Even a Manager's Tech Skills Need Sharpening

Computerworld - One of the things IT managers face is losing touch with the technical aspects of the projects they manage. That's OK if you've got plenty of talented people working for you. But when you have a small staff and lose a key person, you have to be able to step in and do the work yourself.

Personally, I have always tried to stay as hands-on as possible without losing my vision of the overall strategy. Technical people often get hung up on the details and forget to step back to see the big picture. A good manager keeps the vision in mind and guides the team in the direction of what's good for the business, which does not always jibe with what the technical team thinks is important to focus on.

In my realm, this plays out with me reining in the most severe security impulses of the professionals who work for me while ensuring that security is tight. They want the network locked down as much as possible, as they should. I do too, but I have to keep in mind our users and the efficient functioning of the state agency we work for. For example, I don't want users to be forced to choose a very strong password that has to be changed every 30 days. The security professional in me knows that every increment of protection helps, but the manager in me knows that users resist strictures that constrain efficient work habits. If you institute practices that users will ignore or circumvent - by posting their strong passwords on their monitors, for instance - you've done nothing to increase your security profile.

But how does a manager stay hands-on when skills are constantly being ratcheted up?

We had a windfall in training dollars this year. A lot of training money had gone unused; it was as if Christmas had fallen at the end of the fiscal year instead of the end of the calendar year. I set to work right away assessing the skills of the team and the areas where we needed to get stronger. Then it dawned on me: I could use some additional training myself.

Managers don't usually go off to get more technical training. But my team is small and often needs me to pitch in, so why not? I'm not looking for additional credentials. I already have an advanced degree and four certifications (which mean nothing in some circles and a great deal in others, but that's another story). I'm looking to enhance my skills so I will better understand what my employees are doing and how I can help them. What I need is an in-depth understanding of networking technologies as they relate to security. The thought that I could send my entire team off to enhance their skills and still have money to make myself more effective in my job got me kind of excited.