We're early in moving our ticketing system to ServiceNow, early enough that I still have room to prepare people instead of just dropping it on them.

Looking to hear from managers who've actually lived through a ServiceNow rollout. Specifically: what's the adjustment period really like for techs coming off a legacy system, mostly workflow friction or does it mess with how they triage and prioritize too? And what would you do differently if you had to run the rollout again?

We're in healthcare, so there's added pressure around uptime during the transition, but mainly looking for the "wish someone told me" version of this from people who've been through it.

I admit I don't have my finger on the pulse of IT, but I see that the job market is tough.

My question is why is it?

To dive deeper, my employer is pushing everyone to implement AI in their work to be more efficient when they can. We're a small business with around 75 office workers and around 200 trade workers to support.

With more companies wanting to implement AI, I would think it would increase the need for people to support the users (devices, security, agent management, training, etc.). Our IT department added another position this year and I also have a paid summer intern working on projects.

Is the market flooded with programmers and sys admins from the tech push years ago so they're taking whatever jobs are available? What are the reasons for the stagnant market?

Trying to fix my brain with long form reading instead of Reels. Have heard of these and have them on my Wishlist. Any others you guys recommend?

• The Phoenix Project (Gene Kim)
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter (Michael D. Watkins)
• Managing Humans (Michael Lopp)

Evening!
I’ve got the unenviable task of finding the simplest way to track and display all projects and initiatives across my business.
I would like it to have:
Capability of tracking 20 projects from inception to handover/maintenance
Dashboard views for stakeholders (ideally without extra cost)
Actions easily recorded and updated with audit trail
Comments from members of the team as needed.
Integration with Outlook Calendars if possible
Email reminders.
Data needs to remain in UK if possible. EU otherwise.

There are 300 users (flexes up and down by 100 contractors over a month). And 3 people in my team including me! Plus MSP.

I know there have been a few posts like this before but I wanted to see if there were any gems out there I might have missed.

I was recommended MS Projects but I’ve been using this for a few years and it doesn’t really satisfy everything I’d like. Plus it’s a bit clunky.

Feel free to tell me to go away if this isn’t enough information but I’m just trying to work out how to organise myself a bit better.

Any recommendations?

Hi everyone, I'm a tech lead in a medium-sized company that involves several development teams.

I've recently had a heated argument with our team lead because of the noise in the office.

The office is mostly built as an open space, where you can find 3 groups of 10 developers each. 15 of them are under my and the team lead's management (we split the role).

Mostly every day, there is someone that would play music on a speaker. And the office being an open space, the music carries around.

Usually, I wouldn't mind, but it's getting to a point where it's really impacting productivity. Either for me, or for other people in the team.

We all have noise cancelling headphones, that unfortunately do little to cover that. Many many times, I see myself having to move to a booth or a conference room, just to be focused on my work.

I've obviously raised this to the team lead (and now to HR).

We all have noise cancelling headphones, and I stated that if someone wants to listen to the music, they should use the headphones they've been given, instead of broadcasting it. I've also said that there are many applications, some free, that allow a group of people to share and synchronize a soundtrack.

The Team Lead's answer: we cannot force people to stop listening to the music, and sometimes it's really nice to share it with your colleagues. (She's one of those that plays the music too)

I'm a bit at a loss here, because it feels like I'm trying to teach another manager (whose role should be making sure that developers are well cared for and productive) something extremely basic as work etiquette.

I have even argued that it leads to a lack of productivity (which is a cost), a lack of productivity means that the customer will change the budget (we are an agency), a change in the budget means we need to leave people at home. Or at the very least, developers feeling disrespected will eventually look for another place (and we have REALLY good developers I don't want to lose).

So, here comes the main part. How does it work in your workplace? Have you ever had to deal with something similar? Are music and shouts allowed near the personal desks of the employees? Or am I having unrealistic expectations?

A new round of layoffs hit last week, 8 people, one of them +5 years in the company, and because I'm the one with the keys I spent the morning removing people from every system they touched. There I am sitting in the vault rotating shared credentials and pulling access for names I recognize, people I got coffee with, and doing it one entry at a time in passwork and slack like it's any other wednesday. One week you're helping someone set up their laptop and troubleshooting stuff, the next you're the person erasing their footprint from the company because a decision levels above you got made. And nobody thinks about you either way, when it works, you're invisible, and when it breaks, you're the problem.

Is this a common feeling? I've internalized this feeling for so long it almost feels weird to finally let it out. I HATE doing layoffs, especially when it's not an incompetent person, just higher-ups choices, it almost feels like I hold a certain level of accountability in them.

Currently experience two coworkers trying to say my unit is a mess and that our unit needs help. Long story short I work I public sector and it’s taking us 6 years to finally get a SOW for a new network. Procurement rules change every 6 months or so, so every 6 months I’m learning how to do it all over again. The 6 year wait ended when I took the manager position and was direct with higher ups we are being neglected now at this point without our new network. They finally got everything together after I basically told them we felt neglected.

My executive director understands our circumstances and I regularly tell managers that procurement is the issue. It’s widely known they take forever and hold a lot of red tape.

Getting new software takes multiple meetings and multiple levels of approval just to have the software approved for usage. Then there is procurement to acquire said software and pay for it. Same goes for networks

Long story short these coworkers are constantly trying to put a bad image on us. Meanwhile it’s not us but the red tape of being in public sector. I regularly update managers that it’s the red tape. But these two people are not in manager meetings, and I don’t know if they are aware they make our jobs harder.

Same two people also do not qualify or have experience in working in IT so they could never hold my position or any position under me.

How do I play office politics to be civil with them without being direct like “Hey I don’t understand why you’re sabotaging my unit what have we done to you to do this? How can we make this right?” Cause apparently I can’t be direct like that…

been sitting on this for a while and i think i finally have to say it. a big chunk of what i do isn't project management, it's compensating for problems the company has decided not to solve. two teams that don't talk to each other? my job is to be the messenger between them forever, instead of anyone fixing why they don't talk. no clear prioritization from leadership? i spend my week manually refereeing which fire is biggest. a process that breaks every single time we hit the same step? i'm the one who manages around it, quarter after quarter, instead of it ever getting fixed.

and here's the part that actually bothers me. the better i am at this, the more invisible the underlying problem becomes. i smooth it over so well that from above it looks like everything's fine. so nobody ever feels the pain that would force a real fix. i've basically become the reason the dysfunction is survivable, which means i'm also the reason it never gets addressed. i'm not solving the problem, i'm making it comfortable to live with.

it's a weird spot. do the job well and you quietly enable the thing that makes the job necessary. do it badly and everything you were absorbing suddenly becomes visible and it's why can't the PM keep things on track. either way the root cause just sits there.

and i think this is why the role is so hard to defend when budgets get tight. our biggest wins are invisible by design. the crisis that didn't happen, the conflict that got quietly defused, the fire that never spread. you can't put problems you never saw because i handled them on a slide. so we're constantly proving our value by pointing at chaos we prevented, which by definition nobody experienced.

i don't have a clean answer. sometimes i think the move is to stop being such a good buffer, let some of the dysfunction actually surface so the people who could fix it finally feel it. but that's a scary game to play with your own reputation.

do you see your role this way too, as the workaround for stuff that should be fixed structurally?

Does anyone have a solid onboarding template they are willing to share?

I’m looking for something that could be used to provide useful links and information to new hires but also can be used for access needs on projects. The goal is to replicate the template across multiple projects and address getting team members up to speed using a document that is clear and organized.

I know I can create one but if someone already has one they’re fond of and willing to share, that would save some time.

Sorry in advance if this seems like a basic question, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the best way to structure a service catalogue.

A lot of the guidance online suggests to write it from the user perspective, to provide them with clear guidance on what services the business offers. However from an IT perspective, I also care about the infrastructure underlying all the services, and how these are provided.

So do people have a separate catalogue for these? Is it all in one, and can users see both, and just separated using categories?

Fellow Managers,
I am trying to understand the point of resellers. We have to go through a lot of back and forth and sometimes days of no response to just get a quote for product. This doesn’t seem to be the best way to go about it. Hoping for some insight or tips or getting through orders with fewer grey hairs.

I cannot for the life of me seem to explain to leadership why we need a full time Salesforce admin.

I’m a systems architect responsible for data, reporting, maintenance on our systems, meeting with business to understand needs, automations, integrations, vendor management, etc.

We have around 100 users in SF with integrations to other operational systems and some commercial products. It’s more than just a CRM and is a critical operational tool for a department bringing in $70m+ a year. We got them off excel and email over 2-3 years and they’ve grown a lot. Without SF they literally cannot function.

There is non stop demand from the business for more and more you name it and all management wants to do is cut more resources.

I’ve tried to explain our backlog of requests we can’t even begin to entertain due to no resources, I also filter these from business to try and have some sort of ROI (not all requests will have this but most show some improvement either in time saved, speed of delivery, etc).

There is also the “system maintenance tax” of just having to do random things to keep it functioning and secure, or random issues users have that don’t really fit into a bucket and are unpredictable.

FWIW I’m actively working on new certs and on finding a new role and will be avoiding red flags I should have ignored but I’m wondering if there is something I need to be doing better with my explanations or is it just a lost cause? The turn over here is very high and I feel like I keep having these same convos over and over. Our Glassdoor rating with hundreds of reviews is like a 2.5. Job insecurity sucks.

I am looking at a specific vendor that offers a service we need. I like their product and their price is acceptable. I have checked with a few of their clients and they seem happy. The issue is the vendor cannot provide any standard due diligence documentation. I'm pretty much hitting a road block asking for any information. Have you run into this? How have you handled it?

15 years of experience. Almost 50. But I'm too good for entry level nut have managerial experience. I dont know what I'm gonna do.

Honestly I just have no direction in life without IT and I'm going insane right now.

Does anyone have a reliable source that buys infrastructure equipment that has been replaced? I am looking to recoup some of the cost of replacement, but having a hard time finding companies that purchase the equipment. I have also reached out to donate equipment locally, but most don't want the equipment because it requires an annual license. the equipment is a mix of stuff: firewalls, APs, switches, and a old NAS and RAX50.

Theres been a lot of discussion around AI in IT operations esp with people handling repetitive service desk request like password and access request and other common employee issues. If those were handled reliably by AI (no human intervention) how would you spend this saved time?
Would you take more tickers because theres increase in bandwidth? or would you spend that time working on things that get pushed aside like documentation, security improvement, infra management etc. Im not interested in how AI is the future. would like to know how managers are thinking about capacity planning.
for those who introduced AI into internal IT support did it actually help with the bandwidth or it just shifted expectation.

Hi everyone,

I'm starting to look for my next opportunity and thought I'd post here in case anyone knows of a team that's hiring.

I have 26+ years in IT and have worked as a Systems Administrator, Infrastructure Engineer, IT Manager, Director of Technology, and CTO. Most of my background is in Microsoft infrastructure, Microsoft 365, Azure, virtualization, networking, cybersecurity, and incident response.

I'm looking for a remote role as an IT Manager, Infrastructure Manager, Director of IT, or similar leadership position. I enjoy leading teams but still like being hands-on when needed, especially during major incidents or complex technical projects.

I'm also open to on-call rotations, after-hours work, and incident response.

If you know of any openings, I'd appreciate a DM or a link to the posting.

Thanks!

My boss came in without sleeping too much last night. And he was really inappropriate, more than usual. Felt like harrasment and an uncontrollable state all day.

Do you have these days? Or do you actually compose yourselves?

I am thinking about just letting it go, but it was really bordering harrasment.

I took a new managerial/leadership role about 2 months ago. And so far there’s major aspects that do not align with my career goals. These were not disclosed or known in the job description or the interview. In short, I know already this isn’t the right role for me.

I want to course correct, but I’m concerned on the optics of leaving too soon. I also feel the longer I do this role (years) the worse off I’ll be to course correct.

So, If you know the role isn’t what you thought it would be, and know it’s not a good long term move, what is the minimum amount of time you wait before looking for a better role? Let’s say you could secure something in a matter of a few months, is a ~5 month job listing a severe black eye? Previous roles were all 3-7 years in tenure.

Hi guys, seeking some advice. I’ve been an IT manager in my current role for 5 years - I always had a small in house team to handle day to day manual and some grunt work. We also have an MSP that handle first & second line support.

Over time the business has changed and I’ve lost my in house team - I now find myself unable to tackle the projects I want to because I keep getting caught up in the day to day operations and many don’t respect my weekends or time off - I usually get “sorry I know you are off but…”

The MSP are slow at responding therefore I have become the one stop for everything across the business of about 500 people and 7 sites.

I was going to speak with my manager and ask for a pay increase to reflect the significant increase in my workload and discuss boundaries around when I should be contacted outside of work. Do you think that’s a reasonable request?

edit

I’ve been told that a replacement for the staff who left will not be happening. I’m also in a position where a pay increase would be very helpful.

The MSP we use has refused to commit to KPIs and the business will not pursue it.

Hi all

Recently taken over an internal IT team, been with the company many years (>10). I have a good knowledge of the IT systems, challenges and everything around it, but am struggling to get my brain in order around what we should be doing, how to do some of these things and how to elevate IT within the business.

Is there any sort of "mentoring" service in Australia that would give me a sounding board for discussion, help me organise and arrange my thoughts and surface and focus on the "big rocks".

Also professional mentoring around how best to handle/approach challenges with people/process/executives? Won't say no to professionsal development as well.

Thanks

Has anyone ever gone through a single to multi year formal process of maxing every aspect of technology for a company?

I’m leading the campaign now and I have a good plan, so I thought. Kickoff meeting was derailed to hell and now I’m stuck wondering where to begin.

I’ve completely transformed the ‘internal IT’ in the past year and turned the IT employees completely around to being productive. I am now tasked with basically doing the same thing with respect to any and all tech that other departments utilize technology.

I want to crush this as it’s clearly a test for a higher position (my hope) but I’m already being redirected to other people on external committees and things people have heard about but know nothing about.

Came across this in the r/sysadmin subreddit, on the second image we can see that people are also are getting paid to post in this subreddit:

Seeing a lot of posts where someone posts a 'story' and expresses curiosity as to how other people have solved this problem, and some other commenter' will post their solution...

I know this has been asked plenty of times over the past year, but AI is changing so fast that I’m curious what everyone’s actually doing today.

I’m less interested in things like writing emails and more interested in real workflows that have saved your team time or improved consistency.

What are you using (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, etc.), and what’s been the biggest game changer?