When IT needs to hit the books

Money is still tight in most IT departments as everyone waits for the economic malaise of the past few years to lift fully, but I’m feeling more relaxed than I did back in 2001. Conversations with the CFO over expenditures are less stressful, and now that I’ve been at InfoWorld for almost three years, our IT infrastructure is running fairly well. When things are running smoothly, I start to think about how to push our IT operations to the next level, and training is key.

I’ve always had a training budget since I’ve been at InfoWorld, but in tough economic times, I admit that I often used it as my cushion against other budget surprises. This wasn’t such a bad thing. With only a handful of employees to handle major projects, on-the-job training has been a fact of life for most IT professionals in recent years. There’s nothing like trial by fire, but you can only run that way for so long. As IT looks ahead to better days, I’ve been putting together my new and improved training strategy.

First of all, IT managers need to identify areas of emphasis so that training is reasonably focused on technologies and approaches that are useful to the organization; however, this focus on utility shouldn’t be absolute. As I wrote in my recent column “The Google Way,” IT staff should be cut some slack in order to try new things that aren’t directly related to projects at hand. The broader view of technology that this freedom creates will undoubtedly provide insights when something unexpected happens and creative thinking is needed.

It’s a simple thing, but IT managers should always encourage employees to buy solid technical references and provide them with clear monthly, quarterly, or annual budgets to do so. Some IT shops are stingy in this area, but I think it’s a serious mistake to pinch pennies here. I have always been a big proponent of learning new technologies by heading to the book store, buying some relevant books, and jumping into the technology headfirst, so I encourage this approach with my staff.

In the past, I’ve sent staff to training classes but generally found those sessions to be less effective than having employees learn from books while working in their own living and breathing tech environment. Classes tend to focus on the lowest common denominator in order to provide the most generally useful information to the folks in attendance, but IT is about specifics. Books are also a better platform for asynchronous learning;

absorption can occur at random times, whereas classes force you to learn at the pace of your class.

When the book approach results in frustration for someone on your staff, pairing an in-house expert with the struggling employee can move things along. This approach is akin to the “pair programming” concept found in Extreme Programming. I’ve found that sitting two people in front of the same computer to teach systems tasks is effective and has a secondary result of team building.

Finally, producing adequate documentation of existing systems is the necessary foundation for moving forward with training in new areas. It is difficult for your staff to push ahead with new initiatives when they do not understand their existing environment.

For best results, pick a training approach ideally suited to your IT organization — just make sure you have a plan.