Managing Your IT Career In Turbulent Times

The industry is in transition -- most of us can feel it on one level or another.

And like any big industry transition, everyone is affected to some degree -- vendors, partners and consumers as well.

On more than one occasion, I've been asked an important question -- how do you manage your career in turbulent times like these?

I may not have the best answer, but I've lived through a few of these transitions before, and some of what is old has become new again.

So, What's Happening Out There?

IT infrastructure is growing up.  As a result, the industry is consolidating. If you're interested, go back and study the transitions that have already happened in other forms of technology infrastructure -- power, communications, transportation, manufacturing, etc.

There are some good lessons for all of us there ...

In each case of transition, infrastructure ended up being built differently, operated differently and consumed differently than before.  In each case, you can clearly see the transition to an "as a service" model.  And, if you look really closely, you can see what kinds of skills became very valuable during the transition.

Because, at the end of the day, that's what we all want -- really valuable skills.  Scarcity of a given skill set drive up the cost of that skill (e.g. your personal compensation!), and puts you in enviable position of choosing where you'd like to work.

And, during times of industry change, there are all sorts of interesting opportunities to set your sail in a new direction.  Or not, as the case may be.

A High Level Framework

When I get into these discussions, I usually need some sort of organizing principle to keep the discussion from wandering all over the place.

Here's the drawing I've been using. 

I've broken the discussion into four distinct quadrants:

* technology, architecture and operations -- the function responsible for delivering the service to the business.

* business user interaction -- the interface with the various groups actually using the services for business purposes.

* vendors and provider management -- interfacing with the folks in the industry bringing you technology and services.

* and, at a high level, business strategy integration -- the high-level tie-off with the overall business strategy and organizational objectives.

Other frameworks are possible, this is just the one I've been using.

Key Skills In The Technology, Architecture, and Operations Quadrant

Lots going on here, naturally. 

Virtualization (specifically VMware) is becoming the core technology skill that serves as an integration point for most of the other disciplines.  The really valuable people here seem to be the VMware experts who've bridged into storage, networking, management, security, etc.

Indeed, when our own Chad Sakac staffed up for 2010, he went looking for the best and brightest VMware experts -- and then cross-trained them on other disciplines.  This "mile deep on VMware, reasonable depth on other disciplines" is turning out to be an extremely valuable skill set in front of customers. 

And there's no reason to think that this sort of skill set wouldn't be equally extremely valuable in many enterprise IT settings.

Within this broad background, two particular skills are becoming incredibly popular.  One is the ability to define next-generation operational workflows (independently of the tool sets) that assume fast time-to-serve and cross all the usual boundaries. 

And ITIL won't help you here very much :-)

The other important skill is the ability to calculate the all-important "cost-to-serve" for a given service  delivered by IT -- take all the inputs, and show the marginal (or incremental) cost at decent scale.

Finally, "soft skills" are becoming incredibly important as well -- the ability to communicate clearly, to empathize with people who have specific concerns, the ability to foster a sense of confidence that accelerates change.  Generally speaking, these are leadership skills, and they're becoming very important these days.

Key Skills In Business User Engagement

I've seen this role done wrong, and seen it done right. 

Done wrong, it exposes all of the inner turmoil of IT -- process, budgets, limitations, anxieties, etc. -- to the business user in such a way that creates incredible frustration for someone trying to get something done, and encourages them to look elsewhere for answers.

Done right, it's a consultative engagement that helps the business user frame their ultimate objective, and positions IT as an enabler of that business goal. 

And when I meet people in this role, I can tell in the first 30 seconds which side of the fence they sit.  Needless to say, people in the second category are far more valuable than people in the first category -- they help business people get stuff done, rather than create the appearance of more complexity and process.

The very best people here have a good sense of "what is now possible with IT technology" -- regardless of whether or not the IT organization can deliver it today.  They take this near-future perspective, and apply it to the specific business-level engagements in an effort to find new sources of value creation.

Most people with this mindset work for organizations like Accenture, CSC, Cap Gemini et. al.  They're consultants in the fullest sense of the word.  They seem to be highly motivated and well compensated.  This tells me that the skill is very much in demand, even in an enterprise IT setting.

Take it from me -- this is fun stuff.  The art of the possible continues to move faster than people's ability to understand and apply it.  Working this continually growing gap means you'll likely be very much in demand.

Key Skills In Vendor and Provider Management

So much of this activity is managed by procurement people, who understandably focus on getting the best price for a given product or service.  Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but -- so often -- the discussion around potentially better ways to do things gets completely shut down as a result.

We as vendors and providers are always trying to innovate -- not only in individual product technologies, but solutions, integrations and delivery models.  Not only that, but the rate of innovation seems to be dramatically increasing, rather than decreasing.

Someone who can take the very best of what vendors and providers have to offer, and help position it against organizational requirements is a very valuable person, in my opinion.  It takes an ability to see beyond the usual vendor and provider pitches and understand the true value propositions being offered -- something we as vendors and providers do a miserable job at. 

And it takes the ability to understand the organization's true needs -- not only now, but in the near future, and do so in such a way that doesn't show up in an RFP or RFI.

The very best of these people carve out a handful of vendors and providers they really like, and invest even more time educating them on the business, the motivations, the transition points that are coming up, and so on.

We as vendors and providers need something to target.  So often, we have to guess what people really want.  And if you're a big consumer of IT stuff, we tend to respond positively to well-articulated visions and strategies from our customers and clients.

Someone who can bridge this gap in a meaningful way is extremely valuable on the vendor and provider side.  And I've seen the same skill become extremely valuable within many enterprise IT settings as well.

Key Skills In Business Strategy Alignment

So often, IT isn't seen as an integral part of the overall business strategy.  That's a shame on multiple levels, not the least of which is keeping good IT professionals from making the the fullest contribution possible.

The good news here?  As IT transitions to an "as a service" model -- call it cloud, call it whatever -- there are entirely new scenarios for how IT gets paid for.  More of the IT budget can be spent on creating unique business value, and less of it spent doing the same-old same-old.

There's an entirely new rationale to re-engage with business leaders around what's becoming possible, regardless of whatever legacy cynicism might already exist.

The exceptional practitioners here focus on creating an extended governance model for IT -- engaging non-IT disciplines to weigh the opportunities and manage the risks in a fluid and dynamic manner.  Just to be clear, good governance isn't about slowing things down with more process ; it's about speeding things up by gaining consensus quickly and effectively.

Outsiders (consultants and the like) can create the case for good governance, show you how it's done, etc. -- but unlike other key skills, it's not something that can be outsourced.  It's something you have to do yourself.

And the people I've met who've figured this out this essential aspect are seeing their careers move along with breathtaking speed.

There's More To The Story, Of Course ...

Put differently, I believe the opportunity for leadership within enterprise IT is unprecedented.  So much is changing -- so quickly -- that if you've got the hankering to lead rather than follow, your time is now.

Leadership is all about being able to paint an achievable vision, and giving people the confidence to go achieve it.  It's more about how you do things, rather than the specifics of your role.  Leadership is a mindset.

Many of you reading this will look around and say "that's nice, but it ain't happening here".  That may be true, but take it from me -- it's happening in other places: the choice of where you work is yours. 

Or, you may be saying "well, that's sort of happening here, but it's not in full swing yet".  I would say that -- all things being equal -- that's an opportunity to reposition yourself as someone who's accelerating change, and not resisting it.

Or, in a few cases, you may be saying "that's happening here already", in which case you're very fortunate indeed.

As am I.

Comments

[Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach]

From: Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach
Hi Chuck,
Your post is very valuable because it puts specific around what/how IT needs to evolve for 21st century. My favorite paragraph in your post:
"Finally, "soft skills" are becoming incredibly important as well -- the ability to communicate clearly, to empathize with people who have specific concerns, the ability to foster a sense of confidence that accelerates change. Generally speaking, these are leadership skills, and they're becoming very important these days."

I offer two points:
a)IT would do well to start calling them people-skills instead of soft skills. Many many technical professionals react negatively to the phrase "soft". Moreover, these aren't soft skills. The ability to interact with others for maximum results is as hard as any technical skills around.
b)Unless people can find a career where they work completely alone, every human in the workplace needs great people-skills. It's not just for leadership.

I read one article recently that quoted some technical professionals (IT, engineers, etc...) as saying "We went into technical work so we wouldn't have to use 'soft skills!'". This attitude costs companies a great deal of money. For every team member who doesn't work on his/her communication skills, ability to team with diverse personality types, and ability to deliver honesty without offense -- companies have to hire others to "translate" for and "manage and resolve" the poor communication.

I applaud your post and will RT it on Twitter. Many thanks for sharing your insights.

Here two of my posts that will help all your readers improve their people-skills:
http://katenasser.com/soft-skills-employers-need-3-solid-steps/
http://katenasser.com/professional-soft-skills-resolution-for-2010/
Kate

[Chuck Hollis]

Hi Kate

I wouldn't want to tangle with you, since you obviously have spent a lot of time and effort on this topic. And we have so much we could agree on.

I usually select terms with my target audience in mind. In this case, "soft skills" is meant to be the opposite of "hard skills" -- generally refers to deep technology expertise, rather that difficulty, as in "hard sciences".

Engage with a hard-core technologist, and start talking about "people skills", and they'll generally think about better interaction with people like them, e.g. hard technologists. Shift the conversation to "soft skills", e.g. activities that do not have hard metrics associated with them (there's that word again!), and I usually have found it more productive.

Regardless, there's a need for a more balanced profile in IT leadership going forward -- no matter what we call it!

-- Chuck

[Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach]

Hi Chuck,
We actually have one more thing in common - loads of experience with technology professionals. Interestingly, when I have used the phrase "soft skills" with them, they have tuned out. Soft means unimportant to them. I have had much better success with the phrases people-skills and interpersonal skills.
In the end, it's the learning that counts. So here's to our shared mission!
Best -
Kate
http://katenasser.com (footage to view)

[Chuck Hollis]

Hi Kate

You got me to thinking about this again. It struck me that we've seen great success with technical types embracing online interactions: comments, blogging, tweeting, etc.

There's something about the online environment that works for these people, and doesn't involve face-to-face interaction. If you follow EMC's investment in social media proficiency, you'll understand why I'm saying what I'm saying.

Perhaps the answer isn't to force these people into things they're uncomfortable with, and instead give them an online environment that enables them to work on their people skills in a virtual setting.

Thanks again ...

-- Chuck