Chapter 22
Balancing IT's Workload
Most CIOs struggle with a common problem: the insatiable demand for IT work from other departments. After all, IT is a service department, providing the underlying and often-strategic technologies that enable many companies to thrive. Considering the rapid pace of business today, those technologies need to keep up with constantly changing requirements.
Thus, we are faced with an overwhelming demand for work against our limited capacity to perform the work. Most strategies for dealing with this overload involve work request intake processes and prioritization schemes. Some may take the extra step of allocating their resources, usually against projects. But if you simply look at the problem statement, the path to a solution becomes more obvious. To balance the load, we must match the incoming demand for work against the supply of resources to perform it.
IT Work Comes in through Many Chaotic Channels
Incoming demand into IT is not a simple thing. Work can come in through many channels and in many forms. There are tickets flowing through the help desk by the thousands. Some are simple requests for help, such as changing passwords or finding the power button. But many are too complex for Level 1, and require escalation to Level 2 or up to developers. These requests come from all over the company. If there is a centralized support system, most of the requests should come through as tickets. If not, more than likely problems come into ...
