Schneier on Security

Clive Robinson • June 23, 2007 3:56 AM

@ J,

"I''ve been told that you don't have to know a thing about what you're managing to be an effective manager."

Actually that is true, you use "Domain Experts" the manager manages them and the overal process.

So the manager of an ICT Department has a number of high end servers networks telephone systems etc that are business critical. They have under them System Administrators, Project Managers, Programers, Network Administrators, Administration Assistants and a few others such as Security auditor / administrator.

Of that list only one is not in some way a Domain Expert (the Project Manager). The clue is in the title, their area of expertese is in managing "some process" that involves "some thing". The "some thing" is what the domain experts look after the manager in turn looks after (manages) "some process" that includes the domain experts. The process in essence is policy in motion (sorry for the bad pun) or put into action. Stake holders, Directors and some Senior Managers are responsable for deciding the direction and policy of the organisation

In theory (only these days) the leader of an organisation was outwards facing and interfaced with the rest of the world and the number two of the organisation. The number two was inwards facing and basically managed the organisation and it's processesses. Where required the number two would delegate downwards specific parts of the organisations function and processess.

Unfortunatly in the current world it's all about "Power Grab" and "Climbing the greasy pole", which means that it's politics politics politics at the top not reason or common sense (and there ain't much common about it these days 8)

Any techie who thinks they are respected for their knowledge is spending way to long in the office working unpaid overtime, instead of being down at the watering hole during happy hour networking with the movers and shakers...

Clive Robinson • June 23, 2007 4:20 AM

@Andy,

"There are lot of folks working in this field whose main background isn't math and/or CS. Does that mean we're all incompetent?"

Spot on, most CS / Math graduates these days are not normally of any real use untill they have worked for about three or four years at the "coal face" of the work place.

Graduates from other engineering or science fields are usually much better bets for employment, as they have actually had to "work with" not play with the tools to get the results required to finish their courses with good results.

I do not know what was involved with Scott Charbo, and his "Masters in plant science" but it probably involved the use of statisitical and other tools as well as investigative methods that just don't get taught on your average "IT grunt" graduate course where the ability to get code cut to get past the compiler with a nice UI presentation is what gets the course points, not the fundementals of data structures, algorithms, scientific method etc etc etc.

In my limited experiance I have found the best technical staff to employ have studied engineering or applied mathmatics with the other hard science bods comming a very close second. As for "IT grunt graduates" they have way to much to unlearn and then re-learn. Invariably (in the U.K.) these days the course they have been on has been designed for an accountants view of an "employers needs" which means that they do not get taught enough of the fundementals just the current vogue tools and toys.

There are the exceptions but they come from Universities with a long tradition of academic engineering and scientific excelence that have justifiable world wide reputations. Sadly a lot of the graduates from those Universities realise which side of the bread the jam is on and usually move into managment as quickly as possible.