About Eric Bloom

Executive Director IT Management and Leadership Institute

Overworked? Maximize your productivity by knowing your zone

Since my company’s layoff last year, my IT department has had more work than we can handle. We’re working really hard but can’t seem to keep up with it. Any thoughts on ways we can increase my productivity? Thanks for your question. My belief is that there are millions of other people asking the same question. I think the best way for me to answer you is to tell you what I do. I’m a big believer in working in your highest zone. Let me begin by explaining my concept of being in the zone. In the zone is being: Mentally clear on the task to be performed Highly focused on a specific task Physically able to perform the task Motivated to perform the task By Mentally Clear, I mean having an exact understanding of what you want to do. It could be something simple, like deleting spam email, or something intense, like designing the new structure for your company’s communication backbone. By, Highly Focused I mean single-mindedness, namely, being able to free yourself from mental distractions, such as thinking about other projects, all the emails you must answer, or a presentation you are making later in the day. By Physically Able, I mean that at this moment you are able to perform the task. For example, I know that if I’m very tired, I have great difficulty doing mentally challenging work like writing performance reviews, answering important emails in a concise manner, or making important technical or managerial decisions. By Motivated, [...]

By |2024-10-16T13:56:46+00:00October 16th, 2024|
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Change is a four-letter word: “Gold” and 6 great ways to get some

Wow, what an industry we’re in, technical mega-trend after mega-trend. There’s gold in them there trends for the techies that can identify a unique niche, application type or business need, or job opportunity. These industry-changing trends can be of great career and financial benefit to you, as an individual contributor, IT manager, or even as an IT senior executive. To take professional advantage of these trends, consider the following: Do your research and find job openings at companies that you think will grow dramatically because of current industry trends and changes. All ships rise in high tide. If you work for a growing company, chances are that you can grow with it; not to mention the potential value of stock options and stock purchase plans if available. If you are at a company you love, try to discover ways that your company can take advantage of new and evolving technologies. This has two advantages for you; first, it can help you become an internal company thought leader, second, using these technologies will enhance your professional marketability. If your company is moving toward new technologies, such as implementing AI, try to get involved. It can help establish your role as a participant in the company’s new technical direction. Also, if your company’s plan is to replace older technologies with newer ones, working on these newer technologies could save your job. If you are entrepreneurial by nature, your skill set is aligned with one of these new technologies, and your personal situation allows it, [...]

By |2024-09-25T19:27:31+00:00September 25th, 2024|
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Pro-Actively manage your career

People early in their career say “If I work hard, one day I’ll be a THIS.” THIS could be a CIO, Systems Architect, Senior Programmer, or any other professional goal you desire. Then, one day, years later, you look up from your day-to-day activities and realize one of the following . . . Wow, I am now a THIS and I love it! Wow, I am now a THIS and I hate it! I have tried my best to be a THIS and can’t quite get there, but I have done my best I’m not a THIS, and don’t think I’ll get there, because I didn’t really put together a plan to become one. If you are early in your professional career, one of the above four scenarios will most likely come true. If you are further along in your career, like me, one of these four scenarios may already be at play. If you fall into Category #1, you probably either planned well or were very lucky. If fact, maybe it was a little of both. Congratulations, you are in the minority and should be very proud of both your achievements and for creating a plan that helped you get there. If you fall into Category #2, congratulations are still in order. Well done. You have reached a goal in your working career that you fought hard and long to attain. You should appreciate your achievement. The trick for you now is to decide how you can use your past experiences [...]

By |2024-09-18T15:23:13+00:00September 18th, 2024|
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It’s ok to say “No”

I’m a software development manager who is continually being pushed by my business users to do more and do it faster, better, and cheaper. I can’t keep up with their demands and I think it’s putting my job in peril. Could I please have your advice on how to deal with this issue? This is a great question. My bet, is that because of the nature of IT’s role and the reduction of resources because of general economic conditions that this issue is on the minds of many IT professionals, tech leads, and managers around the country and around the world. I think this issue can be addressed in a number of ways, including the following: Provide transparency to your business users regarding what your group’s current projects and workload are Once transparency has been achieved, work with your users to prioritize your team’s work in a way that makes sense for both them and you Find creative ways to say “No” to your business users in a way that they understand and accept The remainder of this blog post will discuss this third point. Sometimes it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. Learning to say “no” in an acceptable and positive way is one of these cases. Also, as an aside, learning to say “no” effectively is more than a tool for the workplace, it is also a life-skill that can potentially help you in all aspects of your life. This trick to say “no” effectively is to [...]

By |2024-09-10T16:01:40+00:00September 10th, 2024|
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Does working virtually make you invisible?

I work within a large IT organization and the people in my department have been given the opportunity to work from home. If I do, does it reduce my opportunities for promotion or increase my chances of getting laid off? In short, the answer to your question regarding the effect of working virtually on promotions and layoffs is that it depends on the following: Your company’s culture and norms regarding working virtually The percentage of people at your company that work remotely How visible you can be on a day-to-day basis to your boss and others How effectively you can perform your job remotely Now let’s discuss these items one at a time. Your company’s culture Companies, like people, have specific values, strengths, weaknesses, prejudices, and, dare I say, personalities. That said, consider the following questions when deciding if you want to work virtually: Is the company technically equipped with conference room speakers, remote computer access, and tools needed to facilitate efficient work from outside the office? Does your company conceptually support working virtually or does it simply tolerate it? Can you remotely participate in important department discussions? Is there an out-of-site-out-of-mind mentality for those working out of the office? Is your boss supportive of working virtually or begrudgingly providing the option because it’s company policy? Are virtual teams at your company managed well or managed poorly? Percent of people working remotely The reason I ask this question is that if a high percentage of people work from home or business groups [...]

By |2024-08-30T01:20:45+00:00August 30th, 2024|
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The hard skill – soft skill debate for IT managers and techies

Question: As a technical IT manager, do I really need to take classes on soft skills like active listening and interviewing?  I hate that stuff, aren’t I better off learning something new technically? Ok, I admit it. I was the biggest offender of the advice I am suggesting to you here. As an individual contributor, I never took soft skills classes. I loved training, but if I couldn’t pick up an additional technical tip or two I wasn’t interested. For many years, if I had the choice between Oracle Database Internals, Advanced Techniques in Function Overloading, or Active Listening, guess which two courses I took? Well, I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t Active Listening or other soft skills related classes. I’m really glad I took the hard skills classes, the technical information I learned helped me grow as a technical professional. In retrospect, however, I believe I was less effective in a number of soft skills related areas than I would have been if I understood that, even as a techie, these classes provided great value. That said, I should have also taken the soft skill classes for the following reasons: All techies are smart and good technically so it can be very hard to differentiate yourself from the pack. Quality soft skills can help you make that differentiation. Classes like Negotiation Skills can help you negotiate project scope, delivery dates, resources such as people and software tools, and other things that can make projects more successful, and dare I say, [...]

By |2024-07-30T18:32:28+00:00July 30th, 2024|
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5 important presentation tips for IT managers

Help! I'm an IT Software Development Manager and was just asked to make a formal 30-minute presentation to senior management on the business intelligence system we just built. What do I do? First, congratulations on the new software you built. If you were asked to present it to senior management, then it must be very good. Well done! To your question regarding your upcoming presentation, consider the following: At a high level, begin your presentation with a short (five minutes maximum) PowerPoint based overview of the system's overall data and functionality, followed by a live demonstration of the system, and ending with a short question/answer session. Regarding your short (yes, I said short again because it's really important) opening PowerPoint, you could potentially include the types of slides listed below. When reviewing this list, note that the goal here is simply to give your audience a context that enables them to understand (and appreciate) the live demonstration of the system. Slide 1: An opening slide contains the system's name and your name: This is important to orient your audience as to what you will be showing them. A typical senior manager's day is going from meeting to meeting. As a result, it would be good to remind them why they are there. Slide 2: A very high-level overview of the data contained in the system: As an example, this slide could say the system includes company financials, sales forecasts, inventory levels, staffing levels, market share statistics, etc. Slide 3: A very high-level [...]

By |2024-07-17T13:04:59+00:00July 17th, 2024|
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How can I become an IT manager?

As an IT individual contributor or Technical Lead, the following three steps will help position you for a future IT Manager role. Begin to think of yourself as a manager. This may sound trite, but it’s true.  As the expression goes, fake it until you make it.  This simple act of thinking like a manager will slowly change your perspective, change your personal conception of yourself from techie to leader, and give yourself permission to take on non-technical tasks without feeling like your skills are not being properly utilized. Ask questions related to managerial tasks, such as “How does our budget work?” and “How do we get permission to hire new people?” These questions have the simultaneous benefits of learning about your future craft and of subtlety informing your manager and others that you are interested in moving into a management type role. Try to learn more about your IT organization in general, including how data moves through the company, how the major internal (and cloud based) systems connect, and other IT-wide processes. This may sound more technical than managerial, it’s actually both.  The reason I’m suggesting this to you is not because of its technical aspects, it’s because it will give you a wider view of what IT does and how it works.  This will be of great value to you when you step into the managerial ranks. When I was an individual contributor, I thought that becoming a manager meant giving up my hard earned technical skills to simply tell [...]

By |2024-02-22T14:48:28+00:00February 22nd, 2024|
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What the Boy Scouts Taught Me About IT Management and IT Client Service

It’s hard for me to believe, but it was about fifty years ago that I received my Eagle Scout award.  There were two of us, myself and a friend.  Achieving this level within scouting was a significant amount of work, but it was also a lot of fun.  What I didn’t understand at the time, as my friend Barry and I stood on the stage to receive our Eagle badges, was the lifelong lessons I had learned that would help me in various ways as I grow older. There were, of course, the obvious lessons, such as knot making, which to this day helps me to properly tie things to the roof of my car in a way that they won’t fly off when driving on the highway.  What I didn’t understand until much later in life, was that the principles I had learned in scouting as a young man, in my early and mid-teens, would help guide my personal and professional life. In addition to learning how to pitch tents and safely start fires, I was also required to memorize a few short statements, such as the scout motto, scout pledge, and a few other short sayings designed to make me a better person and valued member of the community.  One of these sayings in particular was the “Scout Law”: “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” I’m no longer involved with scouting, so I don’t know if the Scout Law has [...]

By |2024-02-06T19:40:01+00:00February 6th, 2024|
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Being the chief cheerleader for your department

As the department manager, you should be the number one advocate for your group. It's your responsibility to make sure that your department gets: The resources it needs to properly function The appropriate respect from other parts of the company Recognition for deserving people in your department for a job well done Regarding promoting yourself, if your team is perceived as efficient, organized, important to the company, as the department manager, it will benefit you personally. Now the cheerleader part. One way the company will know your department is doing well is by you telling them. I don't mean being obnoxious about it, just say it in small, appropriate doses. For example, when asked casual questions by senior company leaders, such as "How is it going?” don't say "Great, how about you?"  Instead, say "Things are going really well, for the fifth month in a row my department is 20% above our quota".  Have four or five of these informational nuggets at the ready.  These quick informational exchanges can give your department a big boost at unexpected times. For example, the senior executive you spoke with in the last example, may need a regional manager in another part of the organization. Alternatively, at the next corporate meeting, this senior executive may use your department as a success story, bring praise and visibility to you and those within your department. You should also be the chief cheerleader for the individuals working for you. This builds loyalty within your team toward you, and gives [...]

By |2023-07-24T20:55:05+00:00September 29th, 2023|
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