Wouldn’t it be great if all senior IT staff spent 1 day per month on front-line help desk duty?
I do mean everyone, from CIO to Applications Manager, from Security Manager to Infrastructure, PMO and Comms. Everyone. Actually let’s expand it to senior Developers & senior Business Analysts also, and anyone else who has ‘senior’ or ‘manager’ in their title.
Firstly, it would open their eyes to what users are actually going though – there is nothing like receiving first hand feedback.
Secondly, senior IT staff should have good visibility over the IT department as a whole and my bet is that problems would get nipped in the bud sooner. It would also most likely lead to some innovative ideas for improving service.
Thirdly, end users may actually appreciate having access to experienced senior staff who have the authority to make a difference.
Of course plenty of senior IT managers won’t like the sound of this at all 