The next 6 things to address in managing an IT department. We are now at numbers 19-24 and again they are not necessarily in any order of importance. This will be a series of postings until I have completed the total, which stands at about 36 at the moment. Please feed back any comments.

19. Define the architecture
Define your IT architecture. This is the hardware and software platforms that you use to support the business. Make sure they are consistent and complimentary in order to achieve efficiencies and future positioning.

20. Use business analysis
This is about bridging the gap between business and IT. Understand the requirements and benefits from a business point of view and then interpret those into an IT solution. Business analysis should get you closer to the business and an understanding of how they operate their processes and business rules.

21. Training and developing people
The IT people must be trained to the level you expect for the products they are using or supporting. I would suggest that you create a skills matrix which shows the people in one column and the skills (i.e. Excel) they need in the other. Using a score of 1 to 5 assess where each person is against the specific skill. The skills should be defined against each job function. The areas of weakness can then be identified and appropriate training planned.

22. BPI (Business Process Improvement)
Seriously consider business process improvement methodologies. This is about gaining efficiency and improving quality both internally and more importantly for customers. This involves studying specific areas of the business. They should involve a small number of processes as large studies can be difficult to manage and deliver benefit. The areas chosen should be able to demonstrate a number of issues that need addressing and the study be supported by a senior executive. The methodology will consist of an ‘As-is’ phase (how do we do it now) and a ‘to be’ phase (how we want it to be).
It is about seeking the inefficiencies, the rework, the issues etc. and designing an improved process.

23. Research
Research your marketplace and find out what is happening. Read the magazines and newspapers as well as subscribing to Blogs and web pages that are relevant. It can be time consuming but you can scan them to get an idea of what’s what and then home in on interesting areas. You need to be informed.

24. Communication – every which way
This is such a key area and covers internal within your department, external within the business and external with Clients, suppliers and peer groups. If you don’t do this then no matte how good a job you are doing people wont necessarily know about it and could talk your department down. Your clients wont think you are technology savvy and if your own people don’t know what’s going on then you will get duplication or complacency.

That’s all for part 4. Comments always welcome

I finally got a lot of free time and I’m thinking of getting Tales of Dagur II on track.
Unlike older attempts, this one is going to succeed because of several key members who wants to get ToD II into reality.
Not only that, we also have a basic story and a new RPG engine based on original ToD, but with more powerful features such as event scripting using the TCL scripting language and a great musician called Willow.

What are we missing then?

• Co-coders – If you want to take a part in extending the existing ToD engine into the new ToD Engine v2
• Scripters – Convert the story into reality with the TCL scripting language
• Pixel artists
• Tool coders – Coding a custom cross platform mapping software and database organizers using wxWidegts
• Story writers and designers – even though we have a basic story idea and handful of ideas, we still want more!

If you think you can help, hop over #tod2 @ EFnet and/or email me to get more details (see contact page).