13Org Design—Just Show Me the Answer
There's no one-size-fits-all IT org chart, but Figure 13.1 shows an example of a design I've had success with.
Application, Operations, and Infrastructure are all standard CIO direct reports, and I won't delve into those areas. In smaller companies, operations and infrastructure are often combined under one leader. With more and more infrastructure migrating to the cloud, these roles are transforming rapidly.
Support
Back in the early 1990s, one of my mentors, Les Duncan, introduced the idea that the support team (IT help desk and desktop support) should report directly to the CIO. As with many of Les's ideas, at first I scoffed, only to later see the genius of his ways. Nothing influences the perception of IT inside a company more than your help desk and your desktop support team. This is the only interaction many of your business partners have with IT.
Most of these interactions occur at the most stressful times because computers like to break during the least convenient times. In retail, the help desk is responsible for supporting store systems. Have you ever been shopping, and the register went down? Now imagine being placed on hold with IT and trying to explain the situation while angry customers are lining up. Seconds feel like minutes, and minutes feel like hours. Being told to “reboot ...
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