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The world of IT management is very large. An IT team will oversee virtually all of the electronic communication within a company and, unfortunately, that means there is always room for grave mistakes to appear. This can be caused by either poor foresight on the manager’s part, or through employee mistakes. There are five very large mistakes that can make or break your position as an IT manager, but there are also simple ways to avoid all of them.
Emphasizing Technology Without Consideration for the Business
One of the biggest mistakes an IT manager can make is putting too much emphasis on improving the technological side of a business. While this may sound like it’s exactly what an IT manager is for, it misses one very important point. An IT manager should always be looking for ways to support and improve the business as a whole, instead of just improving and upgrading the technology it uses. While having excellent technology and hardware for a business to operate with is important, it is just as mutually important that improvements and advancements are made in order to help the business run more smoothly and more efficiently.
Not Double Checking Team Work
While IT managers have teams of people under them, a manager should always recheck their work to ensure it was completed properly. Often, a manager will rely heavily on his team to complete all work and expects the work to be done properly. However, not checking the work for completeness or correctness can leave errors that you will be held responsible for. A proper IT manager should always check all work his team completes to ensure that it is completed properly and functions as it should. This includes making sure that all expectations by hardware deployment are met as well.
Lack of Partnership with Business Management
Although a strong IT manager has excellent technical skills and the ability to manage a team, integrating their management with business management for proper technological integration and growth should be a high priority. This includes representing your ideas and plans personally, ensuring that management completely understands their needs regarding infrastructure. If there is poor representation, or no representation at all, then your plans will likely have minimal impact with regard to the business side of operations.
Backup Solutions Are Important
As a manager within a business, operational data and information are of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, some IT managers do not test their backup systems often enough. In the world of IT management, hardware failure can and will happen. This means you should be properly prepared for it at any time. While it may seem as though the backup systems are doing their jobs, sometimes backups can become corrupt or backup improperly. If you can’t recover from an incident, then the backups are useless. Perform test backups periodically to ensure the process is operating properly.
Your Personal Development in the IT Field
The biggest mistake an IT Manager can make is not continuing to develop their skills and expand their knowledge of systems and management. It is your responsibility to ensure you remain relevant to your position. This means taking the time to continue your education to stay on the cutting edge of technology, as well as to improve on management skills. While working for a business, your skills may be tested periodically. If you are found to no longer have relevant skills to your position, you may be looking at unemployment. A truly successful IT manager will always continue to work on personal development.
About the Author: Angela Rivers is an IT manager and guest author at Masters in IT, where she contributes guides to getting an online Masters in Information Technology.
