Shaking IT Up: In a Crisis, A Good Manager Is an Absent Manager

by Kevin Vandever

It's 3:00 am, and you've just been jolted out of bed by your company's help desk. You are groggy, but instinctively you get up, spark up the laptop, and log in to the system. It takes you a little while to clear the cobwebs, but you soon gather yourself and dig into the issue at hand. As bad as that situation sounds, it is probably the best case scenario under which to solve a critical issue and that is because there is usually no management around to get in the way.

Face it. Management sometimes gets in the way. The good managers know this and work to minimize it. The bad ones? Well, the bad ones not only don't think that they get in the way, but they actually believe that they are helping, or, as they might put it, "handling" a particular situation. Let me provide a couple of examples.

Let's say you have a critical situation arise at your shop. If not handled properly, this issue will have huge, negative effects on the business. Management has to be involved in this case so that they can deal with any public relations issues, coordinate efforts among departments, and discuss high level strategy and contingency plans. This is what management should do, but often, management feels the need to get involved in the details and "help" solve the problem.

The disruptions come in many forms. One major roadblock is to schedule a conference call or a meeting to discuss the situation. This might be helpful to some extent, but in most cases it turns into a chance for upper management to pontificate and state the obvious to those in the trenches trying to solve the problem This is also a time when the importance of the issue is explained to the group, which also falls into the stating the obvious category, but I give it its own billing because it so frustrating to those trying to solve the issue. The problem is that many times, the folks in the trenches already know what steps need to be taken to troubleshoot or solve an issue and most of the time they also know the graveness of the situation. The long-winded meeting usually serves to waste the time of those who need to dig in and it also frustrates them so that when they do get back to the job at hand, they do so with a less than positive attitude.

Another favorite roadblock to productivity placed by management during a crisis is the constant need for status updates. This is a surefire way to irritate, anger, or (add expletives of choice) the IT staff. The need for status is understood and many times the team trying to resolve the issue will wait too long to provide it, so there has to be some effort by management to obtain this status. However, constant hounding by management can have a negative impact on the team in general and specifically hinder the ability of the team to solve the issues at hand. Sometimes, managers will watch over your shoulder to see how things are going, but many times the interruption comes by telephone and in some cases, management will schedule conference calls or meetings to discuss status, which leads back to the first problem I mentioned.

If you don't believe me because you're so numb to the process that you can't see that management sometimes sticks its nose where it shouldn't or you are part of management and disagree with my opinion, that's okay. I understand. But let's take a look at an unrelated profession, but one from which we borrow much of our terminology and even some of our practices to see how IT management style might fit in.

Imagine a firefighter showing up to battle a blaze that threatens to destroy your house and everything in it. Now imagine that same firefighter putting his hose or ax down to attend a conference call so that he can be given ideas on how to fight the fire or have it explained to him how important it is to extinguish the fire due to the worth of the house or the things in the house. Imagine further that fire fighter being called every 30 minutes so he can give status of the fire or having his manager stand next to him watching as he fights the fire.

That all sounds pretty ridiculous doesn't it? You want that firefighter concentrating on nothing but putting out that fire without risking his life more than necessary. You don't want him attending meetings or on the phone providing status while your house is burning down. Well, as ridiculous as it sounds, it's not unlike what happens daily in IT shops all across the land.

Managers need to trust their teams. They need to remove obstacles and provide support to those solving the issues. The meetings and conference calls may be important, but they should be used to strategize and come up with contingency plans, but they don't need to include all the firefighters and they shouldn't be used to state the obvious and just to hear each other talk. As far as collecting status, I've always mentioned to my teams to update me when things change. This doesn't work if there isn't trust, but in the case of my teams, they soon realize how nice it is to not have me bugging them for status so they keep me adequately informed just to keep me out of the way.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not preaching that managers are useless and always in the way. I am a manager, and I have probably created roadblocks like the ones I've mentioned, but I was once a programmer and I know how I felt when these roadblocks were put up in front of me.

I just don't think it's a good idea for management to get too involved during a crisis. The problem is that the management teams are the ones that are responsible for what happens and they must report to executive management when things go south. Reporting to the executives is easy and even fun when things are good, but not so fun when something horrible goes down. So there is a natural tendency to micromanage in times of crisis and if a manager was once a firefighter himself, then there is the added tendency to jump in and help.

However, this is probably the best time not to micromanage. This is the time for trust on the part of the manager and a time for the manager to do what he or she can to clear the path for his or her team. The management team should stay the heck away and let the firefighters fight the fire. The management team can clear the onlookers, console the homeowners, and make sure the firehouse is prepared for another fire should one erupt at the same time.

So, management, next time there is a crisis in your shop, think of the firefighter. Let your team fight the fire and do what you can to remove obstacles, not add to them. Non-management folks, don't be too hard on your managers when they get in the way. Their intentions are good, just a bit misguided. The best thing you can do is kindly (as kindly as can be done during a crisis) explain that you can't attend the meeting right now or that you'll get back to him or her with status as soon as you can. In the end, things are never smooth during a crisis, but with some trust, communication, and understanding, things can go much better than they probably do right now.