The I.T. Leaders' Handbook: Foundations for Leading the Information Technology Department

by John A Bredesen

Overview

Is your IT department working harder than ever and still falling behind? Does the organization have unreasonable expectations and tightening budgets? Do you have a strong understanding of your company's needs and priorities?

Drawing on over 25 years of IT experience, John has learned that leading the IT department is more than just understanding technology. You must also understand the Business and the People and how everything works together.

The IT Leaders' Handbook will get you going in the right direction in four major areas: Foundations, Business, People, and Technology. Concepts like Focus & Finish, Square Root Of Change, and Proactivity Is Overrated, along with real-world advice, will help you raise your game and be a better IT Leader. In his personable style of writing, John uses triathlons, race cars, alligators, and sailing ships to present concepts that are straightforward to understand and powerful to implement.

If you want a book about the latest technology, this is not that book. If you want a book that will give you useful information on leading the IT department, regardless of your technology stack, then grab your favorite beverage, settle back in a comfortable chair, and let's start the journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781736650004
Publisher:	Kennd Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Pages:	262
Sales rank:	973,152
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

John Bredesen has worked in IT since the 1980s at large and small companies with vastly different budget priorities. He has been a system administrator, a developer, a business analyst, a manager, and a director. There is little he hasn't experienced.
John also worked outside of IT for eight years in project and product management. In this role, he was a consumer of IT services, which gives him a unique perspective on the role of IT in an organization.
John lives, works, and writes in Minnesota where the deer and the lutefisk roam
If you like this book, head on over to The-IT-Director.com and join the mailing list. John promises to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high and the Rush references low.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Foundations

1: Foundations Overview

2: Square Root Of Change

3: Focus & Finish

4: Risk Management

5: Proactivity Is Overrated

6: Technical Debt

Part 2: Business

7: Business Overview

8: Business & IT

9: How Should Business Think About IT?

10: Our Most Important Job

11: The Customer Is The Only Customer

12: It's All About The Business Processes

13: Identifying The Work

14: Prioritizing The Work

Part 3: People

15: People Overview

16: Managing Ourselves

17: Leading The IT Team

18: Building The Right Team

Part 4: Technology

19: Technology Overview

20: How Technical Do We Need To Be?

21: Technology Portfolio

22: Technology We Buy

23: Technology We Build

24: Shadow IT

25: When We Don't Need Technology

Final Thoughts

Editorial Reviews

"If I had this book ten years ago, I would have been a lot better off." IT Business Manager, Manufacturing company, Maine, USA

From the Publisher