expensive it can cost the company. But they, like you or me, are absolutely not interested in how the car engine is arranged (although ... I'm still a little interesting), and it is absolutely uninteresting to deal with IT issues. They just need everything to work!
Many businessmen told me that IT-specialists have unique knowledge in their field that could be used for business development. So no need to tell businessmen about the subtleties and complexity of the work; just explain what business results you should expect. And then give the business these results.
Finally, business expects leadership from IT - new products, new markets, new channels of promotion. Technologies can open up access to new markets, reach out to more potential consumers. Take a look at the airlines: is their main business - not to fly? But they spend a lot of time and money on websites to make it easier for everyone to deal with the company. That's what IT leadership is.
joint : “How do you evaluate the prospects of the Internet? Does it worry you that in the near future the Internet may become controlled by Gos. corporations, which through the network will seek to manipulate public consciousness just as they do through Television? Can the Internet become another state monopoly?
The Internet is one of the most free communication channels. Read “Wikinomics” or “The long tail” to understand how the business world is changing. Many ideas of Adam Smith may not be applicable at all if your business is based on the provision of services via electronic channels. If not, be sure to find out if it is possible to use these channels for the realization of your product.
I know nothing about the fact that the Internet can be controlled by state corporations. He is too mobile, changeable, to become controlled. Of course, in some countries (China, Zimbabwe, Algeria, etc.) they try to do something, but it doesn’t really work. Just because a regular phone line or satellite allows you to access everything in the world. If the state wants to become the only provider (and such attempts also take place), people will still find a way around the restrictions.
The problem of the Internet is still different - besides a lot of good, it also has a great many bad things. Traveling on the Internet, do not forget about their security - and in this case, the state can offer some protection. But it cannot make the fools smarter, and the smartest - more stupid.
nertz : What tasks should the informational site (not an online store) of a production enterprise not directly related to IT have to solve? What does a studio that makes such a site cost to promise a customer, and what should one refuse to do outright?
Products and services - the simple answer. Many corporate sites contain information, reports - but do not provide any services at all. It is necessary to determine the most important thing in the company and allow people to quickly get it. Form for online ordering, product catalogs ... A lot of things you can think of. The main problem is high-quality integration with the Internet: people do not need an online order form if this order is not executed.
nertz : What exactly theses should be kept in mind when forming the TK for the creation of a site designed to increase the profits of the enterprise?
The main thing is to clearly understand why the company needs a website. It is necessary to understand whether the site can help a business, make a profit. Need to work out a business model. Without an understanding of this, all the work of creating a site is a waste of time.
The most interesting thing about the network economy is that you can forget about local products and consumers. The Internet allows you to reach anywhere in the world. You can sell your product to someone in Kenya or Alaska - they can see it too.
nukanukanuka : The expert's opinion on the application of IT in enterprises with outdated technologies and appropriate qualifications of personnel (unfortunately there are still many such in Russia) is interesting, especially given the experience in South Africa. Thank.
I will say this: a successful company will still succeed, thanks to or against technology. There is no clear relationship between the success of the company and the quality of the technologies used in it. Management and employees make the company a success. There are banks that still use systems developed in the 1980s - and nothing: they put a nice looking interface on top and work further, providing world-class services.
twisterrrrr : Has the IT management criteria changed much in the last 10 years? What is the fundamental difference between "now" and "then"?
10 years ago in the field of IT priorities were the development and implementation of new systems. Now IT is more than just a product. IT professionals are now more concerned about the effective use of their technology. In the West - an unprecedented growth in the field of distributed data processing. IT now consumes as much energy as airlines do - about 20%. The main task now is to minimize costs using virtualization and much more, in fact everything possible.
twisterrrrr : Is Russian information business far behind the West?
I am sure that Russian companies are lagging behind and overtaking European ones. If they want to do business the same way as all those Western corporations, then they are lagging behind. If the Russian company itself creates the rules for its successful work, then it is much more progressive. I am sure that Russian companies have a “fresh” view of the world and their place in it - and Russia may well become one of the leading countries in the business sphere. If you follow the experience of the West, Russian companies will always be second. Set the rules for yourself, let nothing stop you.
rossomachin : How did you overcome the inertia of thinking of the authorities?
Supervisors are often wrong. And often they refuse to listen to reasonable arguments.
The most obvious way, of course, is communication, controversy. Give your reasons - and carefully listen to the arguments of your opponent. If it does not help, do this: draw a “relationship map”, displaying on it colleagues with whom you often communicate, and make the same “map” with reference to the boss. If there are matches, chat on the topic you need with these “matching contacts”. No need to complain - just give them your opinion, and the ideas somehow reach the authorities.
nafigator : What education would you recommend for people to get the most effective management of their IT business in the future? Is fanaticism enough to create a successful business or without a proper education? Is this a matter of good luck?
You need to fully explore IT, IT management (design, finance, etc.), business management (marketing, sales, operations, HR, etc.) and business development issues.
exdeniz : What should be prof. IT director skills other than management education?
Human skills and leadership skills. Working with people is not as simple as saying these words. You need to take special care about the goals and needs of the people. If you are an IT director, you should talk with all the managers of the company and find out how you and IT can facilitate their work. The same is worth doing with your team. You need to communicate, be aware of everything that happens in the company. “Why did my company buy another?”, “Why are our stocks falling?”, Etc. The leader stands above the crowd, understands what is happening, and knows what needs to be done. You will not be taught this at school.
nafigator : Please give a couple of “golden tips” on time management.
Need to decide why you do not have enough time. Maybe you are trying to do everything at once? Or still succeed in the small? Read Tim Harris’s “Four Hour work week”. He manages a successful company, travels the world, engages in several sports, leads many negotiations. He perfectly manages the team - he lacks his employees, but they don’t get him. And while he works 4 hours a week - from anywhere in the world.
nafigator : What is the most effective way to motivate you to observe or use?
You need to do what you really like. Even those things that you don’t like go better if you do your favorite thing at least an hour a day. Ideally, you need to understand how your favorite business will help the work.
Regards, Terry White.
Unfortunately, because of the busy schedule of stay in Russia, Mr. White was able to answer the questions of habra users only recently. Nevertheless, the authors of the most interesting questions of the book with the autograph of the author will definitely get it.
The book "What does the business want from IT" with an autograph, Mr. White offered to donate David Galoyan davojan , Tagir tagire , Arseny Kamyshev nafigator and twisterrrrr .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/22426/
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