Stories by: Paul Glen

New managers struggle. They also don't get much help -- or sympathy. My last column elicited a lot of heartfelt reader emails about the difficulty of, and lack of support for, the transition from technical work to management. My conversations with those

In my exploration of the differences between technical and business people, nothing surprised me more than this: Business people tend to think that we don't care about anything. One of their biggest complaints is that we don't share their passion for the business. When-ever I hear this, I have an immediate, visceral reaction of outrage: "How could you possibly think I don't care about anything? I work like a dog to try to turn your visions into reality!"

The first meeting for a project is a tense affair. There can be a lot of new things coming at you all at once. New co-workers. New technology. New processes. And, perhaps most problematic, new business partners.

A while back, I read a survey that showed that, other than directors of human resources, CIOs were considered the least influential senior executives in most organisations.

As an IT management consultant, I look at a lot of processes. They're everywhere. And so are the misconceptions about what makes them useful.

Over the past couple of years, IT managers have been forced to make a lot of tough decisions. Budget cuts, layoffs and project cancellations became commonplace occurrences. But just because we may be seeing the beginning of an economic recovery, that doesn't mean we're at the end of the hard choices.

When constructing project and management teams, I’ve always found it’s important to pay attention to more than just the tasks that need to be accomplished. The personalities of the people who would accomplish those tasks influence the success or failure of the team as much as the skills that they bring. But in times of emotional stress, personalities become even more important than they are during ordinary times.