How do you run your team ?

[dcwhitworth]

I'm interested in finding out how other people run their IT Support teams. Do people have any system ?

 

We run a FITS helpdesk and have procedures in place for most other work and run a rota for dealing with incoming calls but we're reviewing how we make things hang together as a whole.

 

I'm interested in -

Do people have any SLAs or information on how they prioritise incoming jobs ?

How do you find time for your team to work on larger scale projects and background tasks ?

How do get people to not simply focus on the latest thing to come in, ignoring longer-standing calls ?

How do you develop your teams' skills ?

How do you keep people happy ? Or at least stop them getting too p*ss*d off at staff ? (I know, I know - beer)

I'm also interested in any other nifty hints for running a team, keeping good relations with staff and making sure things are running smoothly.

 

I'd be grateful for any ideas people.

Thanks

David

[Steve21]

Only from a techies point of view but:

 

Do people have any SLAs or information on how they prioritise incoming jobs ?

Nothing official really, obviously something that is stopping a class working like downed switches etc, takes priority over something "less" important, like a room with 2-3 printers having one toner out.

 

How do you find time for your team to work on larger scale projects and background tasks ?

Try to hit jobs as soon as they come out, leaving time in between calls to work on projects (and/or holidays for large things like new computer suites etc etc)

 

How do get people to not simply focus on the latest thing to come in, ignoring longer-standing calls ?

Again, generally down to hitting the jobs as soon as we can, obviously some things get delayed while waiting for parts/holidays etc, but that has to happen sometimes.

 

How do you develop your teams' skills ?

Sometimes training courses, but mostly shadowing/helping others with tasks sometimes. If something breaks, and one of us see how it's done, we can do it in the future if we have access etc.

 

How do you keep people happy ? Or at least stop them getting too p*ss*d off at staff ? (I know, I know - beer)

Beer would help! We have lack of! But generally I'd say it's the NM who sits between the techs and staff. If staff are complaining about something it's passed up the chain as such, not for us to argue it with staff directly.

 

Hope that helps even though its from minion POV

 

Steve

[CESIL]

Team! I am the whole team!

 

...mind you at least I can afford to buy the whole IT Support department lunch...just...