Category: Blogs

In this particular blog, I am going to focus on the ‘people’ aspect of IT Project Delivery as this was one of the key areas that the project managers I spoke with attributed to defining whether a project was going to succeed or fail, more so than the technical aspects of the project.

One of the project managers I spoke to explained how he had been leading an ERP project with multiple parties and how the project had hit some bumps along the way, some of which were your typical bottlenecks associated with an ERP of that scale, but some were abnormal. Despite this being a technical project he was adamant that 100% of the challenges he faced resulted from the people equation and cited miscommunication and a lack of communication abound.

In another company the Head of IT explained how a companywide IT development project had struggled to gain traction and was regularly in the “red” until a new project manager was hired to see the project through to a successful delivery. He went on to explain how the new project manager gained the respect of the developers by understanding what they were doing.

So when it comes to keeping your project in the “green” what are some of the strategies you can employ when it comes to people? Below is a list of ideas/strategies the group of PM’s came up with:

• Don’t create a team: A true team will sink or swim together. Unless you can affect each individual’s salary, bonus and workload (which is an extreme request in 99.9% of projects as they are cross-functional in nature), don’t expect your group to work as a team with the expectation that everyone has the same goal from their day-to-day manager. Instead, find a way to use these diverse backgrounds to your advantage. Bring the group together on specific tasks, engage individuals in a way that works for their particular situation and day-to-day manager.
• Communicate the why: No matter what else happens, the number one priority should be to communicate the why behind the project. One way to bring this group of individuals together for a common purpose is to make sure the purpose is crystal clear – and the why behind the project is understood and energising.
• Follow up selectively: Since we know that cross-functional project teams run into many conflicting objectives and challenges, it is important not to waste precious energy on non-essential tasks. Focus selectively on what will move the project forward and ensure success – in essence, ignore everything but the critical path.
• Celebrate successes: Don’t wait for the project to be completed successfully. Instead, look for wins along the way. If success or failure boils down to people, it is wise to think about what will keep people motivated. Ignoring them while they overcome daily obstacles might be commonplace but it won’t equate to success. Catch people doing right.
• Get rid of poor performers: One of the most important things a leader can do is to address poor performers. It gives your top performers hope that you understand what’s required for success and that you appreciate top talent.

Since IT projects can drive substantial results, it is really worth figuring out how to stack the odds in your favour. From my discussions in relation to this blog, there is no deep, technical understanding required to lead a project effectively. Instead, it comes down to your ability to ask the right questions and lead people which will determine your success as a project leader. From my discussions, it has been made clear that a company’s project will have a far greater chance of success if given the best leaders with average technical skill sets instead of average leaders with the best technical skills.

– Tristan

For more information on the IT Project Delivery & Business Transformation Market please contact the author of this blog Tristan Thompson

REC’s chief executive Kevin Green says “Businesses are highly cautious about committing to new hires. Economic turbulence following the vote to leave the EU is undoubtedly the root cause…[and] we’re now seeing the added problem of individuals deciding to stay put rather than change jobs in the current environment.”

With the decision of Brexit made, we can see that the effects are showing. June saw a slowdown in demand with an index score of 52.8 (score over 50 shows growth over the previous month) compared to May’s 55.0. July sees some improvement and could quell any particular fears that many may have had prior to June’s referendum decision. 

Average permanent salaries for IT Directors, Programme Managers and Systems Architects have risen to £85,000, £75,000 and £62,500 respectively. Typical Certes employed consultant daily rates for these roles have also increased to £675, £545 and £410.

Growth has also taken place across infrastructure roles, with daily rates in the Application Support Analyst field rising to £315 and permanent salaries for IT Security Consultants increasing to £57,500. 

In development roles, Sharepoint, Java and C# professionals are all commanding higher rates and salaries, with the biggest increases seen for C# contractors rising to £360 per day and permanent Sharepoint roles now carrying salaries of £52,500.

Find out more about IT salary rates

To find out more about the most sought-after IT skills and the latest rates and salaries, sign up to receive Certes quarterly 4Sight review https://www.certes.co.uk/about-certes-it-careers/it-salary-and-rates-4sight

The last few years have experienced many global companies being targeted and attacked, compromising thousands upon thousands of sensitive customer details.

In 2014 Sony had been victims of a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack that struck Sony’s Playstation Network where millions of gamers could no longer access Sony’s online service and details of Sony Pictures employees and their families, e-mails between employees, information about executive salaries, copies of unreleased Sony films, and other information were leaked.

On August 2015, Carphone Warehouse underwent a severe cyber attack where up to 2.4 million customers’ names, date of births and bank details were compromised

Ashley Madison an ethically questionable dating site is the newest company to be in the limelight as a result of a massive security breach that saw around 37 million customer details being released out into the open.

The change to a more digital business environment involves an enormous amount of sensitive data being collected and thus companies are in constant danger of data breaches. Companies now more than ever are in need protection against this inevitable threat.

Although cyber security is a dilemma that can affect every businesses online defense, there is a currently global shortage of cyber security experts. The demand for cyber security experts is in such huge demand that some companies are offering over £100,000 per annum for someone to improve their online defense.

The UK is aware of the skills shortage and the demand for cyber security professionals has encouraged universities to offer degrees in cyber security with Staffordshire University, City University of London and Lancaster University being three of the 42 UK universities offering related cyber security degrees.

Cyber security resourcing at Certes

At Certes we’re seeing a steady increase in demand for cyber security skills and this sector looks set to become a challenging one for skills – with shortages already appearing, and rates consequently soaring.  It’s a good time to plan your cyber security resourcing for the coming quarter to be ahead of the war for talent.

The highest increase seen was for IT Directors, who saw a £10,000 increase in average salary from £87,000 to £97,000.  IT Managers, Helpdesk Managers,  Project Co-ordinators and Technical Authors also saw increases in average permanent salary.

 Elsewhere in the review, Infrastructure roles saw the most increases in Average Contractor Daily Rate with the largest increase seen in SQL, which rose from £340 to £363 per day.

 To find out more about the latest IT rates and salaries, and the most sought-after skills, sign up to receive Certes’ 4Sight quarterly review. 

 Other roles that saw a significant increase in permanent salary were Helpdesk Manager, Systems Architect and Oracle roles, whose salaries also rose on average by at least £5,000.

 Elsewhere in the review, development roles saw the biggest number of increases in the Certes Employed Consultant Rate with the largest increase seen in PHP, where the daily rate increased from £252 to £298.

 To find out more about the latest IT rates and salaries, and the most sought-after skills, sign up to receive Certes’ 4Sight quarterly review. 

Based on research from Broadband Genie, the public view is negative surrounding smart cities and the possible privacy threat they could pose to citizens. Could the awareness raised on Data Privacy Day change this perception?

You have already seen the candidates CV and they have blown you away with their accomplishments and qualification. You have contacted them to come in for an interview to find out more about them. They come to the interview on time, dressed professionally, greeting you, firm hand shake and after the general small talk is out of the way it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty. At this moment the pressure of the interview is taking its toll on the candidate and the candidate hasn’t put their best foot forward. This can cost them the position.

A poor interview could mean that the interviewer could miss out on an amazing new employee. To prevent this from happening employers should take it on themselves to remove the tension from the interview.

Interviewers can take easy steps to accomplish a calm environment for an interview.  One such step is letting the candidate know what the interview will entail (additional interviewers, interview format, discussion topics). This will give the candidate time to prepare and remove some of the stress as they know what expect.

If more people are attending the interview you have already notified the candidate. You should also introduce the candidate to the other interviewers before the interview begins so the candidate can familiarise themselves but try to keep the additional interviewers to a low number. There is nothing more stressful than being in front of an audience. A small intimate interview group will allow for the conversation to flow easier and the candidate will not feel as if they are being scrutinised from every angle.

We already mentioned making small talk with the candidate. This plays a bigger part than you think. Before they even meet, your candidates mind is going a mile a minute. The small talk will relax the candidate, make them feel welcome. Treat the candidate as a guest. Once the conversation is going try not to stop it abruptly and begin the interview, this could remind the candidate that they are in an interview and reality could come crashing back down on them. Instead, try to seamlessly intertwine the simpler questions you have ready within the conversation and ask the more difficult questions as you go along. This eases to candidate into the interview and by this time the candidate should feel at ease.

Examples of question topics to start with are:

• Asking the candidate to introduce themselves
• Interests/skills
• Jobs on CV
• Roles in previous jobs.

These questions are those that candidates can answer easily and freely.

There may be times when you have multiple interviews back to back or other prior engagements and you may be running over schedule. The worst thing you can do is rush the interview. This will increase pressure that you have tried so hard to remove. Don’t pay attention to the clock, pay attention to the candidate. The whole purpose of the interview is to find out about them. Show them that you are interested in them. Also take time for the candidate to ask you questions.

When finishing the interview, end it how you began. Conversation, inform the candidate of the new steps, a firm hand shake and see them out.

Removing the stress from the interview environment will allow the candidate to be them self and will see the person that they are and if they are the perfect match for your role.

In the near future, we can see that personalised marketing to a companies customer base and the prediction of future market trends will be an enormous benefit from Big Data and Data Analytics.

If Data is used correctly, companies can lower risks and in the next three years, Data Analytics is going to have a huge impact on technology, media and telecoms.

Source: Raconteur