Identifying True Skill Set for an IT Employee

Sometimes, an employee holding an IT title given by a non-technical manager may not have the required qualifications for the title.  In other times, vendor or product-based (e.g., Basis Administrator by SAP, ArcSDE Administrator for ESRI's ArcSDE product etc.) title may hide the qualifications found in standard IT titles.  In both cases, the following or similar steps may help identify the true skill set for an IT employee:

1. What are the MAJOR software, tools, and/or programming languages you use for your everyday work?
2. What are the MAJOR underlying hardware and/or software technologies used for the items identified in Step 1?
3. Do you NATIVELY work with most aspects of the items identified in Step 2 (if yes, list the items)?
4. What are the IT services your work DIRECTLY dependent on and/or affected by and you do NOT have control over?
5. What is the broad IT function MOST of your knowledge, experience, and/or skills fall under?

Defining IT Strategy

Strategy, as defined in the Oxford dictionary, is “a plan of action designed to achieve a major or overall aim”.  This definition is not as specific as what is provided by Dr. Max McKeown (20111), which is “the human attempt to get to desirable ends with available means”. 

I find Dr. McKeown’s definition more relevant to defining IT Strategy, especially for the terms “human attempt” and “available means”.  In the context of IT, his defining terms can be elaborated as follows:

1. Human Attempt:  An IT professional’s high-level plan through research, analysis, synthesis, and leadership.
2. Desirable Ends: Solutions to an IT department’s existing problems or new initiatives
3. Available Means:  An IT department’s assets (as provided below), vendors, and consultants:
• Employees
• Infrastructure, tools, and techniques
• Processes, policies, and standards
• Employees’ educations, experiences, and skills