Advice.....

[Qube]

I have just taken over an IT dept for a small company of 50 or so users. Been here 3 months now.

I consider myself to be doing agood job, but I have heard that people think I dont do anything, becuase things are working so well.

I have been advised to make myself seen to be doing more by having to restart the server in the middle of the day after applying patches rather than waiting until the end of the day as I do now.

So by trying make it all seemeless, it looks like I am not busy.

Any ideas on this ?

Lee

 

[CajunCenturion]

You gave you that advice? Whereas I can understand the need to look busy, I'm not sure that rebooting the server is a smart way to achieve that end.

Could you please elaborate on your job description in hope there might be some less intrusive ways, with less risk, to look busy.

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[jrbarnett]

Do you record your work for reference or other information? Do you write FAQ's for the users?
Are you in a position where you meet end users for face to face or telephone support?

Maybe trying to make yourself a little more visible during office hours is the answer.
Installing patches on servers that require it to be rebooted during the middle of the working days is not a good idea (in case there are problems after it boots up again), it should be saved to out of hours maintenance time as you do at the moment.

John

 

[Qube]

I am the IT Manager, but I dont have any staff so the running of the IT for the company is down to me. People dont understand that the fact it is running well is becuase alot of work is done behind the scenes. Like I stayed the other night and repatched the telecoms patch panel and some of the data panels. But noone else knows that, and even if i told them they would not understand or care.

So I was told that if i tell them I need to reboot the server becuase of patches they will think i am busy. Whereas normally i would reboot it after ppl leave and they would never know the differnece.

 

[Qube]

Yeah I have wrriten and FAQ on how to fax from desktop, becuase that has only just been installed.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Was does your boss think?

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[sha76]

How about mailing all staff when you're going to reboot the servers? Something along the lines of:
"Please inform me if you will be working late tonight as I will be shutting down the system to apply upgrades at x.oopm and will require all users to be logged off"
It doesn't matter that you know they'll have all gone home at 5.00, it shows everyone that you're not only doing the work, you're also committed to making their life easier.

Sharon

 

[Qube]

Yeah thats a good idea
it wont effect anyone but they will all know what I am doing

 

[TomKane]

Take a look at this thread - it's a similar to what you're going through - thread654-535012.

A couple of things that come to mind are:

Stats can help to show how many issues were raised how many were dealt with average turn around, etc.

Proactively addressing ways to improve the system while leveraging the current investment, etc.

Making a big deal about initiatives you have worked on - advertising your projects - maybe sending the users an email once a month listing new functionality that is now available.

Once a year we have a "planning day" where the great and the good of our organisation come together with us IT types and we tell them what we've delivered throughout the previous 12 months and what we intend to do for the next 12 - while taking on board any comments they might have.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Qube - I've asked you for a job description, and what does your boss think and you have yet to answer either question. There are lots of good people contributing that would like to help you, but in order to provide reasonable suggestion to improve your visibility, we need a better understanding of what you do. What is a typical day? How do you spend your 8 hours? What is your job description? If you're having trouble telling us what you're doing, it's going to a lot more difficult to explain to your non-IT associates.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Qube]

Sorry for the delay...
I dont have an offical job description.
My day is spent looking after the servers SQL Exchange IIS etc etc. keeping the Active directory up to date. Performing backups, and checking they worked by doing restores. I also then have any user problems to reslove, which some days are lots some days are not so many. If it is computer related it is down to me.
Hope that was waht you was after.

 

[Kjonnnn]

As someone suggested to another person. Take a week vacation.

I had people tell me that same thing. I respond that the fact that Im not running around like a chicken with my head cut off is a good thing. It means everything is working. Im paid to keep things working.

Liken yourself to an ambulance technician. You seem idle if no one is hurt, but when they get hurt they REALLLY need you.

Also, realize some folks may be jealous. YOUR work is not like THEIR work, so you may not appear to be busy.

Finally, some folks will never appreciate them. Ignore.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Then perhaps you could actually write your job description. No-one knows what you do because no-one, including yourself, has a written description of just what you're supposed to be doing. In essence, there is no foundation upon which to judge what you do. Once you've identified all of the things that you do, and to have those spelled out in writing, then people, even if they don't understand what you do, know that you have a lot to do.

Then the question changes from What does he do to Is he doing what he's supposed to be doing? The net effect is that the people who now don't what you do will assumg that you are doing what's in the job description (an assumption that they cannot make now since there is not job description), even if they don't understand just what that is.

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Qube]

Cheers for the advice.