Byron A. Love, MBA, PgMP, PMP, CISSP
IT Project Management:
A Geek's Guide to Leadership
By definition, a geek "engages in or discuss computer-related tasks obsessively or with great attention to technical detail." I geek out on information technology and leadership. Listen as I tell my geek leadership story in the video below.
I proudly admit to being an IT geek. However, I found that being an IT geek was limiting my career path and my effectiveness. I found it challenging to overcome my introversion and my preference for working alone in order to embrace leadership. I overcame these challenges during a career of more than 31 years, making the transition from geek to geek leader, and I wrote this book to help other IT professionals do the same.
This book addresses leadership issues in the IT industry to help IT practitioners lead from the lowest level. It contains over 50 graphics and tables. It is well researched, using over 100 references. Unlike other leadership books that provide a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership, this book focuses on the unique challenges that IT practitioners face.
IT project managers may manage processes and technologies, but people must be led. The IT industry attracts people who think in logical ways—analytical types who have a propensity to place more emphasis on tasks and technology than on people. This has led to leadership challenges such as poor communication, poor relationship management, and poor stakeholder engagement. Critical IT projects and programs have failed because IT leaders neglect the people component of “people, process, and technology.”
Communications skills are key to leadership. This book features an in-depth discussion of the communications cycle and emotional intelligence, providing geek leaders with tools to improve their understanding of others and to help others understand them. To transform a geek into a geek leader, this book also discusses:
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Self-leadership skills so geek leaders know how to lead others by leading themselves first
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Followership and how to cultivate it among team members
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How a geek leader’s ability to navigate disparate social styles leads to greater credibility and influence
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Integrating leadership into project management processes
This books provides the leadership training that many IT professionals never receive. It concludes with a case study to show how to put leadership principles and practices into action and how an IT geek can transform into an effective IT geek leader. It is a must-read for every IT professional at every level.
IT Project Management: A Geek's Guide to Leadership
Addresses Industry-wide Technical Leadership Challenges:
As many other books discussed, IT projects are complex, risky, and more prone to failure. The IT geeks who attempt to develop, deliver, and maintain these solutions must be brave and emotionally resilient, they must be able to visualize a successful outcome and motivate their teams to fight through the setbacks and obstacles in order to achieve this success. All these require IT geeks to behave in ways outside of their comfort zone, and this book will equip IT geeks with leadership integration and [to] stand out as leaders.
PMWorld Journal review of IT Project Management: A Geek's Guide to Leadership, January 2017
Leadership training on the whole has failed to keep up with the demands of our modern workforce. This is true in general and arguably no different when it comes to technical people. But the growing role of technical experts in organizations means that poor leadership of technical populations is having a greater detrimental impact on performance.
Leading Technical People, Report 2013, Blessingwhite Research
It is a truism that people’s weaknesses are the flip side of their strengths, and this provides a clue to the reason for the chronic IT people management deficit. The factor that makes IT managers good at most of their jobs is the same factor that means they struggle at leading and managing people.
Fix the IT Leadership Deficit Now, CIO.com, January 2017
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