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CM Journal Articles First Practice
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 We spend a lot of time putting our craft in a position to
make improvements in how software is managed and created. But who will
take our place when we're gone? As we handle projects or move up in
the
organization, what kind of people should we be hiring? In this article
I hope to suggest some
parameters to think about in terms of hiring and promoting, not just
technically
but socially and organizationally as well.I'm not one for morbidity but I am one for early retirement. Be it Powerball, rich Aunt Esther, or our own hard work, we all have better things we could be doing with our lives no matter how much we love our jobs. But we do care about the work we've contributed and the work yet to be done. We want whoever succeeds us to do as well or better than we did. So we need to think about the people we're grooming to take our place. Where do we begin? Just like we do with our tools, we need to define the CM needs of our companies and especially what they will be in 5 or 10 years. I know that means as many views as CM characters out there but I will offer some core factors I believe we need to start with:
All three requirements listed above require the same basic translation - the ability to communicate. With the first, high level policies must actively support the ability of intra-team and cross-team members to communicate with each other. That means setting up our tools so that we reduce interpretation and simplify handoffs between groups or members. It means providing good process documentation and training. The second item borders pretty heavily on technical. The tools in the marketplace are still focused inward on the SDLC so they aren't built for "outsiders" to easily get at their contents. Those tools should be focused outward and we need individuals who can extract data and push information up the chain in digestible and actionable bites. This increases our own visibility and generates the support we need because CM can be the eyes and ears for senior management, becoming indispensable to how they spend millions of dollars each year. Part three is very critical. It means being bilingual so that we can speak intelligently to business or senior managers who don't speak geek but still have the ability to communicate with our techie brethren to support our tools, software, and servers. No matter how obvious things are technically, our teams need the ability to communicate why something is important to those who don't live and breath on our side of the fence. And it means having a solid business foundation. There is no free lunch. Each of us in some way juggles resources whether it's money, time, or servers. Knowing when to stop investing effort in something or to push to completion is something management sees and which reflects on us, as caretakers of their vision. Core principles like service level agreements and customer service will matter even more in the future. Human Hybrid We need to tie all these items together and throw in some of the other, known spices. Individuals who will best move our own work forward are people who have terrific communication skills. We simply cannot afford pure techies. They need to be able to view daily activities from a senior management prism. And they need to operate the team like a small business. In order to survive and thrive, the team has to provide excellent customer service, negotiate with other functional area managers, including business managers, and coordinate its own resources in a manner that matches the organization's goals. To this we have to add the more common requirements of hiring. When I interview people for a position, I generally look for three basic things. I want to know they have a basic technical understanding. Do they understand why modifying files in production on a regular basis is a bad idea? With dwindling resources and more-with-less philosophy, I also need to know they are willing to work hard. CM can often get the bad end of a timing deal, will they just walk out in the middle or will they ensure the job is done accurately and on time? And finally, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, they have to be someone the team enjoys spending a third of their lives with on a daily basis. In a recent CNN article on hiring, one manager stated that he'd rather lose a good prospect than hire a bad one. Team cohesiveness will always have a large impact on productivity and success. Future Victory So who do we need to hire to succeed us? The person must be educated in business as well as technology. They must be able to convert good communication skills into tool processes and procedures. They have to speak well at all levels of the organization. And they have to be entrepreneurial in the sense that senior management can trust them to run the CM shop well. And of course they need a decent technical ability, to work hard, and to play well in the team sand box. That's a fairly tall order but then, they are going to have to be amazing people to replace us, aren't they? Randy Wagner is a Contributing Editor for CM Crossroads and Senior Configuration Manager with EFD in Sunrise, FL. His experience ranges from major financial institutions to multimedia multinationals to the Federal government. Working in small to large project efforts has given him a unique perspective on balancing the discipline of SCM and enterprise change management with the resources and willpower each organization brings to the table. You can reach Randy by email at SR_71_98@yahoo.com
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| Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2007 16:52 |
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