Construct your dream IT team

David M Williams
Sunday, 13 March 2011 16:44

Opinion and Analysis

As an IT leader, like any manager, you are only as good as your employees. Whether you have inherited a team, are in the middle of hiring or are trying to justify creating a new role I can teach you how to determine the skills you need.

There comes a time in any manager's life when they need to evaluate the bench strength of their team. Actually, although The Wired CIO focuses on IT leaders, this is true of managers across the entire business. Also, it's certainly not going to be one time only.

So, what do you do? You've joined a company whether as a new hire or via merger, acquisition or some other process. You're now heading a team composed of workers who you didn't hire. Perhaps the new role is going swimmingly, or perhaps you're getting whispers from others around the company trying to tell you who they'd fire (but never had the gumption to, themselves).

Alternatively, you may have lead you team for many years or risen through its ranks but feel the current workload justifies adding manpower to the mix.

No matter what your situation and how you got into it, the answer is the same. You can't make sound business decisions about hiring and firing without knowing three things:

1. What does your department do? What is its reason for being? What skills are required to support this and make it happen?
2. What skills does your team possess?
3. What's the difference between the two?

In short, you need a skills matrix. It's a simple concept, but it can be a powerful tool.

The skills matrix provides you with a factual measure of your team's bench strength. It is easily understood and explained - to your team and to your executive management alike.

The value of facts and measures cannot be underestimated. This, in one move, takes personalities and politics out of the picture. Decisions can be made based on business requirements.