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  • #2290794

    Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

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    by annajane ·

    When the IT Manager is going to be let go, what are the important things to consider and the information needed? He is 90% of the IT department and very controlling. There are several servers and 40-50 users. He often worked from home. Several consultants are being brought in to help the remaining IT person and C Level management during the transition. We will all be meeting to develop a strategy before the IT Mgr. is notified.

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    • #3291764

      Are you expecting this to be hostile ?.

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      If you are going to prepare for it and he isn’t he will be, if you see what I mean. If it is n’t the issues are the same but the presentation is different.

      • #3291681

        Reply To: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

        by jaqui ·

        In reply to Are you expecting this to be hostile ?.

        They wouldn’t be planning and trying to get a set of steps prepared if they didn’t think it would be hostile.

      • #3345360

        Make it an amicable divorce

        by doug_dame ·

        In reply to Are you expecting this to be hostile ?.

        Unless this person is an idiot and/or oblivious, you’re not to be able to do much “figuring out everything he knows” without alerting him that something is going on. And since no one told him what’s going on, he will know it’s anti-him, so to speak.

        I would think the best approach might be to strategize on how to make it an amicable divorce from the very beginning.

        For example, at the meeting where you present him the fact that he’s out, you’ve “decided to take a new direction on IT management.” But you “want to be very very fair to him.” Therefore you say there will be a three month transition period where he is expected to transfer his knowledge to a successor or rent-a-manager, etc, and that his severance will include another 3 months of salary beyond that to give him time to find another position. Additionally, if there are no untoward system problems that could be reasonably attributed to his malfeasance on his part, 12 months after the date of this meeeting he will receive a bonus equal to 6-months of his salary for a sucessful transition. And you should suggest that he discuss this severance package with a lawyer.

        Under those circumstances, especially if he has the (calming) advice from a lawyer on the fairness and reasonableness of this plan, I think very few people would then turn around and jeopardise their own well-being by plotting to sabotage the system.

        Might add in a few days upfront “vacation” to give him time to think it through. (And he would immediately be expected to “hand over the car keys” (system passwords etc.) to someone else. His role thereafter is brain-dump, not hands-on.)

        There will be costs involved in this approach, of course … you’d be paying his salary for extra 9 months.

        But bringing in one or more sufficiently talented consultants to figure out all the nooks & crannies of the system, make sure it’s bullet-proof against his (potential) insider-insurgency, AND keep it supporting the business every day all the way wouldn’t be cheap either. And to my mind would be harder to pull off, and therefore higher-risk.

        My $0.02

        • #3345981

          Outstanding Advice

          by it & telecom guy ·

          In reply to Make it an amicable divorce

          Very good advice. Hopefully they would be willing to pay for the decision. They should realize in the long term it will save them time and heartburn.

        • #3345775

          company is to blame, I agree with previous

          by joe.canuck ·

          In reply to Make it an amicable divorce

          The company that let 1 person gain so mcuh leverage is responsible for the situation. It’s probably their fault that the relationship has deteriorated as well. If you have children you know what I’m talking about. You have to set clear boundaries and expectations with employees, this one had none and has run away to define his own processes and work habits. This also leads to resentment as the employee is not engaged in any structured culture at the company and is left to his own devices. Beleive me, I know of which I speak. I have incredible amounts of leeway where I am and mostly feel disenfranchised. Self managing is very stressful and there is no feedback, postive or otherwise. So this company executive neglected the manager and his department and he went off the rails. Now they want to sack him and figure out the state of IT in the process. It’s time for the executive to show maturity (or get some) and engage the manager in a positive dialogue about where they really are, and together draw a map to get where they want to be. Perhaps if the executive actually do this they might find a change in the managers demeanor and find a reason to keep him. He has already shown amazing resourcefulness in running the IT show without the aid or engagment of executive, maybe they can salvage that valuable skill set and help him to become part of the team, but the onus is on the executive to create a team and give him a position in it.

        • #3345686

          As the white rabbit said

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to company is to blame, I agree with previous

          Late, I’m Late
          By about 9 years from the sound of it.

          From the thankyou post it sounds like he’s already started with his defences, it’s all he’s got really, while he could attack along the lines suggested, he has no anonimity. In fact the first iffy thing that happens, it’s going to be a three in the morning call from the suits. I’d certainly be very careful before accusing him of anything though, a mistake could cost an extreme amount in the US.
          Before they could salvage him they would have to forgive him, for at most, taking advantage of their ignorance. Even if they pretended to, attitude towards him from then on would clue in a stupid person of his real situation. If he ran an entire IT department for ten years by himself he’s far from stupid no matter what his motives.

        • #3344355

          Utopian . . .

          by meesha ·

          In reply to Make it an amicable divorce

          Would you really keep someone as tight and controlling as this IT Mgr. beyond the moment you’ve told him he’s going, going, gone – no matter how nice you say it? He has obviously shown no inclination to be a team member and he has maintained complete power. Have you every heard of Trojans, worms, bombs and the like? He may have already put them in various scripts, applications, and just about hidden everywhere – all in anticipation of just such an exit event (or if you just piss him off). Keeping him beyond his actual notice is a huge security risk added to the one this firm has already allowed. Am I paranoid? No – just using common sense and due dillegence. The company has set itself up for this crisis, they will need to approach it as if it were a “disaster recover/business continuity plan” – without his involvement. You want him out, get him out now. There will be pain short, medium and long-term no matter what you do. The best you can do now is job-shadow for a week and then show him the exit. This reply is not meant to be so hard nosed but there really is no option for a company if it wishes to continue to be viable. Security not HR is the number one concern.

        • #3327126

          Maybe, maybe not

          by doug_dame ·

          In reply to Utopian . . .

          You (Meesha) describe this person as “tight and controlling”, and say that he has shown no inclination to be a team member and he has retained complete power.

          That COULD be true, but as far as I can tell, that’s going beyond the facts of what we were told.

          What we were told is that this IT Mgr is “90% of IT” and that there is ONE other IT person.

          In many small businesses, you don’t have / can’t afford a lot of IT people, and the owners / top managers either don’t have much IT experience or simply concentrate their attention on the other aspects of the business. So it is not unusual that someone ends up as the lynchpin of the IT side, just as described here, and it (I would argue) is at least as much due to the organizational structure as to personality or behaviors of the incumbent. Think of it this way … there’s a “company management system” here, and it’s been designed with no backup for the IT guru … which is now a vulnerable “single point of failure.”

          (If you are a “systems person”, my deliberate use of the term “single point of failure” should have caused an involuntary body twitch.)

          The critical issue here is not Security (an IT-centric perspective, perhaps), or HR (let’s all feel good about this), it is Business Continuity. How can the owners/top mgmt of this company replace this single individual and retain/re-acquire his knowledge, with the best balance of least risk, cost and time?

          Remember too … the top management’s area of expertise isn’t (presumably) IT. They have to hire a replacement and/or consultants to replace this guy … do they truly have the expertise and knowledge to (on an expedited basis) hire the replacement and be 99% sure the person they’ve picked is capable of stepping in and doing the job from Day One?

          (Interviewer to unemployed IT candidate, avaialble to start immediately: “Do you think you have the knowledge to jump in right away and take care of this situation?” Candidate: “Oh yeah, noooo problem.” Well, DUH, what else is he/she going to say?)

          Not our decision to make, of course … the people involved will have to make their decisions based on their detailed knowledge of the specifics of the situation and personalities involved.

          d.d.

      • #3345862

        make him a consultant

        by a.amariei ·

        In reply to Are you expecting this to be hostile ?.

        He has a good dosis of ego and he likes to… work from home. Looks like the ideal candidate for a consultant to the IT department.

        I would discuss with him the “opportunity” for everybody that he becomes a $120/h IT consultant. This might be about twice his current salary. You can argue that due to board’s new “vision” the company is outsourcing non-core activities.

        It then becomes very natural that: 1) he does an IT inventory + a transfer, 2) during the transfer phase he will be perceived as a consultant, NOT as a punished colleague by the rest of the IT gang, and 3) a consultant contract could be terminated at any time for any reason.

        good luck,
        adrian

    • #3291682

      Reply To: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      by jaqui ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      well, number one, you need to be able to log in as the admin, and change every systems admin password.

      number 2 have someone go over the entire network for back doors he may have set up

      number 3 “He is 90% of the IT department and very controlling”
      you have no option but to get rid of him. the rule being:
      if someone is indesepnsible fire thier a$$ as soon as possible so that you can stop them from destroying your business.

    • #3291637

      GIYF – How to Fire Your Network Administrator/ Manager

      by secure_lockdown9 ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      http://www.nwfusion.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1740;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;guest=577590

      http://tinyurl.com/59k7w


      How to Fire Your Network Administrator/ Manager

      By guest
      Aug 2, 2004, 11:54

      We know that a common question employers have is ?how do we find the right Network Administrator / Manager for our needs?? There is plenty of material on the web about that but what if your question is ?How do I properly terminate a Network Administrator or manager?? This is a question that many senior executives and I.T. personnel don?t know the answer to. That is because it is a very grueling and complicated task.

      Many employers are in a rough predicament with regards to their most senior Network Administrator (s). They may have an I.T. manager who lacks the proper ethics and conduct that is required for their job or maybe they lack talent and are technically incompetent. Perhaps they just don?t give a damn or share the company?s vision. These are all reasons to consider an ousting.

      A very common reason administrators and senior I.T. management get the axe is due to a violation of company policy and/or inappropriate financial spending. This brings many things to mind such as accounting audits, budget concerns, lost programs, and overall company losses. A worthless Network Administrator or manager can wreak havoc on a company?s future and besmirch its reputation to include it financial officers.

      It is important to know that firing a Network Administrator/ manager is a very difficult and stressful task for the company. Doing so would require many measures to take place long prior to this ousting. I would recommend taking some time to complete all of these measures even if it takes several weeks or months. This is not an ousting that can be rushed. Anyone who has complete network security authority and knowledge must be handled differently than those who do not. Keep in mind that this employee may be disgruntled and has the ability (not that they would) to come in to the network from the comfort of there own home and ?accidentally? destroy all data and functionality of your network thus putting the whole company in jeopardy.

      It is really sad to say it but there are many companies out there who put all there eggs in one basket. They entrust only one or two individuals with the whole enchilada. This puts the administrators in a position of complete power and authority?which sometimes leads to questionable ethical practices if you know what I mean. If this is the case with your company it may be more of a challenge to oust this individual (s) but not impossible.

      A couple of years ago I had the most unfortunate task of assisting my CEO come up with a plan on how to oust our I.T. Manager without creating a disaster for the company. They already had what they needed to let him go but were intimidated by the fact that letting him go could mean reprisals. There is no perfect way to let a Network Administrator go but hopefully this will provide some insight on how to handle this risky employee termination.

      Here is a list of things to do prior to firing a network administrator or manager.
      Note:
      [This is assuming that there are not several administrators with the same knowledge and the person getting fired has superior control and privileges over the whole network.]

      1. Keep it a secret to everybody perhaps even HR if there is a possibility of there being a leak on their part.

      2. Get a feel of all your I.T. personnel and evaluate what kind of relationship that they have with the ousting candidate. In the event that someone has to be called to side with the employer it would be nice to know where everyone stands. If there is an employee who has obvious professional disputes with this administrator then it may be wise to recruit them to the cause. This would be the only exception to no. (2).

      3. Try to send the administrator on a vacation or long business trip.

      4. Get an inventory of all the server equipment. Not for accountability necessarily but so when the time comes, you know what belongs to the company and what belongs to the administrator or associated vendors. One thing to note?anything with the companies data or is connected to the network can be considered property of the company since possession is 9/10ths of the law. A disputing administrator trying to claim ownership of hardware that the company is dependent on will not have as much leverage as the company has. Even still it would be wise to know what belongs to whom.

      5. Hire a third party I.T consulting team to assist with all of the below. This team may have to virtually hack into the network and analyze it. It will pay off to go with the highest bidder on this one and choose seasoned experts in the field. This is not a security breach as long as an executive decision is made that is in the best interest of the company.

      6. Try to obtain all IP (internet protocol) addresses of all servers, routers, print servers, and all statically assigned devises.

      7. Obtain passwords to PDCs (Primary Domain Controllers). This may help with obtaining passwords to all other network devices since most people use a common User ID and password combination. This may be possible via a trusted employee who is in on the whole matter (very difficult), or a key logger can be used as long as a profile or account can be accessed on the server. A key logger can be installed on the server and it will revile what the administrator types to access the machine. You may not have much time to get all the information you need from this point because a network administrator may become aware of this activity. The third party investigative team may also have other solutions.

      8. Obtain all third party vendor information and what access they have. Keep their contact info on the ready for when or if a firing occurs. They ?may? have to be fired as well, especially if they are related to the administrator, very close, or has other financial ties with the in-house administrator.

      9. Meet with the hired third party investigative team and who ever else is on this trusted ?committee? if you will, and discuss how a ?hostile take over? of the network can occur. The soon-to-be-fired administrator (s) must not have access to the network physically, electronically, remotely, or even through contacts. This will have to be considered as part of this plan. Locks will have to be changed as well as a whole mountain of network configuration information.

      10. Finally discuss how the firing will take place. The link to the article below may provide some input on this matter. How the individual will be approached, what will be said, who will say it are all too important. Make it quick when it happens and have a sturdy staff on hand. Be prepared for a few unexplained sudden problems that may have to be troubleshooted within days of the firing. They should not be significant enough to impact the company so long as all of the above steps are followed.

      I am interested as to what others think about this subject. Has anyone gone through a similar situation?

      Here is a link to another article that applies directly to this topic. I found it very interesting. If anyone has any more links that they can submit regarding this subject please post them.

      Ron Jennings
      Engineer
      Lodi, CA

      Other References:

      http://research.lumeta.com/tal/papers/LISA1999/adverse.html

      once again, GIYF

      SL

      • #3298269

        Great info but what about backups?

        by dafe2 ·

        In reply to GIYF – How to Fire Your Network Administrator/ Manager

        I guess I’d just add that a quiet system archive would be recommended no matter what the circumstances where.

        I’d also make sure a complete backup was done for all systems. I’d also find a way to either do a backup of the persons station or better yet an image copy of his/her disk drive.

        • #3297968

          And

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to Great info but what about backups?

          I did start running through the steps I’d want to perform in such a hostile situation. I included back ups as well as the those things secure detailed pretty much anyway.

          I also added physical security of the building keys, alarm passwords , things like local admin and bios passwords.

          As we’ve all noted this situation is a nightmare, it would be like finding out the head of the CIA was a russian plant. Where do you stop.

          For instance as well as contacts through vendors has his position put him in the know about future strategic business decisions. Has it made available the current state of the corporate finances where the information could be useful to the competition in exploiting a current weakness.

          Imagine if you secured your entire IT effort successfully and then got taken over and he came back as the CEO.

          Even if you don’t have to resort to raving paranoia mode to deal with the situation, I can’t see how you can get the basket off him without at least cracking some of the eggs. For instance what about the accounts job with a hard coded password that he runs annually because the system needs tweaking, that everyone but him forgot was there.

          Some more thoughts from a raving paranoiac.

          He works from home, is this on a company pc or does he do it on his own kit. Who owns the data on such a machine and can you legally have it removed, even if you do, has he got his own backup, how would you know ? Given he has this access if he isn’t handcuffed in a locked cupboard when you start the procedure unplug every external access point before you begin.

          You’d definitely have to look at backdoors, and any other forms of exploitable weakness in your security set up, because if anyone knows that a port is open, or that you are vulnerable to a particular sort of attack, it’s him.

          Do not forget any modems attached to pc’s inside the firewall. Classic , no need to war dial, he knows the damn phone number. Course any sensible security system would have identified these as an extreme risk anyway.

          Don’t forget the pabx, password based access to services provided by third parties to the company and other things that are not thought of as part of your computer system.

          Another exploitable weakness is if the password policy is currently lax and say Jim from accounts has problems remembering his, so they are all set to his wife’s name, you can guarantee such a person will revert back to this security scheme if allowed.

          Another point is, instead of the usual terminated due to mutual agreement stuff put round the upper echelon to explain this sort of thing. You’ve got to contact everyone and tell them he’s a security risk, otherwise he could ring up one of your employees with whom he did and still has some trust and exploit it. This may cause some execs a problem as they don’t generally like admitting to dropping spherical objects of any type.

          People try not to think of this sort of thing, but is he aware of which cupboard a key person’s skeleton is hidden. Business trip away from the wives in the seediest part of Thailand say.

          Being english, I’d also want to know if he spent a lot of time cleaning his gun collection. We consider that sort of thing suspicious.

          My largest concerns however are twofold

          Is he a member of tech republic ? Or one of his friends.

          Is this exercise is being viewed as a threat assessment, i.e. the capability of a potential enemy, or is he definitely an enemy. In the former case, pointing his desk lamp in his eyes and saying “Ve vant the passvords” is seriously going to irritate him.

          All said and done in this situation, you don’t ask yourself am I being paranoid, but am I being paranoid enough ?

          On that basis, I’m sure those closer to the situation could come up with one or three more.

          Can’t help picturing some affable geek arriving at work on a monday morning to find he has no job, been blacklisted, his honour and professionalism smeared and when he gets home utterly shell shocked there’s an unmarked van with tinted windows and an antenna parked near his house.

          Probably make a good film. Jude Law in the starring role.

        • #3301692

          one guy is bad

          by secure_lockdown9 ·

          In reply to And

          thats why it’s not good practive to have one guy do everything. if he leaves or if situation sours – you will have a headache.

        • #3301667

          I was a leaver myself

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to one guy is bad

          The panic as the management team raised their heads out of the sand, when I annnounced my intention to leave at the earliest opportunity was something to see.
          Having created the situation, both in terms of their vulnerability, and my desire to further my career elsewhere, guess who they blamed for it.

          Apparently it was my fault for not stressing their vulnerability except in terms of increasing manning levels to reduce it.
          That’s what happens when you give people who can’t think past the end of a financial period too much control.

        • #3301617

          Reply To: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

          by jaqui ·

          In reply to I was a leaver myself

          is that not when accountant are running a non accounting business?

          worst mistake is to bean count manage a business, unless it is an accounting firm.

          case in point, downsizing and outsourcing cause profits are down.

          well no sh@t sherlock, your customers are on welfare cause you let them go to make more profits.

          that’s accounting managing. ;-]

        • #3318480

          OUCH!!!

          by secure_lockdown9 ·

          In reply to I was a leaver myself

          nasty turn there. sorry to hear about it.

          I can totally see how that could happen and how the mangers can turn around and blame you for not letting them know about what could happen if you ever left.

          But you know what – i don’t think you are to blame at all. it’s just them being a bunch of lame lusers and not wanting to take blame or responsibility for something they let happen and try to blame you, the guy leaving, for alll the problems. any person with ability to think can see that letting one person do all work and not getting involved.. ah whatever. i give up with manglers…

          🙂

        • #3346238

          Well being fair

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to OUCH!!!

          What I think really happened was they totally misjudged me. I’d been there 17 years (all my working life) when things started to go wrong, it was my home town, I had a young family. They thought inertia and fear would keep me there and my threats of leaving were a bluff to extort money from them.

          Unfortunately no one cares how their orbs got in your vice, they just want them out.

          As it turned out, they were wrong, but they did get their nuts back, off me anyway, my replacement’s got them now. Sounds silly but they haven’t misjudged him.

          Still at least I learnt something, while I am the basket again all the eggs in it are mine.

    • #3297946

      RE: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      by techrepublic ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      In your case (he is 90% of the IT department) a lot of knowledge is leaving with him. We @ myCMDB offer a technology planning/network equipment tracking utility which may help you significantly in this case.

      Have him inventory and document your network infrastructure (We offer an online inventory agent which collects system information and installed software).

      Then have him document the server and equipment designation/purpose (i.e. this is the email server, we need to reboot it every two weeks and have a daily backup on this machine). This will help your next IT manager and allows you to introduce a standard “audit” that next time at least your infrastructure is periodically updated and documented.

      • #3345401

        Documenting before acting ?

        by ericn ·

        In reply to RE: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

        I remember a posting or document on TechRepublic that said something like “asking somebody to document precisely activities and ressources is a sure sign of being outsourced or fired”; your guy will surely feel the direction of the wind if you do that only now; this is the kind of procedure that must be done for all positions, for such a case (or any other like accidents or sudden deaths) from day one

    • #3301657

      Bad Decisions

      by bfilmfan ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      You are not going to enjoy this message, but you need to hear this. Your organization is running in an undocumented environment. Since you don’t have a plan to handle when a key team member leaves.

      I would recommend the following:

      Document your network infratructure. It appears that you do not have this available. No documented information is the same as no disaster recovery plan.

      Document organization responsibilities within the IT department.

      Has this person been “controlling,” since the organization had him doing “90%” of the work? Perhaps the organization has created its own issue in this case of a disgruntled technical person? What plans are being implemented to prevent a re-occurence?

      Discuss with HR and Legal potential liabilities from this termination, including potential issues with HIPPA or other laws.

      Do your systems have medical information about employees stored on them?
      Is your organization covered under the SOX laws? Do you have a huge fine\jail time awaiting you if this employee calls up a regulatory agency and reports that you are not in compliance?
      Is every copy of your software properly licensed?
      Do you have documented proof available in the event you are suddenly audited?

      If you have a failure in any of these areas and are audited and a fine process begins, the reprecussions both to the organization and personally could be devastating.

      During the meeting, discuss which of the management team needs a letter of reprimand in their personnel files for clearly failing to handle basic business continuance planning, which this situation has revealed.

    • #3318440

      Thanks for lots of good info.

      by annajane ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      Thank you to everyone who has replied. This is all very helpful and informative. This company actually has a really great, professional management team and they have worked very hard to work with the IT manager. He is technically very skilled and I have pointed this out to them. I had hoped he could work into being a good team member, but all their efforts he just circumvents. They do have very good procedures for backups and disaster recovery. Many meetings have covered the subject of asset inventories. They just always end up on his back burner. His priorities are never the companies priorities. I’ve seen a lot of companies who just don’t know how to work with their technical managers and that’s the direction I originally went with them, giving them info on working with him and I really believe they have tried. This has been a problem for over a year so I think they’ve done their best. You’ve all done a great job of scaring us to death which is probably a good thing!

      • #3346338

        sounds like a good decision

        by secure_lockdown9 ·

        In reply to Thanks for lots of good info.

        sounds like the guy wants out. if you are a professional – you will find a way to work with people/divisions that you don’t see eye to eye on. all it takes is a little less focusing on yourself and little more focusing on the big picture and how what you do fits in with it.

        SL

      • #3333821

        Before Firing…I would

        by ierfaan ·

        In reply to Thanks for lots of good info.

        I have not read through all the comments as yet. However, I would initiate a full documentation project first with the project manager as the Owner thereof. Thereafter, and on the day of firing the IT manager should be escorted from the premises with all their personal belongings. They should be paid out for the days not at the office but not be allowed on site: Keeping them on for transitional periods are dangerous. Any person being fired WILL harbor resentment.

        • #3334850

          Not so fast …

          by rick_from_bc ·

          In reply to Before Firing…I would

          ierfaan said: “Any person being fired WILL harbor resentment.”

          This does not translate into: “and will subsequently cause
          mayhem!” I am not the only one who has been let go from a job,
          been resentful because the firing was not due to my failure, and
          still did the best job I was capable of doing, right up to the very
          last.

          I am a professional. I have pride in my ability to do my best work
          despite my personal feelings. I think a lot of us will do the same.
          To imply that ‘most’ people will sink into bad behaviour when
          given a chance is to lower the bar unacceptably on human
          potential.

          And I know my co-workers understood this. My actions over the
          full course of my employment showed my true character, and my
          bosses acknowledged that by trusting me right to the last day of
          my work.

          Surely this is not uncommon. Would most of you readers accept
          that you would be feared as a potential destructive influence
          should you and the company part ways? I think not.

        • #3331426

          Let me add more context..

          by ierfaan ·

          In reply to Not so fast …

          Re-reading my comments, they seem harsh. I too have been let go before, in spite of which I still did my best till the end. You?ve behaved admirably and should be commended for it. However my message was that you don?t know someone until they?ve been down on their luck. You were and your true character showed. Not everyone?s does. Hence, I suggested that as a precautionary measure, one needs to do their duty towards the company that they work for and act in its best interest. What I read from Annajane?s original message was that they were not sure how the IT manager would react ? hence rather be conservative, rather than have regrets afterwards (if things go bad). My comment on ?harboring resentment? may just have come across too strong. Lastly, I strongly believe in the basic goodness of all human beings and would hope that all ppl could act as professionally as Rick_from_bc has. I have certainly seen a fair share of those who have not.

      • #3334839

        Priorities

        by james szabadics ·

        In reply to Thanks for lots of good info.

        Annajane,

        If you end up sacking a technically clever IT manager for putting asset inventories on the back burner in a company with 50 desktops then I suspect you have serious issues in the management team.

        The asset inventory documentation is hardly the burning IT issue that makes a difference to the productivity and effectiveness of employees in the company. If the hardware is adequate for the task being performed and operational and reliable, if the software meets the needs of users – these issues ARE important – if it really bothers someone that the documentation of the assets isn’t up to their standard then get in a high school kid and do an audit dont bother the technical IT manager with such trivia!

        If this really is “the” issue you have with this guy he is much better off somewhere else cause the team he is in has lost the plot.

        James
        Electronic Business Development Manager
        Western Australia

    • #3345411

      Promotion before lay off

      by west_d00r ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      Find a higher position for him and have him transfer his current responsibility to others (should be a group of people), and take this time to review all process and procedures and document.
      Once the transition completed, do what you want to do.

      • #3345396

        transfer ? yep good approach

        by ericn ·

        In reply to Promotion before lay off

        but better be honest with the utlimate goals : if the decision is already taken on C level to fire him later, then better be legally water proof !

    • #3345403

      Recommendations

      by cmotta ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      If you are letting go of the IT Manager you will need to follow a number of steps ideally before you letting him know that he is leaving…

      1) Undertake an IT audit of the IT environment (preferably by someone outside his department or your organisation e.g. independence is the word. This will document any gaps in your current IT environment in relation to documentation, system environments, etc;
      2) The recommendations and actions required to cover the gaps, etc, should be SMART and agreed between the IT Manager and his direct “boss” within a reasonable period.
      3) Once the IT Manager has resolved all the actions and discussed this with his direct “boss” then you will be in a better position to let him know that you are letting him go.
      4) Promoting him to a different position will not help you unless you want to retain this employee as it would be difficult to justify in court that the position had been made redundant (note not the individual).

      Hope this helps.

      Regards
      CMotta

    • #3345399

      Did this guy design the System ?

      by arthurp ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      Did this manager, design, (or help design), your infrastructure ?

      A simple question but one that may send you running if the answer is YES – I’m thinking of legitimate backdoors that would have allowed the recovery or engineering of a system … in the original posting you state that he works from home. This suggests that you either have a remote access policy – who controls the permissions and the accountability upon these accounts ? – I know several Engineers who have “Testing” accounts against which they test applications before rolling them out to the user base ..

      Personally I’d take him into a room a have a meeting with him, laying your cards upon the table, and then inject a fault into the system … if the team are good then they will resolve the issue, however, if he’s really that controlling then the team will look to him for leadership, (as you say he’s 90% of the team) – if this is the case then you have a serious problem and he needs to cascade his knowledge

      Arthur

    • #3345961

      Who’s being dishonest?

      by donaldrayperry ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      Why does a company have to sneak to fire an employee? It reads like bad management – starting at the top.
      No documentation.
      No cross traing.
      No counseling?
      No oversight.
      I would not want to work for this company.

    • #3345929

      Does he have remote login capability?

      by isapp ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      When this IT manager works from home, is he able to log into the servers in the IT department? If so, and especially if the parting won’t be amicable, I would make very very sure to change all passwords to everything and have some great backups that have been tested. You run the risk of having a disgruntled network admin logging in and reformatting/destroying your network if you don’t lock him out of your systems. Even if you think you’ve locked him out, he might have set up some back doors if he suspects anything’s going on. You hate to believe anyone could be that malicious, but it’s happened to companies before.

    • #3323103

      ITIL

      by inxale ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      If you do not have it in place , utilise ITIL

    • #3325456

      Find somebody to take his place

      by peter choi ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      Within a team there are always some senior staff who know more about his strategies and current jobs. Gather those seniors (technicians and developers), list out the jobs and try to take up more one by one.
      If the manager is really important there may be small chaos after he leaves, the crux is those chaos may cause another one to be blamed. Take over carefully and avoid those side bullets.

      ==================
      http://pccm.blogspot.com
      A typical Hong Konger sees a dim future ahead. That’s why I am working
      harder to gain an edge under this adverse circumstance.

    • #3232576

      Reply To: Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      by angry_white_male ·

      In reply to Procedures when IT Manager is leaving

      If you have a bad employee – the sooner you get rid of him the better. But because you need to continue doing business, I suggest you take the following steps:

      1. Document what this person did to get fired.
      2. Put a blind ad in the paper (or through a 3rd party) and hire his replacement (this process can take some time) but go about your business as though nothing is wrong and KEEP IT OFF THE MAIL SERVER – don’t want to tip him off that he’s gonna get axed and give him time to set up a time bomb on the network – or to start copying files/e-mail en masse that could be used against the company at some point down the road (regulatory whistleblowing, leaking trade secrets to competitors, etc…).
      3. Sometime on a Friday afternoon, with the new person waiting in the wings, take the employee into a conference room or something innocuous (i.e., project update). Get to the point, don’t beat around the bush – drop the hammer and be done with it. If legal, tell him that as a condition of receiving any unused sick/vaction pay and receiving a severance package that he must give you his network logons and the administrator logon information, have him sign the usual forms and send him on his way… notify corporate security.
      4. Have the new employee immediately send a blast-mail to the company that the internet connection is down for maintenance – and disconnect your connection to the internet, disable the terminated employee’s account and change all administrator passwords. Make sure there isn’t a way for him to dial in either (kill his VPN account and/or disconnect any incoming phone lines to your data center for the time being). As far as the rest of the company is concerned – IT is doing unscheduled network/server maintenance.
      5. Do a thourough scan of your servers to check for viruses, backdoor trojans, etc… that could allow him access back into the network at some point in the future.
      5. Document everything.
      6. Let everyone know there’s been a staffing change in the IT department – don’t share any details.

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