Recently in Managing IT Category

The Fast Company article "Are You Working With Energizers or Rotten Apples" shares an excerpt from the book "GOOD BOSS, BAD BOSS: How to Be the Best ... and Learn from the Worst" by Robert I. Sutton.  I found the article so compelling that I had to tweet about it and share it here too.

I recently finished reading the book "Joker One" by Donovan Campbell. It is a gripping account of a Marine platoon's 2004 tour in the Iraq city of Ramadi. Regardless how you feel about the war there, I think you should read this book for perspective on the traits of good leadership. Here are three aspects of leadership the book reinforced for me.

Incompetent managers are very damaging to an organization. Fast Company has a great article posted that helps you identify these managers based on their habits. I wholeheartedly agree with all ten points raised in the article and want to add these three additional points.

Every data center has legacy systems that lurk on the verge of catastrophic failure. You are compelled to do something about them but don't know where to start. Begin with a financial analysis on replacing your legacy systems as the foundation for your business case.

The best technical staff are hard to find and harder to retain. They are exactly the folks you want to make your organization successful. If you choose to reduce head count when tough times hit, you just might lose them even though you didn't cut them.

Legacy applications have three significant cost drivers that will punish the unwary. These cost drivers highlight why you need to migrate away from legacy systems and how delaying action significantly increases your risk of catastrophic failure.

Successful management necessitates strategic and tactical planning. I frequently encounter managers in all organizations, at all levels who don't plan. Do you?

Virtual servers can provide reliable, scalable, business computing more cost effectively than physical servers. Managers should consider these strategies when building a virtual server infrastructure for optimal cost effectiveness.

Hewlett Packard ceased development of their proprietary CPU architecture, PA-RISC, in the year 2005. Hewlett Packard will support servers using that CPU through 2013. Do you have an exit strategy?