Quo Vadis, University IT Guy?

24 May 2021 Matej Antol Article

The dilemma of whether to grind or cut rather, whether to invest or spend, whether to innovate or work hard to do what yesterday is as old as humanity itself. This is understandable because it combines several tasks for which the human brain is not built: it cannot estimate or plan, it is the victim of optimistic ideas about the progress of work and the student effect, which solves real problems exactly at the last minute. Even an experienced and efficient professional can hesitate and make mistakes when deciding whether to invest in the future or remain in the status quo.

The IT field is not different - on the contrary, it is one of the fastest-growing industries. With increasing space for innovation, the likelihood that such innovation will not fall on fertile ground increases either. The consequence of a series of erroneous decisions is clear: we call it a missed train, after which only the path to eternal oblivion comes. Raise your hand if you have a NOKIA mobile phone in your pocket today.

So the problem is clear: how to find your way and take the right step? What to do when I come to work in the morning with the belief that it makes sense? Where can I think of systematization and automation to make space for innovation? And where will the alternative lead me if I continue to head over headless, arguing about the lack of time, information, help, or that management should solve it? Because when you don't shout out how much work you have today, you are not a dude ...

The step is difficult and uncertain, but it is guided by a relentless curiosity and courage to learn and move forward constantly. Courage, because first of all, I have to admit that I'm (no longer) doing something well. In the second step, then, I have to admit my imperfections out loud. If I provide a service, do I know how the services are provided in 2021? If I want to innovate, do I know the current issues in my domain and which ones have been resolved a long time ago? Do I want to be a professional, or do I like the current status quo, regardless of how it is?

At ICS, we finally made the first step after years towards answering the first of these questions. We have found that service delivery models exist in ITSM and that ITIL offers a relatively straightforward and practical framework for this. We found out that we need a service catalog and ServiceDesk. Moreover, not only we but also colleagues from faculties hold university IT. We have recruited managers from practice who have a better sense of managing this colossus more efficiently.

The Locomotive Has Moved, It's High Time to Jump In

We founded the catalog of services in 2016. It was a smooth facade in front of higgledy-piggledy IT. Over this facade lot of people only waved off. Lots of people wave off also nowadays. However, the facade has gained in life, and today few people remember where we drove users for information when the poor tried to use university IT tools. In 2018, we founded a community, unified the dictionary, put a pile of services across the university, and began building ServiceDesk. It began to understand that it has to monitor the data and determine what is bothering the users. It understood that the process is not a nasty word and that there is
a need to figure out instructions from the service providers so that users would not bother them.

In previous articles, colleagues wrote about a service-oriented organization, which will happily end the buzzword fest and switch to the mode of peasant reason. The whole thing can be taken practically and efficiently. When I'm holding a server, managing an application, giving someone a confirmation, or just helping them with some work, I have to ask, "Why am I doing this?". Why am I holding that server? Wouldn't it be better to turn it off? Migrate elsewhere? Who needs it? What for?

Service orientation means nothing more than asking these questions and looking for system solutions. This should be done until infinity because there is no final solution. The service catalog belongs not only to users but also to each other. As a service, we can provide the establishment of a server, access to a license, the issuance of confirmation, the recruitment of a new colleague, or the processing of a marketing campaign. After all, no one wants to solve, write and explain the same thing a hundred times, so why not give repeated or standard processes once to one pile?

So What's Next?

In the first step, I have to ask myself the question, "What service and to whom do I provide?". If I am in operation and believe that I am not doing a service or that no one is using it, something is fundamentally wrong. Nowadays, DITS can help with answering this question with activities falling under the so-called service design. You need only to ask.

In the second step, I will describe the service, because that is what I would like to get from others without endless questioning and arguing. Simple info, what it's all about. DITS, which is working on a catalog of so-called support services (i.e., those services that are not used by the end customer, but by us - each other), is ready to help even with this step.

In the next step, I can optimize the service. When colleagues learn about the service, they find a description of it. Therefore it should solve a problem that is relevant to them. They start using it, and I - as a provider, suddenly see better what I do well and where I need to improve. In addition to direct feedback, DITS can help with requirements, measuring and evaluating data, maintaining quality, and other pleasures. It is its job, it has the experience, and it helps in its task with several tools and functions, such as ServiceDesk, Jira, Confluence, CMDB, and many others.

Only the last step is the dream and all-around repeated abstract idol: automation. Because instead of e-mailing, something can be solved, for example, by a pre-prepared form (JIRA or O365), or a script that already has clear and structured inputs, or ServiceDesk, which does not have my professional knowledge, however, it can help me with a little effort and I will have less repetitive work. I use my free time for innovation, playing with new tools, teaching, research, or at home with children.

But Why Me? 

The dilemma of whether to grind or cut is as old as humanity itself. The feeling that there is more and more endless work on the table does not seem to subside. So it will probably never diminish. However, making moving forward a mythical point in the future when work declines or waiting for the magic wand of management to solve it for me means resigning. I'm not resigning. I innovate, look for ways, overcome obstacles, improve ICS, and move it forward.

Universities exist to do teaching and research. Every day, Masaryk University pushes the boundaries of the unknown. The Institute has to do its research and support the university. I - an employee of the university and ICS in one - should research or support the university in its core business. Every single day, when I move myself, my team, ICS, and the whole university IT, I add to the education of the young generation. I help educate more educated voters, I participate in human progression, which helps conquer the universe and cure diseases that my grandparents' siblings were dying off. I raise the standard of living in the Czech Republic and improve the starting line in my children's lives.