2017 Goals
Well, it’s a new year, and having read countless posts on facebook each starting with the phrase: “2016 has had its ups and downs” I wanted to look at some professional goals and some technical things to look for over the next year.
All that is made a lot easier now I have banished the lovely hackers from my WordPress install. But I guess that brings me to the first main aim for 2017
- Staying secure
It’s a simple aim to state, but unless you have been living underground for the last god knows how many years – you can’t miss the fact that hackers are getting clever and more successful.
The worrying trend in education, is that now more then ever we are being actively targeted, and, with users knowledge levels lower then ever whilst being able to do more – and their seemingly blind trust in something being legit because it’s ‘work’ – we are having to work harder then ever to provide optimal solutions that allow users to use the network, but not bring it down.
So in 2017, we are refocusing on security. Understanding the levels of access that we are giving people to enable broader use – and more then anything – educating our users. We can have as many technical solutions in place as possible, but we really need to educate users so they understand what is happening, and what to trust.
Even saying that, scammers and hackers are actively tricking users who follow our advice. It also impacts users confidence when we are…
2. Getting users to try new things and self support
Half the issue we have now, is that users fallback to the easy way out. As soon as they hit a problem, no matter what the size, they call IT support. They know we can and will fix the issue, no matter how daft, and they know we will do it quickly.
The problem with that is, their skills do not develop. They can often fix things (loose cables, restarting machines) when we enter a school with poor IT, through necesity. Now they have an IT support team, they don’t have too, and so don’t. This is understandable, with increased work loads – but it brings with it a real sense of frustration to me. Users don’t try with IT anymore, they don’t try to fix it, and in my experience the vast majority don’t try anything new.
Whereas before, this was because they couldn’t – now it could almost be from saturation. Why learn something new when they have a reliable system that works?
It also leads to a sense of rudeness from some users at times, without, I suspect, even realising it. They are so used to it working, when it hasn’t, they panic and are not prepared, especially when IT is so relied on when implemented well.
When a manager covered one of our meetings and saw how tickets were worded – he was quite taken aback. It takes nothing to be polite in a ticket or an email – and our staff deserve to be treated with respect, I often wish people could spend a day in our shoes – I have live tweeted days in the past to show the workload, but now we are too busy to even do that – the business is not the problem, the lack of understanding, politeness, and useful information put into tickets often is – for example – no locations, no error messages, wanting instant responses no matter what the hour…
In 2017 I would like to fight a mindset, from staff besieged by deadlines and tough targets and challenging kids, that they know everything IT can do. That anything new is just a faff or a phase that will pass and that the underlying tech they know and love, can’t and won’t change. And that they cannot make it happen.
As the IT experts in schools, we need to be bringing targeted change to staff. We need to show them what is new, the benefits and not be afraid to tell them when they need to move on from outdated and no longer supported software. More on that in a moment.
We also need to be making sure that IT is available. That it is embedded, and that staff have confidence to use it. That’s something that needs to be supported from SLTs and SMTs. Importance should be placed on innovation and training. In these times of tight budgets, are schools using their IT effectively to get the outcomes they require? I can promise you the answer is no, to varying degrees of course.
3. Upgrade to new software, and get rid of the old.
We do not need to bend backwards to support legacy software. This is something that has got me into… ‘heated discussions’ recently. Staff afraid to move on, not understanding that just because a piece of software is working on their system now, that it always will.
We should be pushing staff to use lots of software, to harness new software and ideas when updating planning and resources. To do this – they need to have up-to-date CPD. To give them the confidence, the software should be engaging and relevant, and that takes time to research and implement and support – another reason why schools need teams, not individuals to run IT. This is a completely different job to fixing PCs, this is strategic, and, missing in a lot of schools. Event’s like BETT are not appreciated enough as being useful for a wide range of staff, not just IT.
On a bigger scale, the reliance on the safety net for many staff of their old favourites – mainly down to the gap in between upgrades from Windows OS’s and office versions means a shift to Windows 10, and in another hop, upgrading to Server 16 over the next 12 months need to be handled sensitively. Staff do not feel they have the capacity or the need for change to the OS that works. But that is not a reason not to change, if anything, it is the opposite.
Someone asked me on twitter today: why upgrade to Windows 10? – answer? Because if it works effectively and there is no reason not too – we shouldn’t not move forward.
Our users will be using Windows 10 at home, and we should make that common place in our schools, because that is progress. We should find reasons to upgrade, because the more people moving forward, the better. The more of us on Windows 10, the better it gets, the more we can support each other.
I am not advocating upgrading for upgrading sake – but I am rather saying find a reason not to upgrade, rather then ask for a reason to upgrade.
4. Saving money and giving the best service
In 2017, we need to be showing value for money in everything we do, budgets are tight for staffing and infrastructure. We cannot push forward with innovation blindly.
We should look at ways to save money, MAC/Ts should be looking at how they can get the best out of staffing to support their network. Getting the best out of staff is more important then ever. This may mean higher pay to keep, promote key staff, but a well motivated IT Support person, with career progression, respect and drive – is worth 2 low paid and unenthusiastic IT staff.
Creating teams, that support more people and devices, but in a more efficient environment and structure is key to this. We can support, in my team, over 3000 users, with 6 people. 6 people? Over 8 locations? If you look back at BECTA guidance, you would cry. But, we do it, and we do it well. We do it with some 300 tickets a week closed too.
These teams then streamline infrastructure. There are so many ways schools can benefit from this, from just getting the most out of purchases, to continual upgrades and updates to create robust and growing networks that fit to, and help shape, education in 2017.
5. On a personal note
This year is 5 years since I have been working at my current school, growing our supported schools by 2 a year, increasing the team year on year and making more impacts year on year. I have learnt so much, and I find myself growing professionally and personally all the time, be it from the positive environment at my schools and within my team or the fact I am making headway out of a really rubbish personal situation.
I have had professional goals in previous years, whether it be growing the team, growing the schools and the income, but this year I am just focused on making a positive impact. Will I manage more schools? Probably. More people? Yes. Will there be new challenges? Yes.
And that’s why 12 years later, I still enjoy my job. Because I cannot, and won’t sit still with it. I don’t always get it right, but it’s not through lack of trying!
Of course, like most bloggers (if I can even call myself that) I actually want to blog more. I will give it a go. No promises on that one though!
No comments whilst I deal with locking down this blog, but, feel free to discuss with me on twitter – @msetchell
