How many services, devices, tools, and techniques do we have dedicated to saving time? These are supposed to make life easier and more efficient, freeing up time to do other things. Yet, why do we have so little free time?
Time is the real currency of our day; it’s the great equalizer! How many times, when asked, “How are you?” do you respond, “Busy”? The President of the United States has the same 24 hours in his day that you have. Are you busier than the POTUS?
Our success is largely dependent upon how we spend those 24 hours. The president could put all of the reports together himself; he could put together the presentations and speeches himself. But that would leave very little time for all of the other demands of his station. And truth be told, there are people better suited to writing speeches!
Why then, in IT, do we think we have to do-it-all? We plug in the cables, answer tickets, wait on hold with the ISP… Is our time really that unimportant? Do we really have nothing better to do?
When the network goes down, yes, it is mission critical it gets back up and the issue resolved long term. No question! When the power goes out in the White House, is the president opening fuse boxes trying to fix it? He’s the leader, right? Absolutely not, the image is laughable! But here we are in IT: an impressive degree, years of experience and certificates, but we’re spending our days unplugging a router or helping someone in accounting set up her voicemail.
These activities do not represent the value IT brings to the collective table. And you shouldn’t want it to be the value you bring. It should frustrate you. You should be looking for a way to bring all of your talents (and your team’s talents) to the forefront. Instead your day is spent on hyper-tactical issue resolution and no one in the C-suite will ask you to weigh in on the strategy discussion.
Time is your currency. How should you be spending it? A few ideas: spend it meeting with marketing on how to enhance the customer experience through technology. Spend it with sales on how to combat digital disruption from startups. This is the value you bring. But the first step? Buying yourself more time.
