[01:08] How did you get into IT and what was your first computer?

I started as a mechanical engineer and I had a college roommate working at Amazon who said I could run circles around other IT people, so I made the switch. I think it was just the state of IT at the time. It wasn’t a hard industry then. I started out with a Texas Instruments computer, but my first real PC was a 386SS in 1992.

[03:52] What made you want to get a job in IT?

It was a lot harder to be proficient back then. Having my certification got my salary bumped up to 50k right there and then.

[06:25] Was that amount of money good for you at the time or was it detrimental to a single guy at the time?

At the time I didn’t know a lot about saving. I went from cutting grass to making $50,000 in the space of a year. It basically just meant I didn’t have to worry about little things.

[08:35] At what point did you learn the business side of IT?

It started out just stepping into roles that needed to be filled. A company I worked for was going through bankruptcy and it meant a lot of people were jumping ship and leaving gaps. It’s always been in my DNA. I decided to take it very seriously and invest in myself and my leadership skills.

[09:55] What do you mean by investing in yourself?

Training, education, leadership forums, all of those things.

[12:19] What would you say the typical IT manager is missing?

It has a language and so does business. You need to know the acronyms, what the foundations of the business are, and how to make business-based decisions. Convincing people when they need to spend money and when they don’t is as much an art as anything else. Defining value is difficult, you need to frame it as a necessity.

[17:00] Your story is a very common story in IT.

It’s scary when you go to school for one thing and then change direction. I had to ramp up pretty quickly, but working as a consultant, you get to work at lots of different organizations and see how they do it and learn from it.

[19:55] What do you do when you hit a stumbling block when convincing someone of what they need?

I’ve found that you need to develop credibility around only asking for what you need. Show that you are responsible with the money management side of things.

[22:55] I’d like to hear more about the course you went on.

Ahead of time, you had to purchase 40 books and it was a hugely varied list from Steinbeck to Man’s Search for Meaning. We would read them and talk about how they had different approaches to leadership. I took it very seriously; we had a session once a month for 9 months. It was a journey of self-discovery for many people. For me, it’s about being authentic.

[27:35] When it comes to IT management in general, do you have a philosophy that applies everywhere?

You have to pick and choose depending on the business and what works for you.

[28:50] What’s the best way of project management in your experience?

For those with inexperience in it, it is rocket science. It’s about knowing what your superpower is and working with it.

[34:00] Where does your scoring system for initiatives come from?

It’s loosely based on previous work I had done. It’s 5 different ways you can value initiative and you score that value from 0 to 4.

[37:17] What’s your take on security nowadays?

You can go as far as you want to. Cyber security is something that shouldn’t have holes, but it’s easy to over-invest in what you don’t need.

[38:44] What’s your biggest piece of advice for people starting out?

People underestimate how important it is to bring the human aspect into IT. You have to be able to interact with people. Invest in people skills and yourself.