Post on 30-Mar-2016
description
Student Affairs IT StaffSurvey Results
The first question was designed to help determine what proportion of our staff currently work as specialists versus those who have taken on multiple roles.
24 out of approximately 50 IT staff filled out the survey, but in some instances only a fraction answered a particular aspect of a question (those who are developers, for example).
Proportion of your time spent working on in the following areas? Table 1 n=24
0%-20% 20%-40% 40%-60% 60%-80% 80%-100%ResponseCount
Applications Development
44.4% (8) 22.2% (4) 16.7% (3) 5.6% (1) 11.1% (2) 18
Applications Production & Life Cycle Management
30.0% (6) 40.0% (8) 15.0% (3) 15.0% (3) 0.0% (0) 20
Desktop & End User Support
64.7% (11) 11.8% (2) 5.9% (1) 5.9% (1) 11.8% (2) 17
Server Management
85.7% (12) 14.3% (2) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 14
Network Administration
92.3% (12) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 7.7% (1) 0.0% (0) 13
Business Analysis 36.4% (8) 45.5% (10) 13.6% (3) 0.0% (0) 4.5% (1) 22
Management & Administration
28.6% (4) 35.7% (5) 21.4% (3) 7.1% (1) 7.1% (1) 14
A quick look at the data in Table 1 shows most responses are clustered towards left side indicating that most people tend to spend only a small percentage of their time on specific tasks.
However, we realized that this snapshot likely exaggerated the extent of fragmentation because staff who worked in Applications Development likely also performed App Prod & Life Cycle Mgmt.
So we combined similar areas and added the « other » results, and got the following picture.
Proportion of your time…
w/Categories Combined 0%-20% 20%-40% 40%-60% 60%-80% 80%-100%
App Dev & Prod/Life Cycle 1 5 4 6 4 20
Network Admin & Server Mgmt 2 8 2 0 1 13
Desktop Support 12 2 1 1 2 18
Business Analysis 8 10 3 0 1 22
Mgmt 4 4 3 1 0 12
Security
Training
What the combined data shows is: Where we have specialists, they are almost all to be found
in the applications area. But even there, only a small fraction (4/20) devote 80-100% of their time to applications work.
In the area of server/network admin, over 75% of the staff who support this function spend less than 40% of their time on infrastructure services.
Desktop support is even more fragmented. 12 of the 18 who report providing desktop support do so for 20% or less of their time.
Business Analysis jumps out as another area where most are asked to fill in and do work outside of their primary area of responsibility and, likely, training.
What does this mean?
Not surprisingly, there is a significant mismatch between our goal of deepening skills and fostering specialization and our the current deployment of IT staff.
There are likely significant gains to be made by taking peripheral responsibilities off of IT staffs’ plate allowing them to focus more consistently on their primary functions
We will have to be very careful as we move towards disentangling roles and functions to ensure continuity of service
The upcoming individual assessment will be crucial in determining both individual skill sets and interests as we move towards an org structure with more specialists, and some (but fewer) generalists.
Looking at SA IT from the 10,000 ft. level, where would you invest?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Applications Development
30.0%(6)
5.0% (1)
15.0% (3)
5.0% (1)25.0%
(5)0.0%
(0)5.0% (1) 5.0% (1)
10.0% (2)
Applications Production & Life Cycle Management
9.1% (2)
27.3%(6)
0.0% (0)
13.6% (3)
18.2% (4)
9.1% (2)
9.1% (2)13.6%
(3)0.0%
(0)
Web Content Management System
4.8% (1)
4.8% (1)
14.3% (3)
4.8% (1)9.5%
(2)14.3%
(3)23.8%
(5)9.5%
(2)14.3%
(3)
Desktop & End User Support
4.8% (1)
0.0% (0)
19.0% (4)
19.0% (4)
4.8% (1)14.3%
(3)19.0%
(4)14.3%
(3)4.8% (1)
Server Management9.5%
(2)0.0%
(0)9.5%
(2)4.8% (1)
28.6% (6)
23.8% (5)
4.8% (1)14.3%
(3)4.8% (1)
Network Administration0.0%
(0)9.5%
(2)4.8% (1)
14.3% (3)
0.0% (0)
19.0% (4)
14.3% (3)
4.8% (1)33.3%
(7)
Business Analysis9.1%
(2)22.7%
(5)4.5% (1)
13.6% (3)
9.1% (2)9.1%
(2)4.5% (1)
27.3% (6)
0.0% (0)
Security33.3%
(7)19.0%
(4)14.3%
(3)9.5%
(2)4.8% (1)
4.8% (1)
4.8% (1)9.5%
(2)0.0%
(0)
Project management0.0%
(0)15.0%
(3)20.0%
(4)20.0%
(4)5.0% (1)
5.0% (1)
15.0% (3)
0.0% (0)
20.0% (4)
If you condense the 9 point scaleInvestment Priorities 1-2 1-3 4-6 7-9
Applications Dev 35% 50% 30% 20%
Applications Prod & Lifecycle 36% 36% 41% 23%
Web Content 10% 24% 29% 48%
Desktop & End User 5% 24% 38% 38%
Server Mgmt 10% 19% 57% 24%
Network Admin 10% 14% 33% 52%
Business Analysis 32% 36% 32% 32%
Security 52% 67% 19% 14%
Proj Mgmt 15% 35% 30% 35%
Well being of Employees
UX
Additional investment priorities
Totaling the percentages in the first two columns shows that:
App Dev & App Prod & Life Cycle are ranked #2 & #3
Security, surprisingly, was the top priority for greater investment (ranked 1st or 2nd by 52%), and
Business Analysis came in 4th
If you expand the tally to include each individual’s top 3 investment priorities, improved Project Mgmt clearly emerges as the next most important need.
If you could propose an additional investment in your area…
Increase specialization
Investment in staff & cross training
Clearer prioritization
Code bank – capture best practices
More standardization & centralized provisioning
Movement class
Briefly, Give us one suggestion…
Clear charge for decision makers & don’t over-promise, and do focus on execution
Phased approach
Keep info flowing outward
Ticketing system – track institutional knowledge
Business Analysis
Briefly, give us one caution… Loss of domain specific knowledge
Have clear roles & responsibilities
Transparent processes & metrics
Publish prelim Org Structure for comment
Assumptions are not reality
In a vacuum people will speculate and morale will nosedive
Paralysis by analysis
Thanks for your input
Coming Soon
Regular informal, info sessions with Angela and her leadership team
Scheduling of individual skills & interests assessments