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What percentage of IT departmental time is devoted to rescuing the intransigent? Of course, we do need to keep in mind that in the IT context, sometimes people are just resisting policies of monumental stupidity and soul-crushing inconvenience. But how many of them stop to try to understand the purpose of a policy they want to violate before violating it?
What should we do with those who blatantly ignore policy? Here are a few thoughts.
1. Let them suffer the consequences of their actions. While this would be the most satisfying option, I'm not sure that it's the most expedient. Imagine the news reports if the Southern California firefighters chose this approach: "I know that 30 people died, but we warned them." In IT, the equivalent might be, "We know that the payroll was all wrong, but we told them to scrub the data before delivering it to us." Probably wouldn't go over too well.
2. Provide unlimited support, no matter how obnoxious the behaviour. This is what we usually end up doing. We in IT want to be helpful, and we usually tamp down our frustration and outrage and get on with fixing whatever problem people bring to us. Of course, by doing this, we inadvertently encourage future infractions. People learn that we will help them no matter what they do.
3. Provide support within defined limits. We can provide support on a work-permitting basis for unsupported items. Or we can prioritize work, providing support for rogue users only after we have completed support of those who respect the rules. If we can offer help in a way that is defined by a policy, it can help set expectations about what we will and won't do.
The intransigent will always be with us. We may as well plan how we'll respond to them before we allow ourselves to be drawn into the void of risking our work for those who don't respect the time and rules of others.
Paul Glen is the founder of the GeekLeaders.com Web community and author of the award-winning book Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology (Jossey-Bass, 2003). Contact him at info@paulglen.com.
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Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Zones provide focussed content from CIO and leading technology partners.- White PaperWhat you don’t know can destroy your business. It’s hard to imagine modern business without the internet but in the last few years it has become fraught with danger. Read on to discover how internet security can give your business a competitive advantage.
- White PaperJoin industry expert Bob Spurzem and Chuck Arconi of Fox Hollow to discover how to reduce Exchange total storage and keep it at a manageable level. Learn how Exchange storage growth can be contained without sacrificing security and accessibility.
- White PaperLearn to tie virtualized computing to virtualized storage, to offer a dynamic set of capabilities within the data centre and create improved performance and system reliability. Discover how best to utilize EMC Celerra in a VMware ESX environment.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
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CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
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With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too 05 January, 2009 08:03:00
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5 ways to secure your Blackberry 18 December, 2008 12:58:00
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IT industry veteran advises caution on outsourcing selection in light of Satyam problems 09 January, 2009 21:45:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
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Fortinet Cures Mobile Phone “Curse of Silence/CurseSMS” Attack 07 January, 2009 16:30:00
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Choices in Storage Architecture for Oracle Environments
Database systems have always been at the core of the IT landscape. Not only is storage an increasingly large cost component of database investments, but storage architecture can significantly and directly impact the performance, availability, and recovery of data. Read on to explore the interaction between Oracle databases and EMC and Network Appliance storage architectures.
