IT Managers Can Only Be Successful If They Have Good Directions

Think about the last time that you went on a trip somewhere. I’m sure that you packed some clothes, got gas for the car, and of course got directions so that you’d be able to end up where you wanted to. It turns out that being an IT manager is very similar to going on … Read more

The 4 Functions Of An IT Budget That IT Managers Need To Know

What you can accomplish as an IT manager is closely tied to how much money the company is willing to entrust you with. The more money that they are willing to give you, the more you’ll be able to get done. The way that you’ll get your hands on the company’s money is to create … Read more

IT Manager Lessons From Zynga: Don’t Do Like They Do!

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and don’t know who Zynga is, they’re the online game company that has ridden Facebook’s coattails to success. They’ve created very, very popular games such as Farmville and Cityville and generated a great deal of money. However, it’s starting to become clear … Read more

IT Manager Leadership: Two Ways To Lead When You’re Not In Charge

When I work with IT Leaders who are looking for ways to get that next promotion, I tell them that they are going to need to demonstrate leadership. This is an easy thing for me to say and a very hard thing for them to do. Complicating matters even more is the fact that IT … Read more

4 Things An IT Leader Should Never Do During A Performance Review

Most IT managers have never been trained on how to properly conduct a performance review with members of their team. What this means is that all too often they end up doing these reviews incorrectly. Not only is this bad for the team – you can’t fix what nobody knows about, but it could also … Read more

4 Secrets IT Managers Need To Do Successful Performance Appraisals

On top of everything else that you have to do as an IT manager, there are those performance appraisals. You don’t want to do them, your staff doesn’t want to do them, and yet the company insists on everyone doing them. As long as you’ve got to sit down and evaluate the performance of each … Read more

IT Managers Know That Their Goals Are The Secret To Time Management

Doing a good job of managing your time is a challenge for every IT manager. Every day it seems like there are more and more things that you are being asked to do while the amount of time that you have to accomplish them keeps getting smaller and smaller. If only there was some way … Read more

Top-Down Or Bottom-Up: What’s The Best Way To Set Goals?

Everyone needs goals. As an IT Leader, it’s going to be your responsibility to help your team set both team and individual goals. Although at first this sounds pretty straightforward, in practice it often turns out to be a bit tricky. The most important question that you’re going to have to answer is which way … Read more

He Shoots! He Scores! Why Goals Are Important To IT Leaders

Being an IT Leader is a hard job. On any given day, you’ll have multiple people pulling on you trying to get you to do 100 different things. The question that you have to keep asking yourself is “what should my team be working on right now?” This is exactly where new IT managers can … Read more