Evolution of an accidental techie

I have always been a fan of the Accidental Techie book by Sue Bennett (even if she hasnt returned my recent emails). I enjoy the structure that they suggest for these new nonprofit techies to try.

The book goes through:

1. Job intro
2. Inventory your tech
   
3. Supporting your staff and tech
4. Assessing and purchasing
5. Disaster prep
6. Funding
7. Resources

I think all of that is fabulous. But a good friend of mine always hated the term Accidental Techie, he would (and still does) say that there should never be anything ACCIDENTAL about how you manage your tech. I would nod my head and agree, but tried to avoid starting that same old soap box speech from coming out. Luckily it seems that the term is being used less, but is that because they are gone? NO, I dont think so.

Anyway, that is not what I want to focus on. As a part of job search here is one thing I want to talk about, as we grow in our jobs as a nonprofit techie are we helping our organization be ready for the future?

Each day we learn more about our jobs, we develop new skills and refine old ones. We improve the way our org works, we get new tools and our jobs mature. But do we ever take the time to make sure our org will be able to support itself when you leave? Maybe you think you will never leave, but you will.

We take pride in saying things like our job is "anything that plugs in or turns on" or "jack of all trades" or whatever. We will do everything and anything to keep our orgs running. As a new task arises we just add it to our list. We continuously expand and grow our scope of work and responsibilities. But do we ever take the time to rewrite our job description to match that?

You might say, who cares if the job description doesnt match, dont we all spend 60% of our time under that category that says "other tasks as assigned?"

Well here are the problems that I see with that:

1. You cant get credit for something that isnt documented and you sure make it tough to measure the effectiveness of it.
2. When you leave, how will they ever know what you did?
3. When you go to build your resume it would be easier if your job description was accurate.
4. Job descriptions are a great way to frame a conversation with your supervisor about what is most important and where to spend your time.
5. Helps clarify department structure and new hires

I want to focus on that last one, helps claify department structure and new hires. Hopefully you will eventually be able to increase your staff size to meet the growing needs of your org. When that happens, how will you define that job and the skills you need? Often we will create the job based on an immediate need or just offset some of the technical skills we lack or focused on a specific new software/hardware we just purchased.

I think we can often be too short sighted in how we hire because we dont understand our own job as technology decision maker well enough. Or more importantly the organization doesnt understand the role of technology. This comes from an accidental techie that has grown into an IT Director in one org and that organization has never know anything different.

So you just continue to hire more technical staff, a web coder, a database expert, a widget builder, citrix pro, etc. But you never look to see if you have enough strategy, project management, group collaboration, mission focus, content experts, etc.

And why do so many jobs have to be a silo? Would it be the end of the world to have an overlap\connection with other departments like marketing, fundraising, etc.

Anyway that is my thought for the day.

Online Marketing Manager, what is that?

Ok, so to continue my posting about jobs I have applied for, I want to talk about positions called the Online Marketing Manager.

First a position that has Marketing in it to me implies that this job will have a sales or advertising focus. Yet the online part seems to imply web or techy stuff. Then there is the word manager, does that mean manage the online marketing or manage the staff doing the online marketing? I think this job title is something of a slippery slope and you will inevitably get the wrong people finding the job and applying if you arent careful in your job description.

I found it nice to look over the description that Chris Brogan gives if he was to hire a community manager. In his description he focuses on the measurement and goals, and when talking about the skills look at the focus on content, not on technical skills or marketing suave. So maybe a community manager isnt the same as an online marketing manager, but here is a thought, should an online marketing manager have a job focused on heavy duty technical skills or maybe one based on old-school marketing\advertising? Or maybe should this person really be focused on understanding how to engage a community or audience. And maybe this should focus on content, not on cool tech or slick marketing.

So what is most important in this job search, having just the right set of skills like:

• Extensive dreamweaver experience, understands XML, HTML, CSS
• Background in managing database integration with online activities
• Strong technical understanding with blah blah blah certifications
  
• Marketing degree
• Experience running print and mail campaigns
• Extensive experience in marketing field

Or should it focus on:

• Content, building useful and deep content focused on your audience
• Building relationship with your supporters, clients, customers, funders, etc
• Strengthening brand, make the whole love who you are
• Passion for mission and focus of organizations present in all communications
• Creativity to make the message heard in an online world competing for attention.

Again, I think Chris Borgan makes good points when he talks about the skills of a community manager, it is all about the content and the conversation, not about the marketing and the tech.

So when hiring is it more important to be able to populate that content, make the message meaningful and building a community? Or is it just about making a sale, having great e-commerce, cool flash objects, great marketing tied to the print stuff, telling people things without a real conversation?

I have been without tech for 2 months.

Ok, so I have been quiet for two months, but with good reason sorta. But I do plan to be much more regular at this. And hey maybe my job search will help people think through how they hire.

For the last two months I have been unemployed. My org decided that providing best practice and resources on technology was no longer a strategic priority. They plan to partner with third party vendors as their affiliates have needs. While I disagree with this one decision, I do support their new strategy. So that put me and my department out of work.

I have spent the last two months looking for a new job in the world of nonprofit technology in Chicago. It has been slow to say the least, but very enlightening. I plan to share some of my thoughts about why I think it has been so hard. But here are some of the basics:

Economy
First the economy is struggling which may have led to more unemployed people all applying for the same positions I am. Second the economy always gets people to cut expenses and one of the first things to go is the tech budget, especially any new staff. Not news to most people. (photo from flickr herms671).

Location
I am hoping to stay here in the Chicago area for my family. So that has limited many of my opportunities.




Unclear position decisions!
But bigger than the economy seems that too many nonprofits either have a position listed that is too vague or is too specific. Which leads me to believe that many nonprofits just arent sure what type of staff they really need. I think when it comes to technology, more specifically technology strategy and staff, nonprofits dont plan for it, they just let the existing staff grow into it. The only time they hire is when a project is just too demanding for that person that probably shouldnt be in charge anyway or when they loose that key staff person.

Lets start with needs get overwhelming, then they list the position to just fill that small need and focus very heavily on technical expertise. But we all know what happens when you have a super technical staff person that doesnt have anyone providing clear direction, right? You get the Cadillac that never leaves the garage and when it does leave you never really know where it went.

Now what happens when that one person that knows everything leaves? Because we all know many nonprofits that have raised that one person up from back office staff to managing the whole network, web site and complete systems. Well that person has patched things together and done the best they can. They give everything they have to making sure it is all working. They fill their expertise holes with consultants, work-arounds, spreadsheets, etc. That person ends up doing the role of multiple people and they can do it because they were there when it started. And everyone jokes, what would we ever do when they left. Well that is no joke, eventually they will leave. So rather than just hiring to fill the gaps, strategic succession planning should be made for that backbone worker now. You wont be able to hire that one person to replace them.

Well that may be enough ranting about this because it seems so negative. But over the next few blogs I hope to be able to share some thoughts around what I think could change.

PS. If you are one of those places that I may have applied at. This is not meant as a dig at you or your orgs, rather just sharing what I have learned.