Talking operational and implementation teams

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/05
/09/230618/opportunities-in-the-datacentre.htm

Working in a datacentre may not sound like the most glamorous corner of IT, but for staff who like to work in a close-knit team using the latest technologies and who can handle occasional periods of high stress and out-of-hours working, it is ideal. It is also a great place to develop specialist skills while getting a grounding across the full spread of IT operations.

Within the datacentre, staff are typically divided into two broad types, says John Skelton, UK managed service director for datacentre operator Colt. The implementation team will consist of implementation managers who effectively act as project managers for new customer requirements, supported by generalist engineers who handle physical installs and cabling. The operational or service assurance team will be responsible for configuring the equipment and managing it once it has been installed, and will consist of specialists of various levels of seniority in areas such as server management, database management, storage and backup, networking, and system monitoring, as well as helpdesk staff.

An interesting article, do check it out. It’s talking about the importance of staff in terms of the data center. Certainly creating lines between the implementation and operational teams can allow both to focus on their end goals, managing the communication between the two is important. That the implementation team do the build, the configuration get everything ready, but that operations sign off the solution for production. That it’s checked from an operational point of view, so we can highlight any ‘go-live’ issues which might affect the supportability of an application or solution. Do we want operational teams directing to the implementation team standards or the other way around?

Who defines what the standards are for driver packs, for firmware revisions and infrastructure configurations?