Reporting To Executives 301
chopsuei3 writes "As a System Administrator, I am charged with providing more insight into the functioning of the system. What types of reports and information do other System Administrators submit to executives and on what frequency? Measurements such as uptime and average page latency are useful, but our site is relatively stable and we see minimal downtime, so I'm looking for other important and useful information I can report up to better illustrate my efforts. Our system is also unique in that about 70% of the traffic we see is from devices and not human browsers. I am a lone System Administrator in a 20-person company which specializes in web-based irrigation management. I also simultaneously perform all IT-related tasks in the office, which may also be important to report up to executives on regular basis."
Here's an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
how about asking them what they want to see? Prepare a short document listing what information you can provide them and in what format, and ask them what they want to see. How often, what detail, etc.
I know, I know. Talking to people, particularly executives, is a daunting task for some in the IT world, but you'd be amazed at how much easier things become when you ask people what they want.
Ops is a bottom line gig. (Score:4, Insightful)
Operations is a bottom-line game. It really comes down to how you're providing the service at the lowest possible cost.
I'd suggest trying to plan and execute projects that will bring down the hardware cost per user (ie, start compiling PHP. That could drive down cpu-cost-per-user).
It sounds annoying, but really that is the math game. Identify cost per user, cost per hit, cost per account or some other metric that management will understand, and then work to push that cost down.
Report on those efforts.
Adjust your prioirities (Score:3, Insightful)
The only executive who would be meaningfully impressed with technical metrics would probably be in your direct up-chain (e.g., CTO), so tailor those metrics towards their concerns. Things like performance measures that allow you to spot trends ("Is it me, or do those new servers crash more often?") and predict future necessary action ("Are we nibbling into our system resource reserve? Time to budget for upgrades.").
Outside of geek-ville, measure stuff which translates into business terms. Compute uptimes and responsiveness and scale transaction measurements against sales, or eyeballs, or whatever your company is really about.
Small company (Score:2, Insightful)
How many execs do you have in a 20 person company?
I worked in a 15 person company that had a CEO, 4 VP's and 2 high-level managers, too many chiefs, not enough braves. I used to get advice from the CEO about how we should go and rewrite our software in PERL, or PHP, depending on the article he was reading.
They went out of business, obivously.
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's a good idea; I'd also suggest maybe mocking up 2 or 3 examples and letting them see.
Think Business Functionality (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:2, Insightful)
Except that most of the time they won't have any clue what they want.
In the past, many executives used to be engineers, or at least had an engineering or technical background. As an IT worker, you could have technical discussions with them and they'd understand the general concepts, even if their background was in mechanical or civil engineering, for instance.
In the US today, that's no longer the case. Being a executive these days isn't about providing leadership and making decisions based on knowledge. It's about knowing how to manipulate accounting statements to look good on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
Part of this is because we've transitioned away from manufacturing real products, to manufacturing "financial instruments", even at "manufacturers" like the Big 3, who these days basically just assemble parts that are actually manufactured outside of the US in Asia and Mexico, but make the bulk of their income from leases and other financial bullshittery.
Be bright, (Score:5, Insightful)
be brief, be gone.
That's about the best I can give you.
Your whole summary should fit on 1 sheet of paper, with bullet points.
The whole presentation should take less than 3 minutes.
Ask yourself, if you were flying at 30,000' over your operation, "What would I see?"
That's what the execs want.
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Small things, but they make you look professional. I'm not sure if you dress like that every day, maybe you do, but if he glazes over during technical blurb you may find him considering whether you get a bonus based on whether your shirt does or doesn't have a burrito stain on it.
Re:Small company (Score:3, Insightful)
15 person company needs 1 CEO and that is it. if the CEO cant manage 14 people then he is a incompetent idiot.
One Competent CEO with 4 competent staff below him can easily, EASILY manage a company of that size. Idiots that hand out titles like candy are incompetent, be wary of a small start up with all executive staff.
Re:Random figures (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
"... but you'd be amazed at how much easier things become when you ask people what they want."
The problem is, especially with suits, is that what they want probably isn't in the same galaxy, let alone ballpark, as what they need or what they can use.
The upshot is once you get that report all nice and automated they'll ask you for the exact same report three months later having entirely forgotten its existence. Don't tell them they've been getting that report daily/weekly already for the last three months. They don't like that for some reason. Re-title it, move some columns around, maybe add a new bit of information and then call it good.
My experience (Score:5, Insightful)
I started working at an organization a while back and I would file a trouble ticket whenever I came across something broken, even if it was unimportant and with an overflowing workload might not be done for a while. A manager was hired after a while who decided to use the trouble ticket system as a meter of progress for tasks done. When he announced this, I immediately closed all of these types of tickets, saved them locally on my machine, and even went into the database so as to delete all vestiges of these tickets. I began only creating tickets when I knew a task would probably be done on-time and quickly. The manager was canned after about two years there - the thing that saved him for so long is that his manager changed three times while he was there, the third one axed him.
What management wants to see is that their investment in you is getting results. If they spend X amount of dollars on something, they want to see how it is helping the company or whatever. Show how successful your projects have been, how your uptime rate is always increasing etc. Use lots of colorful charts, lists with 20 goals and "accomplished" next to 18 of them and "partially accomplished" next to the other two. That type of crap. I mean, if management wants this nonsense from the sysadmin, you're in Dilbert land already.
In France in 1968 there was a massive general strike, with workers taking over factories and the like, and De Gaulle even planned contingencies to leave France and invade it at some future point with the French army and possibly NATO support. One of the wall posters of that time said "The boss needs you, you don't need the boss". Sometimes I think these exercises are more to psychologically mess with you than anything. You do all the work and create all the wealth, the bosses and shareholders don't do anything and collect salaries and profits. By making you do a pointless exercise like this to justify yourself to them, they're putting the idea out of your head of the reverse - of why *they* are necessary to the company. After 13 years in this industry, I'm becoming convinced that the dumb, pointless things management makes you do does have some strange psychological point along these lines. I've quit agreeing with my co-workers that these presentations are dumb and pointless, I think they do have a point - keeping us disciplined, from requesting sane hours and on-call rotation and all of that.
No questions allowed. (Score:4, Insightful)
how about asking them what they want to see?
...
I know, I know. Talking to people, particularly executives, is a daunting task for some in the IT world, but you'd be amazed at how much easier things become when you ask people what they want.
Ask?!? Actually asking a question is verboten in IT! First, you have spend meaningless hours researching the question and finding your own answers and then, after exhausting all of your options, then, and only then, can you go and ask a question.
If you don't follow those steps in that order, you will get a snarky condescending answer of "What? You couldn't google it?!" or some other asinine statement. Or the fact that admitting ignorance in IT is equated with stupidity.
It's really awkward when you have to report to someone who's not in IT and they ask "Why couldn't you have just asked in the first place?" It so hard to explain the childish and retarded social dynamics of IT to folks who act on an adult level.
common grounds? (Score:2, Insightful)
Is the average manager able to understand the type of information a systems administrator is able to provide? Or, put otherwise, is a systems administrator able to provide the information that a manager can understand? I think we have an issue here.
First mistake (Score:3, Insightful)
There's your first mistake. No, providing more insight is not what you're doing. Your job is to:
Everything else about any reports you fill in for them is just incidental.
Go grab a copy of Dilbert and read it in the can (might as well do it on company time). That's the real world.
Focus on the business.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Show how the various systems and services directly support Business operations and overall goals like profitability, customer service ratings, etc..
Point out wherever technology is a business hindrance or obstacle, and provide multiple options for systems or software integration to alleviate the problem.
In short, use the opportunity to remind the execs that IT is more than a cost-center, and how its proper usage can enhance profitability.
Careful though; if you do too good a job, they might make you a (gasp) manager, and then of course, you are screwed.
Re:Some Simple Suggestions (Score:3, Insightful)
Start out your presentation stating that you're willing to dive as low as the executives ask you to but you're going to give them a high level view.
This is a really REALLY important point for just about anyone, really. I suppose it's a rehash of the old aphorism: "Know your audience." It took me a while, but eventually I learned that most people (even technical people) really don't care that much about the gory details and supporting data. Boil it all down into factoids and front-load your presentation, email, whatever with the simple stuff. If people want more, they'll ask for it.
Really, it works. And it often leads to quicker meetings. You have to be able to back up your factoids with real data, of course, but over time people will learn to trust your high-level analysis and not ask for more (unless you're awful at it, in which case you've got other problems).
20 person company + executives + reports??? (Score:5, Insightful)
You work for a 20 person company that has executives and reports? What kind of company is this? My experience (as a sys admin and with simultaneous IT support) has taught me that reports are for shareholders' piece of minds unless you work for a really large company. And if you're a private company then the shareholders are the partners/founders and you should just talk to them like as needed.
Re:Small company (Score:2, Insightful)
PERL is Perl, and not an acronym! Or do you write PERL on your Apple MAC?
Practical Extraction and Report Language?
Yeah, I know, it's written Perl. I write too many reports with too many acronyms to care anymore.
On another note, does the increase in the use of automatic spell checkers make you feel all sad inside? What I mean is, after losing your main hobby and apparently sole purpose in life, I could see you getting depressed.
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
I too worked for a 20 person company for in a role similar to what you did. I tried asking them what they wanted, but I quickly learned that I need to guide what they asked of me. You will probably need to educate them on the what you do.
I had a weekly status meeting with 2 execs to where I prepared a one page document with:
1) Here is what the main projects are, and my perceived priority (chance for them to change the IT priorities to match the business priorities).
2) Here are any potential roadblocks to the projects (keep them aware of business risk).
3) Here are tasks that were completed from the last week (advertise yourself).
4) Here are the some potential large money items or other significant items that could occur in the next 6-12 months (depends on your company's planning horizon) (prevent surprises).
Number 4 is very important. Good executives don't like surprises. If you see ANYTHING that could be a major problem down the road. Tell them that you have discovered something, what the potential ramifications are, and what you are doing to identify, isolate, reduce the risks associated with the discovery. If your executives do like to keep their head in the sand, then you should keep an eye on the long term viability of your company.
Re:No questions allowed. (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, guess what the IT guy did to find out the answer to your question. He probably googled the answer, before or after you asked him. Since googling isn't exactly complicated, it's not such a terrible requirement to expect you try to figure out on your own first.
Also, there's a large set of questions that are hard to answer from memory. For instance, I don't remember how to mail merge in MS Word, yet I could still do it easily, by looking around in the menus and checking in which of them is it.
People seem to assume the IT guy just remembers the exact steps for everything, when most of the time what they know is where should they look to find an answer.
Well, and why couldn't you? Google and the help file exist for a reason.
Re:No questions allowed. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a big difference between asking a question of random people on the internet when you're too lazy to google (although, it sucks when the answer is not available on google and you still get berated), and asking your boss about your perceived performance and any goals he may have for your dept..
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, think about it yourself. What does the network do? What measures can you make that describe whether it's working well? If someone were trying to improve the network, how often would they want to see those measures?
Management usually doesn't know enough to know what to ask. You're the expert, figure out what they should be looking at.
Just a small reflection on this comment.. I think this points out a flaw in how us engineers think. Management doesn't know enough to ask about the network but does it matter? How the network works is really not that important to them. How is your network contributing to the business as a whole? What metrics management want are probably more related to that and the business side of things then trying to educate them on how it works. After all, their job is not running a network, it's running a business.
Management is looking for you to bridge that gap between technology and business, which can either be bridged by you framing things into a business perspective or making them learn more about technology so they can do it. Your value to the company will increase if you take the former approach.
Re:Random figures (Score:1, Insightful)
Honestly, as little as possible!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I've worked in large and small companies, and the one unifying truth of executive communication is that they do not want details. In their mind, they hired you to take care of the details, If you say you need $100,000 to increase bandwidth at remote locations, you had better have a one or two sentence explanation about how this is going to make them money or help them make money. If they want to see a utilization chart or two, have that ready, but you're going to be tuned out if you launch into a long explanation.
I'm not an MBA, but my guess would be that they teach MBAs to focus on strategy and leadership, and to hire people to do the nuts-and-bolts work. Same goes for small business owners, but double -- they're doing crazy 120 hour weeks growing the business - why would they want to listen to a report from the guy they hired to make sure they wouldn't have to deal with "all that IT stuff?"
As long as you keep that in mind, reports to executives will go well. Short, simple, money- or productivity-focused explanations, very little technical information, etc. Think like they are thinking -- "Why am I paying for this?" "How does this make me money or keep me from losing money?"
Re:They really have no idea what you're talking ab (Score:3, Insightful)
Staying until 2am to fix a problem in the server room doesn't count for diddly if all anyone sees of you in public is you being rude to a secretary for losing her word icon. That's all that will be remembered.
An excellent point, and one which most IT folks fail to comprehend.
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why didn't you explain that the different mail and phone systems you're using are not compatible for that project and suggest unifying them all into one product? Why bang your head against a door to solve a problem that a vendor somewhere has already solved for you? The CEO isn't going to care how much effort it takes, nor will he care about the money it costs to institute something else. Either way you'll look like a hero, so just take the easier solution and move on to something else.
Condescending (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem is, especially with suits, is that what they want probably isn't in the same galaxy, let alone ballpark, as what they need or what they can use.
Right. They're all a bunch of idiots and got where they are by sheer incompetence. Almost makes sense... I'm sure you understand their job better than they do - after all, engineers like you and me know everything right?
The upshot is once you get that report all nice and automated they'll ask you for the exact same report three months later having entirely forgotten its existence. Don't tell them they've been getting that report daily/weekly already for the last three months. They don't like that for some reason.
Gee, wonder why they might not like a condescending answer...
Perhaps the reason they don't like your answer is found more in how you tell them than what you tell them.
Ignorant Arrogance (Score:4, Insightful)
Dude, just slap together some random figures like the number of occupied inodes in your hard disk -- they are executives after all, what do you expect them to understand about technical stuff?
You do realize that the single most common undergraduate degree among S&P 500 CEOs is Engineering right? Over 20% of them have an undergrad degree in engineering. And of course not having a formal degree in the subject must mean they are an technologically illiterate. After all, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Bill Gates never even graduated college so how could they possibly know anything about "technical stuff". Good thing we have smart guys like you to explain it to them.
Your arrogance really sounds like ignorance to me.
"Why you pay me" (Score:2, Insightful)
I put these in financial terms because if you convert this qualitative data (like what you do) into nice easy-to-understand quantitative data (like monetary sums) executives will be able to understand your job and your priorities better.
Summary of Previous Quarter (aka What I did, and why you paid me for it)
- Illustrate changes made to the architecture/infrastructure
Current Status (aka Aren't you glad you hired me to worry about all this)
- Make qualitative data quantitative, so it can be compared to previous quarters
- Group broad technical concepts together into categories that can easily be weighed in terms of risk/benefit ratios
ex: security, infrastructure, storage, architecture, auditing/reporting, backups, disaster recovery
- Include the effects to the overall business (the 30,000 ft/km view)
Expense Report (aka How much I really cost)
-What you spent, where you spent it (again, encouraged to stick to broad categories ex: software, hardware, security, training)
Incident Reports (aka Why you don't pay me enough)
-Document incidents, illustrated how they were resolved, what was learned, and what measures were taken to prevent them from occurring in the future
-Though painful, its generally good to point out your grievous errors here as well
Next Quarter (aka Why you're going to keep paying me)
-Make sure you know where your executives priorities are in terms of Availability/Reliability/Security/Cost and make goals for the next quarter
Hope this helps
Re:Random figures (Score:3, Insightful)
Having a bad day?
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yep - and was told to "solve it", but given no budget by the CIO to do so, thus the script-fest. :)
Most of it is working, and it has had some nice side benefits (now, anyone can email anyone else anywhere on the planet).
But... the point is that we never would've bought the mess if the CIO had the cojones to first say "let me look into it and give you an answer by Friday", then stand up on that Friday and say "we can do it, but it will incur time and cost - here's why". Instead, he gave a blanket promise to have it done without incurring additional expenses.
Therein lies the peril of asking the CxO's what they want... if you're going to ask, at least be prepared to do some research on it first (and be sure to answer promptly after doing so, even if that answer turns out to be "...oh Hell, No!").
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:4, Insightful)
And when the CFO, who unbeknownst to you has a BS in physics, gets angry? Executives aren't as dumb as people here like to think, generally they just tend to lack practical, hands-on knowledge of the technology, because they honestly don't really have to know.
Re:Condescending (Score:5, Insightful)
Want some fish with that chip on your shoulder?
You horde your information because experience tells you that when you share it, bad things happen.
You always give a bullshit answer, because you've been nailed to the wall before because something that you thought to be the case turned out to be wrong, and, in the meantime, the phb you told that poisonous factoid to, turned around and told everyone up the food chain, and now YOU have to find a way to make something happen, which you've just learned is impossible.
If upper management wants open, clear, and honest answers, they need to understand the complexity of the question, and the reality that expensive problems can crop up in routine-seeming tasks.
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Second the first part of that. Try to put yourself in their shoes: If I were running this company, what would I need to know about the IT stuff? "The sales staff is unable to access the order system for 15 minutes per week" is much more useful than uptime percentages. The first is a business problem, the second is just geek-speak. "The new desktop systems each save $150 per year in electricity costs" is more useful than the watts they use. I recall one post-acquisition case where the big boss had to choose between the two IT directors. He kept the one from the acquired company and let go the one he had worked with for some years. His description of it was "Bob never really came to grips with the idea that we were in business to sell widgets, not to employ an IT department."
Re:Here's an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
You and your parent will go far in life. I can't wait till someone finds you out if you are doing this because executives DO care. You are a fool if you think an executive doesn't care about things like system up-times.. I know from personal experience how seriously pissed executives can get with IT persons for reporting false information about the IT capabilities of the organization. When an executive hires a person they trust that person to report factual information. Just because they don't call you out on mistakes doesn't mean they don't care. It means they are busy as fuck, probably working way more hours than you assume, and don't have time to look up "quasitron" to ensure their employees are fucking with them. They will take the report at face value if you say everything is great.
To chopsuei3:
The best things to report are things that affect clients or are otherwise extremely important. Since you mentioned you are providing services to devices that I can only assume you are a type of "command and control center" for I would think the most vital thing to report is the up time of that system and any other pertinent information about that system. If it had gone down, why? and on a related note, what is being done to protect the system's up time. If there are no issues with this aspect and you think nothing will happen before the next report you may glance over it quickly, but still make sure critical systems are the first thing you report on. It will demonstrate you understand what is most important.
After that I would report on the status of any ongoing projects, not with numbers or charts but with words. This could come before critical systems if the project is critical but that should be obvious.
Finally I would report on the status of less-critical functions like the internal IT stuff you do. This can be as simple as saying "I dedicated 20 hours this month to desktop support, this has been the average for the past several months." with maybe a little analysis if you want to work that number down.
I think the preferred format for an executive would be more written or bullet points rather than charts and figures. Help them to understand what is going on so they can better help you accomplish your goals. A chart that has up-times on it is worthless to an executive unless you thoroughly explain it so you might as well do the analysis and then explain what it means rather than presenting the charts as eye candy. An executive wants a "what does this mean" perspective not a load of information that they have to derive the "what does this mean" from. There may be times when raw charts and figures are important so don't completely scratch them, just make sure you aren't just throwing information out there just for the sake of having stuff to present.
Delivering concise, well thought out, and informative reports are way more effective than a "data dump" just to prove you do something every day you come in. The executives are busy, they don't want to waste their time reading a huge report on unimportant shit.
When sending reports (Score:3, Insightful)
When it comes to reports, always itemize the things you work, who requested them, when they requested, when you completed it, and the amount of effort (in term of time and collaboration with other teams) that it took you, including the time it takes you to create the report (seriously.) The first goal is to cover your behind. A report like that will show what you are doing.
The second goal is to, without much effort, have a report in a format (.i.e excel) such that you can do your own analysis. Which employee requests the most crap from you - this will also get you which department represents the bulk of your work, and which systems generate the most work. To the report, add an addendum for extreme circumstances (.ie. it took me an additional 12 hours to recover the site because there was a network failure between us and the DBA servers.).
Surprisingly, it doesn't take that much effort. All you do is keep a spreadsheet in which you log each request you receive, when you started working on it, and when you finish it. Format it well enough (or use a mickey mouse db like Access), and you can create a quick and simple report with a snap of your fingers.
Beware, though, of expending too much time trying to get the perfect reports. If it's taking you too much time, stop. The idea is to report a general ball park figure of things.
Now, if they are trying to micromanage you into daily reports with hourly entries, simply tell them that you will report 1 to 1.5 hours of effort devoted to the reporting task. After a few days, they'll back out very quickly.
Determine How Much Revenue You Support (Score:2, Insightful)
This is a great question, you’re at the same point in your career as me.
You need to report on the metrics that measure your departments performance, these are monetary values and I know they may be difficult to measure and it’s not accept to suggest the business wouldn’t run with the IT group. Although this statement is true, it doesn’t address the department’s performance.
Try breaking up what you do for the company into Service Desk, Service Support and Change Management. The number of helpdesk enquiries has value to the business, they’d pay maybe $10-$50 per call if an outside desk was used and even more if administrator would be involved and you’re saving the company money.
Maintenance work in a Service Support role and managing system changes could be related to the cost for a contractor and the reduced cost of running the system versus additional revenue generated by the users to determine how much you’re saving the company money.
That’s the small stuff, now work out (with the other departmental/divisional managers) how much of *their* department relies on IT and relate that proportional of their revenue to the value you support for the company. Especially important to look at sales staff if they use a CRM tool that you support.
If all else fails remember it’s how much your department supports the production side to do or enhance their job that counts then second is the cost you incur on the company.