Ask the Experts
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the experts focuses on addressing IT issues faced by business leaders.
Today’s
question is:
"What makes techies tick? "
“Who cares!” would perhaps be a natural response. Some board
members may regard this question as akin to what makes the catering staff tick.
Here are a few reasons why the question is worth dwelling on:
- Good
IT staff will help you drive out costs, gain competitive advantage,
maximise shareholder value, accelerate growth and so on
- Good
IT staff will keep you out of prison
- Corporate
governance is underpinned by IT governance
- Admittedly
good catering staff will keep you out of hospital
- The
supply-demand IT talent balance trend is migrating techies into the
driving seat.
So good IT people are critical to your business and you are
going to need to woo them. Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and strategic
technology decision makers in particular have the power to give your
organisation substantial competitive disadvantage if you choose badly. For such
senior techie roles you would be wise to play an active role in their
recruitment.
Having established their importance let’s look at their DNA.
Derogatory stereotypes such as ‘anoraks’, nerds or geeks with a Boys Own
innocent love of digital gadgets are inaccurate. Corporate techies tend to be
much graver in disposition. There are parallels with catering in that the more
prestigious the restaurant, the ruder the waiter. Generally speaking that is
how it appears with senior techies. People generally defer to them as they rank
highly in the ‘knowledge is power’ league. In any case their idea of networking
involves packets and routers. Their
apparent lack of social skill is not (always) related to arrogance or shyness,
it is more to do with the fact that they get paid to make very far reaching
decisions and so their responses tend to be very considered and bereft of small
talk. Try asking a technical architect if they would like a coffee. The delay
in their response is generally proportional to the seriousness of the
consideration they are giving your question and not a sign of contempt.
Their mindset is more akin to Michelangelo or Leonardo da
Vinci. They are blessed with a job that is truly creative. Using the word opus
as opposed to task would not be inappropriate. By the same token many are
unburdened by commercial realities. If you want a senior techie with both
business and technical skills be braced to pay royally. Such people are very
rare, but have the power to truly align your IT investment with the needs of
your organisation. So it’s worth coughing up.
How do you impress a senior techie? Don’t even bother. They
have a primal urge to prey on those that try to bluff their way in IT matters.
If anything, stick to fawning.
How do you attract the best people? Unlike business people
they are not driven by big bucks for minimal hours. They are attracted by
problems, because their game is solutions. In many cases organisations mask
their issues in order not to put off prospective employees. With senior techies
you are advised to show-off your difficulties. A nice touch would be to suggest
that your problems are unsolvable. This is an affront to the techie and from
that point it won’t be a case of wooing them, it will be a case of apologising
by offering the candidate the chance to prove you wrong.
Ade McCormack
ade@auridian.com
