Team Review

[Matt_Tate]

Hi all, hope everyone is well..we have including myself 10 members of IT Support Staff. I dont think we are being productive enough, and some of them are spending too much time sat in their office doing well to be blunt nothing. we are all spread around the site so its difficult to monitor them. as the person in charge or as good as...i want to do a review on them but be it so they dont really notice it to be a review...you know what will happen, they will start doing work the moment you mention it!

 

im at a point where im fed up of working like a slave and wanting to achive in the rle and do well for the school, and they are gettin paid to doin nothing and not caring....sooner employ someone else to do the job whop wants to work there! tho my boss says its not easy to just get rid of ppl...tho im sure there are loop holes we can ping them on to speed up the process....

 

any thoughts or ideas would be good...

[FN-GM]

Do you have a helpdesk in place?

 

If not you could get one and fore everyone to make tickets. This way everyone will have a job and you can monitor them.

[maniac]

Blimy, 10 members of support staff, that's quite a sizeable team. If you don't mind me asking, what size infrastructure are you supporting??

 

Mike.

[Matt_Tate]

yeah we have a helpdesk system...difficult to fully pin point them with it though...ive got one tech who hasnt closed a job in around a week and spent two weeks transfering video from camera to pc to dvd...only a days worth of filming, no editing required...but insists on sitting there watching the video transfer....drives you mad...motivation of a dead fish!

 

on the infrastructure topic....

supporting around 650pc's

200 laptops

15 IWB's - 30 projectors all spread over 6 area's

running our own ISA server, emal server, NAS storage, 3 DC's

running on a 1GB network

supporting e-learning development projects

 

so you think we are over staff? sometimes i think we might be...

[somabc]

Interesting for your first post, are you trying to conceal your identity from your team?

 

You (or your NM) need to monitor the rate of jobs and personally I do not feel its fair to 'review' them without their knowledge. You should check the work rate informally, then set targets, then review those targets. You should be able to find out the total no of jobs logged, the response time and the clear up rate.

 

If you have hired too many people you need to go through a redundancy process. It's not the teams fault if you hire 10 people to do the work of 3 for example.

 

From the equipment you mention though I think you could half your teams size

[elsiegee40]

By pretty much every poster's standards you have an ENORMOUS team to handle what you do.

 

There are many posters here, coping with that size network with a smaller team.

 

I think your ticketing system on the help desk is probably provideing the evidence you need. I cannot understand how your team got to this size.

 

"There's too much work" just doesn't wash in most schools.

 

When I was in business - an Insurance company - there were 20 of us; but we supported around 10k users (honestly) and their kit nationwide

[GrumbleDook]

1 - tasks should have a set time frame. With most jobs you can quantify the time and then you can find out why it is taking longer to do the job. It might be an idea to monitor them so they work at a reasonable rate and then you can set that as standard.

 

2 - set up some scheduled tasks that you *know* take a certain amount of time ... cleaning filters in projectors, site walk around to identify faults (not fixing faults ... just a walk around to identify them for someone else to fix), cleaning the monitors, reimaging a workstation ... then you can allocate these as preventative maintenance.

 

3 - if they are not doing anything give them some R&D to do. Look at digital signage, learn some php, test new software ... all of which requires a report which you can take to the SLT to show where the investment in the team is going.

 

4 - look at the FITS materials to see what you are covering. If your team are not doing patch management or release management then here is another chunk to be managed by someone.

[Matt_Tate]

not at all trying to conceal my identity...i was registered on here before but forgot my details, attempted to reset password and got caught up in the whole secuirty word/phrase thing and it wouldnt accept my details.

 

its a difficult time as they are all young staff 21 and below, so maturity is well not good. i just compare a few of them to the others...some work hard and do work, others well dont. being young it seems like they are still in the school stage and think work is play time. problem its the older ones with the problems...the young ones are amazing at what they do.

 

seems like i shall have to review their work loads more closely

[Sylv3r]

Do they all have the same job title / job description?

 

Do you carry out performance management (appraisals) of your team similar to the process your teachers go through?

[maniac]

In my opinion I would say that 10 people is excessive for that size of system. Most schools I've come across would have a team of around 4 or 5 for that scale of system, but it does depend on what other tasks fall within the remit of your department, e.g maintaining websites, intranet, VLE etc. are all time consuming tasks that are on top of normal day-to-day maintenance, some schools have other people doing this, and some have their ICT support people doing this.

 

Every member of staff should really have a performance management review once a year as a matter of course, and possibly more often if the school feels there are problems. Clear measurable targets can be set and a review date specified at the time. With a team consisting of many people, it's important to define roles and responsibilities within that team, invest in training to support those, and make sure that everyones time is used effectively. If no performance management has been carried out recently, then that may be a place to start.

 

One of the first things I did when I started at a new school as network manager was make my two technicians write down in a general way what they did with their time, then it gave me a good starting point to find out what each member was good at, or areas where too much time was being spent, and areas where not enough time was being spent.

 

Mike.

Edited October 15, 2008 by maniac

[Matt_Tate]

ive only been in the role since april...sounds and feels along time ago since then but have been fire fighting ever since.

 

i am desperate to set structure into the team, but is forever blocked by the NM, no school ICT policies, not written documentation on well anything, the team come and go as they please, most days turn up late and leave early...nm enforces the whole must be in at such time but they carry on being late...end of the day there is no consequence to their actions. i could go on...would really like to take in what staff want from the support team, then what we are doing, take the two...add in some FITS stuff and see where we go...but again blocked by NM....

[GrumbleDook]

I take it you are the Assistant NM / Senior tech or perhaps that the NM is a teacher and you manage the day to day stuff?

[kingswood]

Hi all, hope everyone is well..we have including myself 10 members of IT Support Staff. I dont think we are being productive enough, and some of them are spending too much time sat in their office doing well to be blunt nothing. we are all spread around the site so its difficult to monitor them. as the person in charge or as good as...i want to do a review on them but be it so they dont really notice it to be a review...you know what will happen, they will start doing work the moment you mention it!

 

im at a point where im fed up of working like a slave and wanting to achive in the rle and do well for the school, and they are gettin paid to doin nothing and not caring....sooner employ someone else to do the job whop wants to work there! tho my boss says its not easy to just get rid of ppl...tho im sure there are loop holes we can ping them on to speed up the process....

 

any thoughts or ideas would be good...

 

Aha! The word "team". It evokes loverly pictures of the IT Crowd in my little mind, but I digress...

 

There are basically two types of team (and since you use that term yourself it would appear that you see the situation in very much those terms). One is the mix of complementary skills and responsibilities where "problems" move very smoothly between individuals in the team who through their personal competencies add their unique value to the whole thing, and this tends to help produce a much better result than any one technician or manager could ever achieve on their own.

 

The other type is the less "sophisticated" and less "mature" version, and this team lacks complementary and unique skills (skills in this kind of team are about the same for each member) so that when problems arise there is no "ownership" and therefore no added value. One book I read on this described a similar team environment in terms of a football match- the ball goes down the left wing and everyone follows it, bunching up in a panic in order to "get the ball". What we need to happen is that each player brings their own sense of responsibility into the equation and also their own unique skills- that's why footballers have their own position and their skills tend to reflect that central ethos.

 

I would say- you need to stop thinking of your technicians as a team right now (they may become one, but aren't operating as one now). Teamwork involves taking a problem that one skillset could never solve on its own and by using different sets of skills found in each member adding value to the solution and reaching a conclusion. Far fetched? Not really. Because what you are seeing is a breakdown of this natural process and so it is affecting productivity and expectations are falling as a consequence.

 

So- *ownership* tends to be the management solution to this problem. Assign specific tasks to your technicians that are within their talent and skills area, and allow them to take ownership of the situation. This tends to give staff a better reason to come to work every day other than money

 

The benefits? Increased productivity and the opportunity to fail in private- not in front of the whole "team".

 

The downside? As part of the management solution to this problem it is your job to assess what the individual value of each member is and where their skills are and how these fit into your company picture. It's all about valuing staff to add value to the company. So to carry out reviews of the staff individually you need to first stop seeing this as a team and begin looking at each one and how they perform when offered tasks that suit their skillset. A help desk system is a good way to start, but meetings with each one and assignment of tasks individually would be a better way to go at the start- that way you aren't "measuring performance" but rather "evaluating effectiveness".

 

By "tasks" I mean areas that the technician can take ownership of and develop, not job tickets that get handed out in addition to this!

 

Don't forget too that the manager *as leader* is just as important as each individual in the support department. Sometimes the support structure fails because the manager doesn't manage, or doesn't lead from the front. Self-assessment isn't just for tax returns

 

Change requires a leader who will make decisions, set direction, delegate responsibilities and keep the "team" on course. So really what I am saying is start with yourself and work down. Think and plan in terms of more individuality and you might find that people have a bigger sense of worth in your department and so contribute more to it by adding their value to tasks. In ye olden days it was called "staff development"

 

HTH?

 

Paul

[maniac]

ive only been in the role since april...sounds and feels along time ago since then but have been fire fighting ever since.

 

i am desperate to set structure into the team, but is forever blocked by the NM, no school ICT policies, not written documentation on well anything, the team come and go as they please, most days turn up late and leave early...nm enforces the whole must be in at such time but they carry on being late...end of the day there is no consequence to their actions. i could go on...would really like to take in what staff want from the support team, then what we are doing, take the two...add in some FITS stuff and see where we go...but again blocked by NM....

 

Reading between the lines there, you sould like you are basically dis-satisfied with the way your NM is running the department, in which case I think an informal meeting with them to raise your concerns may be in order, or you can do it in writing formally if you think it's necessary.

 

Then, and only then, if you still feel like you're still not getting anywhere and you're still 'concerned' I think it would be fair to raise the issue higher up. It's only fair to talk to the person directly first thou. The thing is if you go down this road, be prepared to ruffle some feathers and probably make a few enemies on the way as people hate it when you step above their heads, but sometimes this is the only way.

 

I've seen it before where the NM was so good at talking the talk that he was able to pull the wool completely over the headteachers and management teams eyes. It was only when someone else came along and told it to them how it was, with supporting paperwork, they actually realised how far off the mark the origenal NM had been.

 

Of course the other option is to up-sticks and gain employment somewhere else.

 

Mike.

Edited October 15, 2008 by maniac

[teejay]

Few things really, for that size of network the team is way too big, probably by about 4 staff.

You mentioned they are spread around the school, is there any way you can change that so they are in one big office, it's the first thing I did when I started at my school.

Next is to assess their abilities and give them responsibility for certain areas and make it so it tests their ability and pushes them. Change the roles round a bit after a while as it can get boring doing the same things all the time.

Start scheduling the jobs and set sensible time limits and if they go over the question why.

If they are leaving early, schedule work for them to do after school, maybe an after school computer club or get a maintenance schedule for the ICT suites.

[Matt_Tate]

would love them all in one office...ideal solution is all in one office, with service desk next to it. with me a nm next door too...just trying to get SMT to understand this is a better, staff like the idea of having someone close by..tho they moan when that person isnt in their office...like they expect them sat waiting for them..but thats a different story!

 

thanks for all the ideas people, but me in a better frame of mind for tomorrow...going to draw up some ideas and speak to NM, and have a chat with tech's.

 

by the way...the Nm is the business manager...doesnt help matters sometimes but good when i need a new server!

[maniac]

by the way...the Nm is the business manager...doesnt help matters sometimes but good when i need a new server!

 

That's very unusual, the network managers role is normally an exclusive one in a school with the amount of ICT you have. There's no way our business manager could carry out both roles, there just wouldn't be enough time and the skill set for each job is totally different. Unfortunitely there is your problem.

 

If they had someone in there exclusively managing the ICT support, they could probably get the place running more like a team and make the whole department more efficient. Unfortunitely this would probably make some of the technician roles redundant, which would easily cover the salery of a full time network manager, and the overall gain for the school would be massive.

 

was just thinking about there being ten of you, our helpdesk gets about 300 tickets a month, but some of these are just for simple password changes and the like. average of 21 working days in a month, that means each tech gets about 1.4 calls a day, that would be pure bliss!

 

Mike

[GrumbleDook]

With me being out for the year the Business Manager is now the line manager for the NM and support team. We are both on the Senior Leadership Team ... I suppose the title of NM in the case of the OP is the person that has overall control of IT at the school rather than the person that we would normally be called the NM (the OP?)

 

It is just about titles really ... not about actual roles.

[Butuz]

Wow ladies and gentlemen we have actually found an ICT department that is overstaffed!!! There had to be one in the country!!

 

I'll have a couple of your technies off you if you dont want them

 

Just noticed that your "NM" is the business manager rather than a standalone NM - that is good for you because he should know it is his job to make sure everything runs businesslike which will make approaching him about the situation much easier compared to if he was a standalone NM and basically wasn't doing his job.

 

Personally I think you need to set up a helpdesk system so you and the NM can track all support requests - this will make it easy to see who is pulling their weight and who is not.

 

It sounds to me like you're ready to take on the role of NM - suggest this to the business manager in your meeting. Most large secondary schools/colleges have dedicated NM's.

Edited October 16, 2008 by Butuz

[tim.dalton]

Thought I might be able to add something useful to this.

 

We have an IT/media department of 13 at the moment with no problem giving them enough to do. 1800ish kids, 600ish machines. We do a couple of things that have already been mentioned here, but thought I'd point out the bits that work for us.

 

- Give people specific tasks. Within the team we have people that are specifically graphics/video for example.

- Make the most of helpdesk software, very good way to keep an eye on what is happening and how long it's taking.

- Get your performance management working well and linked into salary. Our staff have specific things to achieve in the year linked to this, often they are research type projects that we want to try out. We really push the new ideas, and encourage/fund the guys to come up with good things.

- Meet regularly to discuss projects/deadlines/etc. Each of our smaller groups within the 13 meet once a month, projects that are taking place are talked about, everybody knows what is going on and when.

 

Maybe think about doing more than supporting the network. Lots of creative things your ICT people could be doing- our technicians run regular activities with groups of staff & students in addition to the normal day to day stuff.

 

The other point that might be worth thinking about is about supporting others. If you are in a situation where you feel you have more people than you need to run your school think about others around you. One of the main reasons our team is so large is a number of the group spend a lot of the week working in other schools. Feeder primaries are an obvious place to start, always need help & an SLA for regular support would work well.

 

Hope this is useful, welcome to come have a chat if you think it would be interesting.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

[Butuz]

Wow tim! Team of 13 is pretty darn impressive!!!

 

Thats one of the things I would love to do here is support feeder primaries etc - unfortuntly with just the two of us it is not possible.

[tim.dalton]

Thats one of the things I would love to do here is support feeder primaries etc - unfortuntly with just the two of us it is not possible.

 

We got into this by going to the primaries and asking if they needed any help at about the time we were thinking about extending the team. This was early days when it was still a small group. Found out the primaries could use somebody for about half a week (& pay the wages for half through the SLAs), the other half he could be in school. Was quite a good way to put forward the need for an extra staff member as allocating the cost of wages was made far easier.

 

Tim

[Butuz]

Sounds like an interesting idea to put forward in my dev plan!

 

How many feeders do you actually support?

 

Cheers!

[tim.dalton]

How many feeders do you actually support?

 

Currently looking after 7 primaries. They vary a bit in the time we spend there from 1 day/week to half day/fortnight. Also just started looking at doing call-out type contracts for a couple of the local secondaries. With the current staffing I don't think we'd extend much more than this as it seems to have that member doing Wildern work about half the time, primary work the rest. If push this ratio any further the other way it doesn't seem like we'd be benefiting our own school as much as we should be.

 

Tim

[PiqueABoo]

::blinks::

 

They're not connected with what I do, but I can point to people who do all the support for ~10 primaries all by by themselves (which adds up to something like 600 PCs and a couple of thousand users).

 

Can't decide whether to move to Southampton for an easy life or to make a killing...