Stop the Bleeding

Sometime it is difficult to prioritize IT resources appropriately between business growth and IT Operations. Teams run lean and the business always demands immediate support.

 Increase in disruptions of services or incidents begin when resources are imbalanced. IT operational projects backlog starts to grow as initiatives to standardize infrastructure, segregate environments, perform hardware and software updates, increase disk space (fill in the operational need here) continue to be put on hold.

 Problem Management and Root Cause Analysis have told you exactly what needs to be done. PM, DBA, System, and Software Engineers are all telling you, ‘we already have projects in the pipeline to fix the root cause to your problems… but no resources to work on them’. You now know which projects-initiatives will stop the bleeding.

 To show the business you can stop the disruptions of services, your next step needs to be big, and the pendulum needs to swing in the opposite direction. A Tiger team needs to be constructed. Place on hold non-operational projects where resources conflict with the Tiger team.

 The Tiger team is the best group of individuals to complete the critical list of project-initiatives needed to stop the ‘Bleeding’, disruptions of services. The team members should only consist of those who can and will do the work. If you do not have the SMEs in-house, bring in third party resources to the team. The Tiger team requires the authority to pull in resources as needed from all parts of your organization. Most likely, the Tiger team will include:

1. Director, VP –assure hurdles are overcome and progress is made
2. PM, BA– coordinate tasks, daily communication, gather requirements, keep documents updated
3. (DBA, Storage, Server, Software, System…) Engineer – implements changes, performs updates, installs hardware…
4. Vendor SME – person onsite working side by side with team

 You now have a dedicated resource team. If a large conference room is available, relocate your new Tiger Team to the conference room (minimize distractions) until their projects-initiatives are complete. Provide lunch and snacks to keep moral high as the team focuses on the long hours ahead. This is a demanding but short-term engagement (10-30 days) to knock out critical project-initiatives to stop the bleeding. Necessity:

1. Team has CIO, CTO, VP, Director, Manager (leadership team) full support
2. No other work will be performed outside of Tiger team initiatives by Tiger team resources
3. Incidents, disruptions of services are worked by non-Tiger team resources
4. Tiger team will prioritize initiatives to stop the bleeding, most critical on top
5. Initiatives will be worked using the top down approach
6. Hurdles are immediately escalated to leadership team to be removed
7. Once critical projects-initiatives are complete, team dismantles

When times are difficult, difficult decisions require prompt answers. A Tiger team is a prompt answer to a difficult time. As critical projects-initiatives are completed, the disruptions of services will stop, and the pendulum should swing towards the middle.

 To keep the cycle from repeating, strategic resource management plans need to be put in to action, and both Operational project and schedules need appropriate prioritization.

 Please share techniques you have used to stop the bleeding.

 Regards, Wade