IT Operations Challenges

It's interesting to see how over the years, certain things are always at the fore of an IT Operations Manager's sleeplessness.

• High workload - balancing BAU with Projects
• Tools - Unable to get the best tools to enable the team to do the best job
• Team size - There's never enough people, based on the amount of work coming through the door
• Skills - There is never the time or budget to provide enough of the team with the right skills, especially as new technology is introduced through projects
• Technical debt - The team are expected to support old and often unsupported hardware of software.

While it is often comforting that so many IT Ops Managers experience the same issues, it's also disconcerting that so many are still experiencing all, or some of this pain.

So how can this be addressed, so that you can sleep at night without alcohol?

• High Workload
  • Use visualisation / Kanban style boards to show ALL the work that the team has on. Work with your CIO, PMO other stakeholders to prioritise the work; either MoSCoW or Eisenhower matrix can be used to prioritise.  Prioritise on value, not by the loudest voice.
  • Then limit the team's Work in Progress so that they are working on one thing at a time (or however many is reasonable). They will achieve more this way.
• Tools
  • Tricky one as it depends on your internal processes for Capital / Operational spend.  Proof of Concepts often work well, but so can highlighting what work can't get done (see above) based on the lack of tools.  Take prioritisation back to value-based prioritisation and that may well help drive the conversation the way you need it to go.
•   Team size
  • I see this regularly and often it's not the answer. Improving the flow of work, identifiying constraints and looking to shift left or automate wil often deliver more benefits to the team and the wider organisation, than just recruiting more people.  Not always, but often.
• Skills
  • Using thinking like KCS and Intelligent Swarming will often deliver this skills transfer without the need to spend more time or budget on training. 
• Technical debt
  • See the first point. Prioritising effectively allows you to highlight that if certain areas are not upgraded, then particular priorities cannot take place.  Also ensuring that work to introduce new technologies includes the removal or upgrade of older technologies as well. No more dead cats. 

If you would like help introducing or improving any of these areas, please get in touch and let's work together to make you look even better than you did this morning.