This PowerUp blog entry was written by Brian Lannoye, programmer at Masters Gallery Foods, Inc., in Plymouth, Wis. He has been working there as a programmer on the IBM i platform since June 2010. Brian regularly attends WMCPA meetings and is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree at Lakeland College Online.
The importance of continually developing communication skills, I believe, carries a lot of weight in the world of IT. Just throwing this out there: We in IT aren’t very good salespeople. Either we’re too honest or explain too much detail or just give up all together trying to explain something technical to the normies out there. In fact, we talk better to machines than we do with people.
Regardless of what platform you work on, half the job of an IT professional is having the ability to listen to what someone else is saying and return that communication effectively. That’s why communication in the form of writing, speaking and listening is the most important element to individual success and the success of a business.
I’m not one to solve problems solely on my own. I get so far and I’m looking for help somewhere--Google search, IBM, IBM as a result of Google search, a host of message boards or maybe just someone else in the IT department (especially if I have a question about PDM. *COUGH*). Good programmers, good network engineers, good computer support, etc., use the process of analyzing a problem and deciding where to go for effective and efficient help. We research and we network. We do it every day and that’s how we get things done.
A huge part of my job is being able communicate well with others outside the IT department. When I get a new project, one of the first things I try to do is talk with the person requesting the change, face to face so I can know exactly what the request is. Whenever I put something new into production I email the people who are going to use the program and explain what I did as best I can because it’s my job to educate users on new software.
I also work the help desk at night. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. And not only do I have to be a good listener, but I need to know which questions to ask. If a problem is beyond my expertise, I must know who to go to for assistance.
IT outsourcing is a major issue today because often it’s cheaper to hire a programmer overseas than it is to employ one here. While they’re well educated and competent at what they do, the single greatest advantage we have within our native countries is that we know all of the ins and outs of our language and culture. We know what it means when someone says, “This program is screwed up, but only when I hit this button” because we know the term “screwed up” instantly. Plus we’re here. There is no substitution for face-to-face communication. And the better we are at it, the more our value increases.
Success always corresponds with good communication.
That rings true whether you’re a programmer, a salesperson or a CEO. The people on top always communicate the best, even if they aren’t necessarily the most skilled in other areas. I got my associates degree in computer science from Gateway Technical College in 2010. My instructors continually stressed the importance of developing better skills in speaking, writing and most important listening. There were few classes I had where I wasn’t in front of the classroom at some point giving a speech or presentation. Even fewer where I didn’t have at least one major writing project. And speech, English 101 and technical writing were all courses required for graduation whether the student was getting a degree in IT or horticulture. There’s a reason for it. Communication is key.
Side Note
I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t mention the WMCPA Spring Conference is right around the corner. It’ll be held March 21 and 22 at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis. Panels will be hosted by Susan Gantner, Mike Pavlak and Aaron Bartell. Keynote speakers will be Pete Massiello and Steve Will.
Brian, Good Point and well presented. While we haven't outsourced, we have near sourced and as a CIO I haven't put as much weight to the perspective you share here. Thanks for raising this important topic and communicating it well.
Posted by: Nigel Fortlage | February 16, 2012 at 09:03 AM
Thanks for bringing up this topic Brian. I'd be curious what your thoughts are on the never ending challenge of trying to make communication more efficient in an era where more people are tele-commuting?
The employees at the company I work for are all remote. We make extensive use of email, instant messaging and just recently video chat (Google Huddle and GoToMeeting HD Faces).
Hope to see you at WMCPA! Maybe we can chat over a beer or something.
AaronBartell.com
Posted by: Aaron Bartell | February 16, 2012 at 03:39 PM
Thank you Nigel and Aaron for the kind words.
As I said earlier, there is no substitution for face to face communication. Then again, the flexibility of telecommuting has made IT a lot easier and opportunistic.
We tried Yammer for a few weeks here at MGF after it was recommended to us by another local business. For those who don’t know, Yammer is kind of like facebook, except it can be purchased to use over a private network and is more geared for business. Since we all work out of the same department, and already use Lotus Notes and Sametime we decided Yammer was not for us. However, I believe it would work much better for IT staff that telecommutes as in your case Aaron. Even better would be to use Google Plus with the video chat and integrated email. There is a third party Google Apps company called Cloudbakers out of Chicago that did a presentation for the WMCPA back in December, and I was impressed by the services and level of integration they offered for email, documents and collaboration. A lot of that can be offered just using Google apps, but there are added benefits like domain names, extra storage space and more security if when you go with Cloudbakers. In my opinion, a good social network for business should offer:
• A general stream or activity feed
• Video, voice and type chat
• Private messages
• Document collaboration
• A generous amount of storage and security
• Text alerts
That’s the next best thing to face time. Am I asking for too much?
Posted by: Brian Lannoye | February 17, 2012 at 04:10 PM
Brian:
Good to see another post from you. You are spot on with this topic. I have recently dealt with some IT people that do not have a clue how to communicate, with users or colleagues. It makes for a difficult road.
Being able to translate between "tech-talk" and English is an important skill. Of course, I've also had to ask more than one user to translate their emails into English, but that is another story.
Written and oral communication is critical to meeting business needs. Nicely done!
See you at the WMCPA Conference! (Aaron, too...)
Posted by: Bruce Guetzkow | February 17, 2012 at 07:25 PM
I completely agree - the ability to communicate effectively and clearly is extremely important. It helps one to teach others, sell what you're doing, understand what others want from you, and explain technology among other things.
Posted by: Dan Braden | February 20, 2012 at 07:13 PM
Brian,
Mitch from Cloudbakers will be presenting again @ the Spring WMCPA conference in the event others wish to see what the benefits of Google Apps are in relation to using with our IBM i shops.
In addition I will be presenting how to send your IBM i data to Google Apps for use, whether that be data sharing, report distribution or even publishing a calendar to share with your customers, no matter who those customer can be defined as...
The best is that Mitch has agreed to co-host our 2 sessions with me and a lab we will be having, so, the goal is to get the message out of how we can leverage Google Apps for our companies.
See you there....
David
Posted by: david andruchuk | February 22, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Actually, I will be attending RPG/DB2 Summit this year. We do a rotation at Masters Gallery, so this year Al and Steve will be at the WMCPA Spring Conference. Be sure to stop and say hi to both of them, and for those of you going to RPG/DB2, I will see you there.
Posted by: Brian Lannoye | February 23, 2012 at 01:44 PM