November 2016 Articles
Mister Rogers, IT, and Gratitude
By Don Crawley | November 20, 2012 9:29 pm
This is Thanksgiving week in the U.S. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, because it’s always been the least commercialized of our major holidays. I love the time with family and friends, the great food, and the opportunity to reflect on the blessings of my life.
The Other Skill Set Required for Success in IT
By Don Crawley | November 27, 2012 8:45 pm
Today’s IT professional must master two skill families in order to be successful. The first is technical skills and knowledge. That part of IT education is obvious. Without a solid technical understanding, you simply can’t do the job. The second is gaining skills for customer service in IT: An ability to understand, get along with, and influence people. Even though our jobs are indeed technical in nature, the human component is always present and it’s often the most challenging part of our jobs. We may have the technical knowledge to help an end-user, but if they’re angry, frustrated, or otherwise upset, it’s our people skills that allow us first to manage the situation successfully. Then we use our technical skills to solve the technical problem.
A Salute to Veterans
By Don Crawley | November 5, 2014 7:30 am
In the United States, we celebrate Veterans Day every November 11 as a way of honoring the people who have served in our armed forces. Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day, to mark the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War One. Major hostilities of World War One ended when the …
IT Management by Wandering Around
By Don Crawley | November 12, 2014 7:30 am
The landmark business book In Search of Excellence, written by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., was first published in 1982. It sold more than 3,000,000 copies worldwide and became something of a bible for 20th century business people. Much of its content is relevant today and even applies to us in information systems …
Reputation Management: The Power of One
By Don Crawley | November 19, 2014 7:30 am
In a previous blog post, I mentioned my experience in the Sultanate of Oman, a country on the Sea of Oman, bordering Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman is a wonderful country of some 4,000,000 people with a rich history and beautiful architecture, filled with very warm and gracious people and I …
Gratitude: How to be More Grateful
By Don Crawley | November 26, 2014 7:30 am
In the United States, every November on the fourth Thursday of the month, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday because it’s a time when we get together with family, we enjoy a huge meal, and we express our thanks for our blessings. Oh, and we also watch a lot of American football. Thanksgiving is …
Tech Skills or Customer Service Skills: Which is More Important?
By Don Crawley | November 11, 2015 7:48 am
Technical Skills Come First In any skilled field, whether it be information systems and technology, medicine, law, airplane maintenance, or any other skilled field, technical, professional, or otherwise, you simply must have technical skills in order to do the job. We certainly wouldn’t want a surgeon with limited ability performing surgeries nor would we want …
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