IT Managers Inbox

Resources for IT Managers

How To Write IT Technical Documentation

Documentation plays an important part in Information Technology. Work instructions, help desk scripts, knowledge bases, and vendor instructions are only a few examples. The key to writing good technical documentation is in the format of the document. No matter how good the information is, if it is not well formatted it can be difficult to use. Documentation should be easy to … [Read More...]

IT Contract Work Has Full-Time Potential

If you have been trying to get  a full-time IT position and have found few opportunities one option to try is contract work. Right now contract work may be your best option for landing a full-time position. A recent survey of CIOs across the United States revealed that nearly 73 percent think it is beneficial to bring in prospective employees on a contract basis before … [Read More...]

How To Work Under Pressure

Office Workers

In the IT world working under pressure is a daily event. Knowing the steps to take when faced with an issue can lessen the stress of working under pressure. Deadlines, project changes, unforeseen obstacles, critical outages are only a few of the stressful issues that can arise in the IT world. We face these circumstances often and can feel a great deal of pressure to get … [Read More...]

Why You Should Cross Train Employees

Being able to staff critical positions is important to maintaining an IT departments level of service. Vacations, sick days, family emergencies and medical leaves are but a few of the normal threats to staffing critical positions. How are these normal absences a threat to an IT department? In the same manner that retirements are a threat by having all of those skills walk … [Read More...]

The Office Politics of Email

Email has become the de facto standard for business communications. It is on our desktop, our laptop and our phone. For this reason email has become the new form of “on the record” types of communications within organizations, thus like everything else subject to politics. Office politics within an organization seems to be an unavoidable part of the job. Many have an agenda, … [Read More...]

How To Improve IT Customer Service

Customer's Place

Over the years IT has evolved and become more customer service oriented. No longer is an IT department just about keeping the hardware and software running. We serve customers within the organization with products, services and solutions. Gone are the days when IT was disconnected from the business. IT is now an integral part of the business and has many customers, both … [Read More...]

13 of the Worst Email Mistakes Made at Work

Doing research for another post I ran across a survey where people were asked if they had ever sent out an email message to the wrong person or copied someone by mistake. Not surprisingly seventy-eight percent of the respondents answered yes they had. I am sure we all have sent out emails by mistake. I have used the recall button more than once, but usually because I forgot … [Read More...]

How a Proactive IT Manager Can Handle Any Crisis

Today many IT professionals are expected to do more with less. This means there more pressure with less time, more work with fewer staff members, and more control with less tolerance for mistakes. All of these can put the business at risk unless processes, plans and monitoring are put in place to handle potential problems. The solution to the problem lies in using a … [Read More...]

5S System Challenges – Slow and Steady Implementation

You will face many challenges implementing and sustaining a 5S System. One of those is that a 5S System represents change. One way to make the change easy for employees it to use a slow and steady method if implementation. The first thing to remember is there is no cookie cutter solution when it comes to developing and implementing a 5S System. Each organization is different … [Read More...]

SaaS Fail? Many IT Customers Not Enthusiastic About SaaS

According to a recent survey many IT users in the U.S. and U.K. are “underwhelmed” with SaaS. Software as a Service (SaaS) has gained in popularity as IT looks to cut costs, however it seems a lot of customers are not yet fully satisfied with the results. The Gartner survey of users and prospective users of SaaS solutions indicates that while the SaaS model is more widely … [Read More...]

Management Tools – Time and Problem Management Simplified

If you are an active manager, always on the go or away from your desk I have an invaluable tool to help you with time and problem management. A pen and a pocket list. It is a very simplified “Getting Things Done” system, and very useful for active managers. The concept is simple. Take a standard sheet of paper, fold it once and then again into a nice neat square. You will … [Read More...]

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