Don’t Do This Mistake #3

I have a problem, the system is down and I don’t know too much technical information about this system. I will try to solve it by myself; yes I will try many times to fix it. I am the manager and it is a weakness point if asked someone for help. Stop please you do a very costly mistake by trying to solve the problem without asking for help.

Some problems appears in the IT environment for the first time, don’t expect to know everything about everything in your IT environment, keep improving your skills by reading, asking and sharing knowledge to know more and being the manager doesn’t give you the power to solve all problems.

Once the problem appears do the right thing and seek help. The success key for the IT Manager is not know the correct answers; it’s being able to find them and implement a solution as quickly and cost effectively as possible. Don’t hesitate to ask the experts if it necessary.

Not asking for help is one of the biggest mistakes in the IT Managers life. It is not a weakness point of you if you asking someone for help. Asking for help gives you the opportunity to solve your problem faster and reduce the cost and time.

Why you should ask for help?

Many reasons to ask for help:

· Solving problems faster.

· Reduce the cost and time needed to solve the problem.

· Reduce the risk of trying solving the problem without prior knowledge about the solution.

· Improve the quality of IT services.



How to ask for help?

1- Persuading yourself that you need help by telling yourself you need help and what you need exactly from help.

2- Seek for one can help you and be positive with your helper, remember that it is not a reason to feel weak or stupid it is a sign of strength.

3- Understand your helper’s advice.

4- Say thanks for your helper’s.

5- Don’t afraid to ask for help again if needed.

IT Change Management

Introduction

Change is inevitable in every IT work environment it is includes but not limited to (hardware, software, processes, etc.). Many types of changes in work environments, as example:

1- Strategic changes.

2- Governance changes.

3- Technological changes.

4- Operational changes.

Some of the changes should be applied, for example, changes that come from the government.

Definition

The change management is an IT service management (ITSM) discipline. The process responsible for controlling the life cycle of all changes. The change management is a set of procedures, processes, and processes to manage all changes in the work environment with minimum negative effect on the IT service and/or business.

Change management objectives

The primary objective of Change Management is to apply beneficial changes, with minimum disruption to IT services.

Another objective of Change Management is to ensure that you applying the standardized methods and procedures for efficient and prompt handling of all changes to control IT infrastructure, in order to minimize the impact of any related incidents.

Change Management Processes

1. Raising and record changes

Many of ways can generate a new change record:

• Request a change from an incident.
• Request a change from a problem.
• Request a change from a business need.
• Request a change through a service catalog.
• Request a change from an email

2. Assessing and evaluating changes

Once a change request is in place, the change management team must populate the change request with as much information as possible in order to fully assess the requested change.

Information that can be collected :

• Priority
• Category
• Impact
• Urgency
• Schedule - Includes a requested by date, a planned start and end date, and work start and end dates. This can be integrated with Outlook so that the change schedule will appear in Outlook's calendar. Note that changes made to the schedule in Outlook will not change the change record.
• Change/Roll Out Plan/Backout Plan/Test Plans
• Approvers - All CAB members.
• Related Problems - All related problem to the change will be associate to the change form. 
• Related Incidents - All related incident to the change will be associate to the change form.
• Affected CIs - a list of configuration items (from the CMDB) that will be affected by the change.
• Impacted Services - a list of business services (from the CMDB) that will be affected by the change.

3. Planning Changes

Changes can be planned directly in the change record, but for complex, multi-step changes, Project Management allows specificity of planning. 

4. Authorizing Changes

Any change should be reviewed and approved by the Change Advisory Board (CAB)  before put it into production environment. Usually, the CAB consist of a group of people with different perspectives, backgrounds and areas of expertise. Their function is to review the change from a process and governance standpoint to assure that all foreseeable risks have been identified and mitigated, and that compensatory techniques are in place for any elements of exposure (things that could go wrong). The development team and the change sponsor will present the change to the CAB. Evaluation of risk will be the focus. Implementation strategies, communication to affected stakeholders, backout plans and post-implementation monitoring are elements on which the CAB is required to focus. The CAB is not responsible for determining if the change is appropriate – that decision has already been made. The CAB is also not responsible for determining if the change is cost effective. Again, that is strictly a business decision.

5. Closing Changes

Once the change has come to an end, and the change has been tested and confirmed, the change can be closed by changing the state. If the change was generated from an incident or problem, you have to close all related incidents and/or problems.

Workflow Sample

Here is a sample of change management workflow (The workflow for change management is configurable, it depends on the work environment).

IT Change Management Workflow Sample

Don't Do This Mistake #2

I love my work too much so I will work more and more!  My team not have the capability to do the business as I do! My business will not live if I take a vacation! So I will not take a vacation, be careful about what you trying to do. This is a formula for disaster.

Do you plan to do everything by yourself, what about vacations?  No plans done for rest? If you don't plan for your vacations please do it right now.

Why you need a vacation?

There are many vacation benefits; I will list a few of them below:

1-      Improve your mental skills.

2-      Reduce stress.

3-      Improve your physical health.

4-      Check your employee skills.

5-      Test what your leave effect on the business.

Do a favor for yourself, family, and business and take some time off. Really you need this do not try to burn yourself.