I was woken up last night at about 3.30 by Rigby wanting to go out. He's pretty clever letting me know about this. Generally he'll come stand by the bed looking at me. If I don't respond straight away were he has this trick of running out of the room and then returning and repeating the whole thing until I twig he wants to go out. Anyway, I let him out, he did his thing, and I went back to bed.
I wasn't at all sleepy. I lay there feeling alert, but comfortable. My mind wandered as it does at such times, and returned to a conversation I'd had the previous afternoon.
I was in the city yesterday for a number of reasons. In the afternoon I caught up with one the guys who used to work for me for a cup of coffee. We still keep in contact, and occasionally catch up for a coffee or a drink after work. We exchange stories and he gives me the inside dope on what's happening on the job.
What he told me yesterday had me thinking that a lot had declined since I left. Of course I've been getting progress reports all the way through and been disappointed just about every time, but yesterday took the take. From he tells me the IT department I once managed is coming apart at the seams - one of the tech guys fired a few weeks back (which should have happened 12 months ago), and the guy who was my 2IC likely to be dismissed in the next few days. On top of that it's rumoured that the current IT manager is looking to jump ship and is actively seeking other opportunities. And all this amid an environment of discontent inside and outside of the team, system downtime, stalled projects, and bureaucratic processes.
I suppose I shouldn't care, but the fact is I can't divorce myself from what we managed to do there. I walked into the role with the previous incumbent given his marching orders for non-performance. My brief was largely to right the ship, but I took it a lot further than that. I found I had very definite ideas about how IT should interface with the business, and looked to implement them. At the same time I oversaw some structural changes and initiated some significant projects. Perhaps the best part of my job was getting an unhappy and under-performing team motivated and engaged. I had big plans and wanted them to be a part of it - and they happily climbed aboard.
Looking back now I severely regret engaging this guy as IT manager to take over from me. At the time I believed the company needed an IT manager that could engage with the top end of the company to better leverage the potential of IT. He had the corporate background his rival didn't, and so we went with him. I see that as a big fail on my part.
I learned after I left the company that a lot had been left off his CV which might have made a difference, but there have been other issues which we should have been aware of had we properly looked and asked the right questions.
My biggest beef with him - let's call him X - is his lack of leadership and/or management skills. This is something we should have been smarter about. Fact of the matter is that X is a reserved type, and never going to be one of the boys. That's ok, but there has to be some engagement between the manager and the people who work for him. He has to be prepared to put his own interests aside to promote the interests of the group. Ideally there is some rapport, even warmth, but it is not vital. In my experience respect and confidence are the two vital attributes of the manager/employee relationship: respect for your ability and confidence that you'll do the right thing.
Unfortunately it became pretty obvious early on that X didn't much care for the needs of the people working for him, and he made no real attempt to hide that (in fact I think he's very self-serving). I had sought to motivate the guys by giving them particular responsibilities, parts of the business they owned. This gave them a stake in what they were doing, a sense of purpose and pride, and it helped them to further develop their skills. They thrived with this. Unfortunately this is one of the first things that changed when X came in. Basically they all became a lump of resources at his disposal.
My next beef with him is that he seems to do everything from a book. He seems incapable of having ideas for himself. That's resulted in him applying very rigorous and unwieldy processes and controls perfectly appropriate for a large corporation such as where he came from, but ridiculous for a much smaller organisation with limited resources. He seems incapable of recognising the difference and of creating a customised solution to meet the specific needs of the business. In hindsight I would suggest that he's not particularly creative or imaginative or flexible in the way he thinks and approaches issues. In short I think he's good for some roles - structured, predictable roles - but not for an IT management role.
My final beef is with his judgement and decision making, which appears to be extraordinarily bad. The result of all this is a list of projects half finished and with little prospect of being completed in the short term. He's got involved in things he had no business too, and neglected things in his own back yard.
An example. When I was in the seat I had tentatively agreed to a SharePoint upgrade urgently needed, which would cost about $45,000 and would be completed inside of 2 months. I held off on committing to it out of courtesy to the incoming manager - X - who would be in the seat when it was due to kick off. Naturally he scrapped that and engaged another mob who quoted $30,000 and promised to have it live within 6 months.
Well, it's a difference in philosophy I guess - I was happy to pay the premium to get it done sooner and with a company we had an existing relationship with. He chose to go with another and the result is that 12 months down the track it is still not done and looks a fair way off. Turns out the work is being done in India - something he wasn't aware of until after the fact.
Early days I think he was intimidated by my continued presence and personality. We are very different people. I was popular with my team and through the company - in general I am much more personable than him. That's not a criticism, just a reflection on our different personalities. I am much more dynamic also, more creative, and a lot more aggressive in looking to make things happen. Once more this is simply a difference in our personalities. My background was broader than his, and I was more intellectual in my approach than he - while being more flexible in my thinking.
I think early on he sought to differentiate himself from me. I think that's why the deal I brokered was thrown out, and he chose to go his own way. Well it's his baby, and he's entitled to do that - but it should be for the right reasons. I'm very disappointed, particularly as I still feel a sense of ownership. We did some great things, I was proud of myself and the team - and now it feels like it's been trashed.
That's life I guess, and it's not completely his fault - it should not have been allowed to happen. That comes down to who manages him. Unfortunately the metrics I recommended be adopted to track and measure IT performance were never adopted - and so while I go on like this the senior management remain largely in the dark, knowing only what they've been told, and knowing no better.
Shit happens I guess.
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