In my experience new ideas are not accepted within the organization when they are first uttered. Even in a forward looking group like IT it can take time and effort for an idea to take hold. If you talk to some they may say this is a political problem. I would look at this a slightly different way and pose this as a marketing opportunity, that is right marketing.

In a day in age where outsourcing complicated work is an option and a time where other organizations can take on your IT workload and do it for you, marketing is the key. Let me start with a Definition From oxforddictionaries.com:

The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

So if marketing is the process of promoting / selling something can you see a place for it in an IT organization. There is, every project / task / or activity you and your department do is either promoting or hurting the image of your department within the organization. In order to gain control of that image and message we can start using marketing practices and techniques. With increased awareness and recognition we can start to become a trusted partner with in the organization instead of just the guys who take care of that technology stuff.

Once you have reached a place of trust and value you can start to get projects though, new ideas approved, and make your department indispensable. How do we get there you ask, allow me to just give you a few ideas:

Tell anyone that listen - Simple awareness is one of the best tools you have. Tell every one you can about the awesome things you group or department are doing.

Never miss an opportunity to answer to feedback - Good or Bad feedback and how you and your group handle it is important, always thanks someone for any feedback and truly listen and get a full understanding of what the feedback is and there true motive for the feedback.

Demos and Lunch & Learns - Take every opportunity you can to show off what your group can do. Be excited about it and show off the coolest things you can. This is another opportunity to cement expertise in the minds of others.

Define a Goal and Unified Message - In my experience this is one of the most awkward but crucial things to do. Set a goal for the year / quarter / other length of time to achieve. Than great a message / slogan to help communicate that goal. This will help give a better guideline for how to spread the word on what your group is about.

Examples:

    Spread Automation Testing across all digital products - Automate the Bits

	Migrate all mail accounts to Outlook - A better Message

	Go live in 3 new markets - Expanding Horizons

Make it as catchy as you can without stressing about it being perfect. It needs to communicate a message, not win you awards.

Welcome all to my little corner of the Internet. Since this is sort of my first official post let me give you the low down on who I am. I am a father and software developer, in that order. My day job for the time being is both web development and automation. My true passion in my software is Game Development. Now that we have the intro out of the way lets dive in to what I do where.

Web Development

My training and bulk of my experience has been in the world of Desktop Application(as in compiles a binary) and Systems Development. In the last few years I have branched out in to Web Development. It has been fun and presents a whole new set of challenges.

Automation

So you might have read that text above and wondered what I meant by automation. It is some what a vague term so allow me to explain. What I mean by automation is using software to automate other software or business processes. The bulk of my work has been in the application testing space. This is using sets of tools and custom code to test web sites or desktop applications.

Game Development

O the mighty and awesome challenge of building virtual experiences. I have a love for creating entire worlds with in small digital devices. It is the reason I started my track in to software development. My specialty is Game Architecture, but I love most jobs in this field. Just don’t ask this poor coder to hand you art, your game characters will turn in to small squares.

So that sums up my professional life. For the most part that is all this little blog will cover. There might be a few cameo posts about my thoughts and feelings but this will not include family and friends. Check back often.