How Outlines Can Help IT Managers Conquer the World
I interviewed for a job directing the Information Technology department in a not-so-small Chiropractic college I thought might be keenly interested in real health maintenance. They used a lot of computers: 270 PCs attached to a wide area network in three buildings spread across two towns, a half dozen central computers, mixed operating systems. They didn't know how to install an expensive database application they'd purchased to run the business side of the college. Nice challenge.
The place was disorganized. My prospective boss asked me to propose how I would organize equipment, applications, and service. I outlined my way into the job. The power of that single approach worked to keep me focused. I recorded my thoughts about how to create an outline in a novel based on that experience entitled Gimme a Break.
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What could be done anyway? The biggest problem I'd seen was the mess. Like most computer operations, their data service department was the last to automate itself, the last to use computers to systematize its own maintenance. I knew about the threat of disorganization and the importance of keeping details tidy. I thought I could spell out, in large terms, how to straighten out their operation. I had to routinize regular maintenance, create career opportunities, and expand communications.
I wrote a talking outline about a generalized computer network equipped with built-in tools for maintenance and expansion. It could be used to help collaborating activists educate each other and maybe combine with people beyond the campus. "What's a network for," I asked myself.
Outlines are handy tricks for organizing thoughts. I always started with an obvious idea or goal, then tried to break it down into reasonable steps. The approach is almost silly, but it gnaws a problem down to size. Anything can be made a manageable mouthful. You start with a single point, something grand, like Roman Numeral One: "Solve World Hunger". Then you break that apart into a few big actions: Roman Numeral One A: "Distribute seed", B: "Grow food", and so on. You can decompose a big goal all the way down to tiny tasks corporate culture calls "do-able in the short term". An example might be Roman numeral Umpty, sub A, sub bb, points 1 and 2: "Go to the store, get bananas and milk."
Some vice president would flip over that kind of proposal. He'd probably say something like, "I think we've put a stake in ground around this issue. I can definitely see a timeline with achievables." Those corporate guys love outlines.
I leaned back in the chair in front of my home computer and imagined topical points.
Leaders use the big points to make speeches. They get their headline announcements from unkempt, late night, outline writers. Those are people with unruly hair, no tan, who smoke too much. Their big points create drama, good for brightening up boring boardroom lunches. Main points set direction, make policy, create "the big picture."
In a reverie I drifted away, smiling about suffering fellow bureaucrats plagued by demands for major idea proposals. I pictured Mars. I could envision a triangular, sandstone monolith of a command center. The fortress is peopled by scurrying, uniformed underweight aliens. Some green, three-eyed military hotshot with political ambitions grabs a list from a shriveled, coughing scribe and leaps up to announce to the Martian populace massing out front, "Point One, conquer the earth." Wild cheers from the slimy green crowd, united in patriotic frenzy. The thin atmosphere rings with calls for victory. The general goes on to win the post of supreme leader. After that he can leave the details to his staff (or its staff, I don't know about gender on Mars).
Leaders know they get applause for the main points in proposals. Those big points are the big deal. But details... Details are easy to create, easy to change, low status stuff. They're what's worked out when "my people will get together with your people", the nitty-gritty of organizational planning. Nits and grits need major points.
I chided myself for silly thoughts. What were the school's primary computer needs? I could think of three which summarized what my interviewer had talked about:
=============================================== I) Organize routine work II) Implement big database package III) Plan strategic use of computers and networks ===============================================That looked good.
I needed some grits.
In Point I, organization wasn't a technical problem. People have to organize people first, not machines. They have to decide what they do, when, why, how much, how often, and so on. I didn't have a clue who really did what, or what jobs were involved. The magic verb "identify" can be used to cover such ignorance. In solving world hunger, first you have to know who's hungry. No problem. Identify them. And jobs? No problem. Identify. I transformed all my puzzlement into organizational tasks. First sub point, Get to Know Everyone. And so on.
What about computers at the school? I knew some good questions to ask. Who the hell needs computers anyway? What does anybody use them for? Everybody knows computers are a pain in the ass because they never do what you want them to do. What doesn't work right? What's busted?
I knew the school didn't pay what industry could. So career development, training, a way to the top could keep a good staff looking forward to constant promotions and interesting work. I would propose putting myself out of work in five or six years. If everyone trained the person they supervised, we'd all have a way up.
I was on a roll. I could turn my complete collection of ignorance into a list by trying to figure out what was going on at the school. Identify, identify, identify. Then I could propose they employ someone to monitor what was going on all the time and what kept breaking. Quality control. I could aim right at my new boss's wallet by asking, Did he get his money's worth?
So much for Point I.
Point II, the database implementation, was just a small version of the first point. The five basic newspaper questions covered most of the things to do: What, when, who, where, and how much or how often. Then, as in most software projects, I proposed they should check to see if they built what they thought they were building.
Point III, strategic use of computers, was tougher. Strategy strikes at the enemy, clears the field and builds new cities on the bloodied soil of victory. The most serious problem arises if you don't know why you're fighting in the first place. Who knew what the school administrators had in mind? Weren't their goals humanitarian? And weren't obstacles to their goals created by self-serving deniers of the people's right to decent health? I only had to imagine how computers might serve soldiers in the army I preferred. I could list possible technical items employed by a school in such a fight.
When I boiled potential strategic goals down to final statements, the last points in my outline, I had to depend on another magic word which a) avoided the hubris of suggesting what the curriculum should aim at and what the school should try to achieve, but b) raised those ideas anyway. I used the verb "assess." Goals can be assessed and yet nothing has to be done. Assess is an academic's copout. A committee can "assess" a problem to death and never do anything. No one goes down on their sword for assessing incorrectly. But I could write "assess" and stick in my ideas about strategy.
I had my outline.
=============================================== High level tasks for computer crew: I) Organize routine work II) Implement big database package III) Plan strategic use of computers and networks =============================================== Details: I) Organize routine work People Get to know everyone involved Who Their view of their roles, and others Pleasures and pains in their work Relations with each other, staff, students Current expectations Future expectations Career plans Skill sets Training plans in progress Morale Jobs Identify tasks and responsibilities Chart routine, repetitive needs Chart exceptional needs and problems Chart planned long-term tasks in progress Identify labor needs Skills needed Time and energy needed Positions needed Identify job status tracking Job descriptions Career development Goal setting Worker development and tracking Job stability, turnover Pay, bonus, incentives, financial support, pay equity Identify how new talent is found and hired Contractors New hires Career path for computer staff Which way is up? The director is dead, who's the new director? School computer needs Computer and network inventory, hardware and software Platform descriptions Software used Networks used, diagrams Current Tracking as network evolves Hardware inventory Current Tracking as computers are bought, serviced, surplused What's used well or wasted? Monitoring systems Computers Peripherals Networks Who knows what's going on and how? Trouble reporting and trouble ticket tracking System used Who can report trouble? How does anyone know what's being fixed or has been fixed? When will anything be fixed? What did the repairs cost? How does computer crew inform the school what's under construction? Accountability and user satisfaction Complaint handling How is work improved? How do we know if we're useful? How do we talk to people and listen to them? How does computer crew inform the school about computer status? How does the school use computers? Staff Office Library Public relations Computer support Teachers Students Public Clients Alumni Other chiropractors Researchers General public Are current computer needs met? Can cost benefit be measured? II) Implement big package Inventory General implementation schedule Phases or parts Resource planning Manpower planning Ongoing costs Anticipated problems? Training for validation, for support team, for users Installation schedule Software Hardware Validation Acceptance testing Support during installation Bug reporting, support Enhancement needs, reporting Compatibility with other school systems? Cost benefit evaluation? Any necessary contract adjustment? Technical support for bug repair, installation, upgrade? Is enhancement possible? How? Who does it? III) Plan strategic use of computers and networks Long-term view of big package use Long-term view of integration of computers and networks Resource planning over one year, two years, three years Growth Monetary goals Teaching material and plans Research material and plans Database plans Teaching Finances Health issues Telecommuting for work for teleconferencing for project development for routine study Publication Internal network enhancements for campus information systems for teachers for students for staff for e-mail and list servers for network and computer monitoring and support Assess external network usages for public relations for community building student bulletin boards teacher conferencing alumni input and services campus coordination with other campuses promotion of health activism for alumni tracking, communication for fund raising for legislative lobbying for publication for attracting students for student application for students to track their own progress for students to pay fees for sales of informational and other materials for database access Assess roles that computers and networks play among chiropractic campuses and with other health campuses? Can they help alliances with other health professionals, including nurses? Assess whether computers help gather intelligence about health care, the health industry, the business end of professional practice, and the needs of the public? ===============================================About eight o'clock that evening, I corrected spelling mistakes and formatted my list. I rolled half a dozen copies off my printer and slid the stapled sets into my new genuine leather valise. (Retail price, one hundred dollars, suggested a little piece of paper in the original box in poor English. I'd paid twenty for it at a discount office supply warehouse. I wondered if some Chinese factory had paid even fifty cents to the person who made it. Two weeks after I bought it, the brass clasps that locked the covering flap broke off. Outlines don't solve all problems.)
Before the follow-up interview where I would present my new outline, I worried whether I'd have enough time to find a tailor who could let my suit pants out a couple of inches. I hadn't competed for a job in six years. When I finally put on my interview suit and wore it for an entire day, the waistband cut a red, uncomfortable line around my midsection. I thought I hadn't changed at all.
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