I received an interesting email the other day.  The link was to a Microsoft article announcing an upcoming release of a ‘Cloud Appliance’.  I spoke about how great this would be for the world of computing in a blog post back in February 2009.  I forwarded the article to the folks I work with in Server/Network and they lost their minds.  A system fully capable of abstracting hardware and software!

As someone who works in a heavily regulated industry, and rightfully so in my opinion, this is the best thing to come along since virtualization.  There is no one in my industry that doesn’t recognize the benefits of a cloud based architecture, but new regulations in Healthcare now dictate jail time for certain violations.  I’m less willing to take advantage of the architectural benefits and cost savings if I know there is a real risk of visiting a federal institution of time outs.  Long story short, I’m excited to see Microsoft enter this space. 

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More for Microsoft’s Website…

I am going out on a limb here.  Technologist are not traditionally people persons.  Please insert your own Office Space quote [here].  Technology is a profession I love.  Make no mistake.  But, we have our issues.  The issues have nothing about capability or effectiveness.  We are very good at that providing solutions to problems.  Our problem is self promotion!

When thinking of traditional Technical Evangelists I believe most people picture someone that promotes a platform or a proprietary service such as the ones Microsoft and SUN have employed.  Currently, I believe that Steve Jobs is the best known evangelist given Apple’s recent product home runs.  However, I do believe there is an opportunity for smaller shops, or even your own company, to employ the same strategies to maximize technology value to customers.

I think at face value this makes sense, but just for fun let’s examine some everyday scenarios that support an evangelist position:

• The pace of innovation is increasing.  You need to be agile in your evaluation of new technologies and how your business can leverage them to deliver a step change competitive advantage.
  
• Your leadership team probably interacts less with technology less than your IT team does.  You need to continually bring new opportunities to the forefront at every chance.  Perhaps an evangelist should even be present during board meetings?  Can you imagine; IT being a strategic business partner???  I kid of course.  It’s what we should be!!!
  
• Your customers are becoming more tech savvy.  There are no more secrets in Technology.  They have access to the same vendors and solutions that everyone else does.  You need to put someone in front of them that can inspire them.  Leave the sales transaction up to the sales team, build interest and excitement for the product up to the evangelist.
  
• Building a product and selling it is just 30% of a launch (my take on it).  You need someone to continually look for ways to promote the product on a micro-interaction level.  Be it whitepapers, speaking at local groups or even through blogging and social network sites.
  
• Customers need to be ‘connected’ to the product to build loyalty and honest feedback.  Nothing makes your IT product more replaceable than a customer feeling like they have no feedback loop or someone they can identify with.  Did you notice the recent Microsoft commercials about ‘Windows being my idea’?

So how do you position the need for a product evangelist?  Moreover, how do you convince the ‘brass’ that one is needed?  My current employer does not formally recognize the role, however I believe that each leader in the IT organization informally plays the role.  I think a large part of that is due to the fact that our IT department is viewed as a strategic partner in business decisions and efforts.  For many organizations that’s a tough road to pave.  I’m admittedly lucky.

Those of you seeking to build a case for implementing an evangelist culture I would work to tie the five points above with specific plans or actions to address them.  Building legitimacy is key.  Challenge your current status quo by continuously providing competitive analysis and how you can overcome those challenges by bringing forth new technological advancements.  It’s a small step and the culture will not change overnight.  However, it’s a step in the right direction.  Remember, overnight success usually takes 3-7 years.  Even for Google!

I would be happy to read and repost any stories on how you successfully implemented an evangelist role or culture.  I think this is an important component of IT’s growth and I’m happy to share.

I’ve been busy attending some conferences lately where I’ve had the chance to speak with IT pros across several industries.  What I found most interesting is that even amongst this diverse group there seems to be some common themes of interest and focus.  Sure, we spoke about cloud computing and virtualization, but at a higher level there were two underlying drivers to their strategies.

• There are no longer any secrets in Technology.
• Know the true value of IT.

There are no longer any secrets in Technology

This statement sounds odd at first.  However, when you really think about it there are none.  Your competitors have access to the same vendors and technology that you do.   How they effectively put them together might be a secret, but at the end of the day the access is the same. 

So what can you do to compete?  Speed.  How fast can you deliver to the market?  To put the pace of technology in prospective please play the video below:

The video is a few years old, but you get the trend.  Speed is of the essence.  So what do you need to do to be in a position to out ‘speed’ your competition?  Simplify your processes and your architecture.  These are perhaps two of the most taxing aspects of software development.  If you are not concentrating on streamlining these you’re probably not going to out flank the next ‘startup’ looking to capture your customer base.

Know the true value of IT

This one probably hits home to most IT folks who work in corporations.  You need to constantly justify your existence because someone will inevitably ask; What value does IT provide?  I think as a profession we commonly whip out ROI calculations on the projects we’ve completed or SLA’s that demonstrate our ability to meet some number that the business could ultimately care less about (show them that you have a 4 hour window when email goes out and see the reaction).  I hate to break it to you.  Meeting SLA’s and calculating ROI’s is not IT’s value prop.

IT’s value to the business is as an exponential transformational force that underpins all business activities.   It sounds a bit ‘Star Wars’, but let me prove it to you.

If you’re one of the fortunate souls that regularly has to calculate ROI’s for proposed projects you need to ask yourself the following question.  Three years from now will they come back and check to see if the ROI is realized?  If so who gets fired if it’s not?  I venture to guess that the answer for 99% of people is no, and no one.  Need more? Have you ever calculated that a new piece of software will automate X number of headcount?  When have you ever seen that headcount reduced or reassigned after delivery?  No, they just get to do more of the same thing, just more efficiently!

What you need to be looking at is how can you dramatically transform a market or a business process to give your company a competitive edge!  It sounds dramatic, but it’s really very simple. For example:  Why make the ‘order’ entry simpler so people can do more of it?  Why not focus on automation so you can reduce headcount and improve accuracy? 

I know what your thinking.  That should go into the ROI calculation for sure.  And you are correct.  However that is often what I see go wrong.  Too many times business leaders ask to make something simpler or ‘shinier’.  Our value as IT professionals is helping them realize exponential transformations by pointing out opportunities that they might not even think of.  That is the true value of IT!

The last few year have been terrible.  It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, your education level or place of residency.  The latest economic down-turn has been rough on all of us.  However, there are signs of an upturn and you need to be prepared for it.  How do you position your teams to respond and meet the demand of your business?  Getting smart about outsourcing might be the key!

The next upturn is going to present a few realities that you will need to come to terms with.  The first, is that  your company has ‘right-sized’ your organization at some point.  Translation, you have less resources than you did before the bust.  The second is that the economy is starting to pick-up.  Translation, you will lose talent.  The third, and most important, is that your company will want to be ahead of the curve and implement technologies and products so that they can gain the most by the upswing. 

The challenge as an IT manager is how do you ‘ramp-up’ for the upswing?  You will face the challenge of fleeting talent as well as increased demand.  You need to develop a resource strategy that is scalable and forgivable.  So what is the solution.  Outsourcing.

Outsourcing is probably the one word that will have all IT pros see red.  I think it’s a natural reaction giving the recent experiences of most IT pros.  However, now is the time to leverage the ‘right-size’ outsource solution so that you can continue to meet the demands of your company’s IT demands and best position your team.

So what is this mythical outsourcing phenomenon I speak of?  It’s coming to the realization that you don’t have enough team capacity nor the time or energy to meet the current needs.  You don’t want to bring on full-timers that you will have to layoff  when the demand levels off, you owe your employees more than that for sure.  So now is the time to start to develop outsourcing relationships.  And make no mistake.  These arrangements are relationships. 

Develop Level 1 Outsourcing

Phase one of an outsourcing relationship is simple.  Get some contractors in that your team manages.  Not all firms love this arrangement, but guess what, the economy is tough and they will do it.  The benefit is that you can release or add contractors as your demand requires.  You don’t have to lay anyone off, and the vendors begin to learn what your standards are and what you expect.  You can also use this to see what the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor are.  I call this the ‘getting to know you phase’.  The main advantage is that you can increase the capacity of your team without having to hire an FTE.

Develop Level 2 Outsourcing

This level is a bit more challenging and requires you to have a level of trust.  You have gotten to know a vendor and now want to outsource a project because your team just does not have the capacity to complete it when the business needs it.  It is critical that you make this distinction.  This is not about cost savings, it’s about increased capacity.  Your team needs to have tight control, good project definition and good management in place.  When considering moving to this stage I recommend giving a vendor the easiest or best defined project you have.  At this point your success is tied to theirs and theirs to yours.  I recommend managing risk though the statement of work, verifying work with your own QA resources and assigning your own technical resource to oversee the project. 

The best strategy when negotiating this: Fixed Bid.  Why fixed bid?  Fixed bid is a shared risk.  Each party has skin in the game.  They want to make a profit, you want the project completed.  It puts you and the vendor in a shared  risk relationship. 

Develop Level 3 Outsourcing

I know what you are thinking, level 3 outsourcing is complete project outsourcing.  Something I’ve learned through trial and error is not an optimal solution.  Level 3 is all about reducing cost and freeing up resources.  It’s not project driven.  When you get to level 3 you should be looking to outsource the remedial tasks that your full-time staff does day-to-day. Also known as application maintenance.  At level 3 you want to move maintenance to a lower cost resource so your internal resources can continue to spend time managing Level 2 while keeping IP in-house!

The economy is picking up.  Now is the time to start implementing these strategies!

Interviewing technical people can be challenging.  What is the right mix of experience and ambition?  What level of expertise do you need?  I’ve built several technical teams and I will tell you that the ‘magic’ always starts with the core team.  These are the folks that will set the standard for your team.  So how do you find these folks?

Iceberg Test

There are thousands of books out there that discuss interviewing techniques.  All guaranteed to help you find the perfect candidate.   The main issue I find with these techniques is that they are perfectly inept at discovering true IT talent.  So what makes a candidate a great find?  A passion for technology.  This can take many forms.  Some candidates blog.  Some are always learning new technologies.  And others have ‘side interests’, read: side businesses.  

The most difficult thing about interviewing candidates is pulling this information out.  I think most people are taught as young adults or professionals that talking about your external interests during an interview is taboo.  I disagree.  As a hiring manager I want to see that you live, breath and consume your profession.  And for me, finding out about your outside work is pivotal in that determination.

This is how I came up with the iceberg test.  Based on my experience a solid technologist will only have about a third of their relevant experience represented on a resume.  The challenge is to find out if there exists a layer of experience that is not represented.  If you have the good fortune to come across a technologist that passes the iceberg test I would highly recommend you seriously consider extending an offer.