Handbook of Local Area Networks, 1998 Edition:LAN Management
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Specialists
Unless the LAN support department is large — 12 to 15 technicians (or more) it is useful to develop a close working relationship with a reputable integrator. Their expertise can be relied on for one-shot issues — as well as short-term staff supplementation. Manufacturers will often provide substantial on-site technical support and training if you are purchasing a reasonable dollar amount of product (regardless of the number of devices).
PERSONNEL
Often there are companywide rules that regulate departmental structures, job definitions, and salary ranges. The manager will have to negotiate with the human resource group to set up a structure and meet unique personnel requirements. This has been an issue since technology became critical to a company’s business back in the sixties, and human resources staffers now generally recognize that the technologist market is not like that for other office professionals, and must be dealt with separately.
CAREER PATHS
Two career paths should be created—one for technicians and one for managers. The value of a technician increases geometrically with his or her knowledge of the environment: the customers, the infrastructure, the management, the unions, the technology. Rather than pay to retain a new person because the previous technician has reached the limits of promotability in that job, a technical career path with salary growth should be created.
This approach provides motivation and accommodates the reality that not everyone wants to be a manager. Often, especially in smaller shops, there is a need for only one manager. Most technicians go into management for only one reason: to make more money because it is the only growth track available.
If staff positions are defined above where the staff is now, with increased responsibility, increased scope, increased exposure, and increased income, technicians will be satisfied staying longer in the jobs they do best.
Motivation
Professional technicians are people, just like their managers. Their wants and desires differ as much as their looks and personalities. A manager should get to know the people who report to him or her at something more than a professional level, so as to be able to determine their key motivators. If a senior technician really wants to be a manager, it may be possible to do some restructuring to give him or her project responsibility and supervision of one or two juniors. It may be possible to segment a department, given enough need in some of the functional areas mentioned above, and create an assistant manager of communications, or desktop publishing, or assistant manager for UNIX systems (in a mixed environment).
Employees who prefer being expert at only a few things can be accommodated by providing higher-paying positions representing specialties. Job titles might be Senior PC Technician, Senior UNIX Analyst (in a mixed environment), Lead Internetworking Specialist, or Senior Telecommunications Analyst. If a valuable employee is interested in a specific technology, it may be possible to include that technology in the plans for the organization. That staffer can lead that project.
An employee who prefers to be a generalist should be exposed to different aspects of the environment, gradually increasing their responsibilities. All employees should receive fair, regular, on-time performance reviews.
Training
Training enhances motivation as well as productivity. It is an essential element in network management. Many new products come to market each year, some of which will almost surely be appropriate. A budget should have money for training and it should be used. Staffers should be trained in the products already in place and in new products that will be purchased, in providing better service as diagnosticians, and the troubleshooting techniques. The more technicians know, the more valuable they are.
Sharing Knowledge
Regular meetings should be held. If the situation dictates, a staff meeting should be called every day to discuss current or hot problems and status. Weekly meetings of a more general nature (to discuss plans, directions, new developments, new installations, pending projects, new customers) can also be held. These meetings should be informal, and everyone should have a turn to speak.
Salary
Salaries are affected by many factors. If an organization wants to keep good people, it has to pay them fairly and competitively. There are a number of legitimate salary surveys done each year, issued by employment agencies, LAN-oriented trade journals, and consulting firms. Often the surveys are categorized by geographic region and size of organization. A department manager should remember that a very senior technician can make as much as a manager. User groups in the form of the Micro Managers Association, or NetWare Users International provide a venue to compare notes with other managers.
REALITY
No matter how well organized the manager, there are never enough resources to do everything. The days of expansive, glass-house budgets are gone. So the manager has to decide, allocate, judge, evaluate, consider, and do all the things someone somewhere will find fault with, to maintain a solid, operational environment. The extent of resources, the needs of an organization, the expected growth of the organization, the size of present (and proposed) staff, and a manager’s own professional and emotional requirements come into play. The trick is to manage responsibilities and develop a strategy so that a manager is not truly overworked but is working hard and productively.
SUMMARY
There are as many ways to structure a LAN support department as there are LAN support departments. Once the manager has a “vision” onsistent with the mission statement, the department should be structured to achieve that vision (with corrections being made along the way). Maintenance should be less and less reactive and more and more proactive, and the proactive work should include more development efforts. Whether this is accomplished is determined in large part by the type of people in the department, the customer base, and the company’s needs. The customers have to be involved all along the day.
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