When the Editors of Toolkit Café asked me to provide a list of the Top Ten IT manager tools every IT manager should have, three things happened:
First, I never had really thought about “must have tools” for every IT manager. I had always just focused on individual tools or my entire IT Manager ToolKit.
Second, if we really mean “every IT manager should have them”, then we should create an opportunity so every IT manager can access them, , , so we have, , , read on.
Third, when I tried to identify a Top 10 List, I couldn’t narrow it down to just 10. There are 15 IT manager tools in my IT Manager ToolKit that every IT manager needs and should have.
Let’s start with the list and follow with a short description of each tool and my reasons as to why you need it.
15 Tools Every IT Manager NEEDS
1. IT Employee Skills Matrix
2. IT Training Plan
3. New Employee Orientation Checklist
4. Performance Plan Template
5. Project Schedule Template
6. IT Systems Conversion Project Schedule
7. Move/Relocation Checklist
8. IT Initiatives Portfolio
9. Vendor Support Contacts
10. Escalation procedure
11. Annual IT Accomplishments
12. Client Rescue Guide
13. Cost of Downtime
14. Budget templates
15. IT Support Survey
Every tool can be customized to fit your specific needs and each tool includes instructions to help you use it.
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Read on for a Description of Each Tool
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1. IT Employee Skills Matrix
One of the first things you want to do in an IT organization is to conduct an IT assessment. A key component of this discovery process is to determine the capability and capacity of your IT staff. In other words, what can you do and how much can you do in terms of providing IT support.
This simple tool helps you quantify the skills you have and quickly identify the skill gaps that exist so you can prioritize training and education for your team. You can modify it to assess any level of skill you want; use it to quantify both technical and non-technical skills. Learn more.
2. IT Training Plan
Training and education is one of the top motivators for IT employees. It always ranks in the Top 3 reasons employees stay with their company so it’s important to have a strong focus on employee development.
Eliminate knowledge silos and develop depth in your organization with a focused employee training plan when you quantify and prioritize training with this tool.
Learn more
3. New Employee Orientation Checklist
It’s important to help a new employee get started so he or she can become productive quickly. It also has morale implications with your IT team as well as with your new employee that you may not realize.
Use this checklist or modify as needed to show new employees you are organized and help them become part of the team quickly. Learn more
4. Performance Plan Template
(with examples)
IT employees have a strong need to know what it takes to be successful and they want to know if they are. Employee performance planning and review time is some of the highest quality time you have with your employees.
Included are three sample performance plans for a Programmer, Business Analyst and Infrastructure Manager. Learn more
5. Project Schedule Template
The key to gaining IT credibility is delivering projects successfully. You need project schedules to help you manage the project team and complete the tasks on time.
I’ve used this template hundreds of times to manage very large projects. You don’t have to be a PMP to deliver projects successfully, but you do need structure and some simple tools. Learn more
6. IT Systems Conversion Project Schedule
Sooner or later you are going to convert one of your systems to a new platform. This project schedule template provides a generic list of tasks you can use to get started quickly.
In addition, an actual sample system conversion project schedule is included that will provide additional insight into project management. Learn more
7. Move/Relocation Checklist
There is going to be a time when a department of your company needs to relocate. I’ve been in situations where it seemed like someone was moving every week. Nothing hurts IT credibility more than when these relocations go poorly.
Prepare with a move/relocation checklist that helps you support your client by ensuring future relocations go smoothly. Learn more
8. IT Initiatives Portfolio
This little tool is so simple yet powerful. A couple of pages will show everyone how effective your IT organization delivers projects. Summarizes exactly what you need to know in regards to your project initiatives:
• On time
• Within budget
• Results achieved
• Meets client needs
• Successful (Yes or No)
Learn more
9. Vendor Support Contacts
When you need vendor support you often need it fast. Keep your vendor contact information close by and make it available to your Help Desk and all your IT managers. You’re going to need it. Learn more
10. Escalation procedure
There are events that take place when you need to escalate IT support to a higher level such as a remote office losing connectivity, a data interface goes down, or a server crash.
Developing practical escalation procedures puts you ahead of the game when these problems occur and positions your organization to be highly responsive.
Learn more
11. Annual IT Accomplishments
No one knows what the IT organization is accomplishing if you don’t tell them. I was shocked when assembling data for an annual IT Kickoff. We had accomplished so much more than I realized.
Right then I knew that if I had forgotten as the manager, then my clients and senior managers wouldn’t remember either. From that point I began tracking our accomplishments so we could communicate them with all groups in the company. Learn more
12. Client Rescue Guide
Early in my career an unhappy client intimidated me. Maybe that’s happened to you. Over the years I learned that a “problem client” is simply an opportunity in disguise.
Identify the client’s issues and address them and you have a partner instead of a headache. This template walks you through a process to do just that. Learn more
13. Cost of Downtime
Senior managers don’t understand technology nor want to, but you have to gain their approval to fund many technical projects that are necessary for the company.
This can be especially difficult when trying to discuss infrastructure projects, , , executives don’t get “routers and switches”. A tool that can help you is to educate them on the “cost of downtime”.
This practical tool will help you quantify the downtime implications in lost productivity for any technology in your company, even down to a single PC or printer. Learn more
14. Budget templates
Developing an IT budget should be fairly quick work, but it is a long and tiring process for many IT managers. It was for me too until I developed a few templates to help me in the process.
This tool is actually several templates and can help streamline your IT operational and capital budgeting effort. Learn more
15. IT Support Survey
At the end of the day, your client’s perspective of how well your IT organization is performing is your measurement of success. You need to be aware of how they feel about IT performance.
To do this, I use a simple survey like this tool but I don’t send it out and expect to get them completed and returned. Instead, I interview my clients and get much more information.
Use this survey form or modify it to determine client perspectives on:
• IT responsiveness
• IT focus
• IT quality
• IT professionalism
Learn more
SUMMARY
The tools and templates above have helped me significantly, and I hope you receive value in using them.
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ToolKit Cafe
There are over 100 tools and templates in the IT Manager ToolKit. To learn more click here.
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