Manning the "Task Id"

For the next week, I get to see how a fast-paced, responsive IT services team works, from the inside.

The team I work for provides WebSphere consultants throughout Europe for various purposes. The two main ones are when a local team doesn't have the necessary skills available in the required timeframe or when the technology is so new (or even still emerging) that local teams have not yet skilled up.

In addition to the managers in our department (who are "real" IBM managers - with HR responsibilities, etc., etc., as well as business responsibility), there is a "Resource Deployment Manager" (RDM). His job (for it is a he) is to respond to incoming requests, determine if we are able to help, identify appropriate resource, help to scope the engagement and sort out the financials. There is also a strategic component to the role but I have less visibility of that at present.

My task for next week is to stand in for the RDM while he is on vacation. I should get to learn a lot about the business, the pressures and opportunities - and also get far more contact with my peers and managers. My team is based near Winchester but I live in London. So this is a rare opportunity to meet face to face with many of my colleagues.

It should be an interesting, if stressful and pressured, week.