Navigating the maze

I have been surprised time and time again by the lack of company knowledge shown by many senior people in the bank. Simple questions like "to whom does the tech guy report?" should be everyday knowledge, yet it seems people know little about how the company operates. Why is this important, you might ask. Well, as long as you're in a company, it pays dividends to invest in a little bit of knowledge of your surroundings. It's those people who will be able to help you in a bind, and it's that structure you will have to work with to get your stuff done.

The tech guy example illustrates the point nicely. Let's say you need to get some new tool developed for the desk. Does the guy report directly to you? Well, then you can just ask him to do it with immediate results. (Yes, there are instances where managers do not know whether the tech guy works for him or not.) Does the tech guy report up the tech heirarchy? Well, now you have to go talk to the tech manager. Does the tech guy actually report to the head of the other desk? Then you might be screwed. To add another layer, do you know the procedure required to get around any of these issues? There is a saying, "a wise man knows all the rules so that he can break them wisely." I'm never a huge fan of following the rules, but I can assure you I know them as well as anybody. I also know the practical consequences of breaking protocol. It's important that you figure out the consequences too, because sometimes it's just worth breaking the rules to get shit done.

On a similar note, I think people need to learn to really appreciate their tech and support people. The top names know this well. Goldman and Citadel are known for how important they consider their tech and quant people. The chief technology officer of Citadel one said, "We are primarily a technology company. We just happen to also trade securities." Every bank and most hedge funds ought to think of themselves in this way. The competitive advantage is in superior technology and superior people. In fact, superior technology can often make up for a lot of mediocre people. Invest in your tech support, and you will find your operations working much more smoothly. I am so much an advocate of this that I actually am fighting put my tech developers on my trading desk and pay them on the trader payscale in order to keep my competitive edge. That being said, I know exactly how I would use my programmers. A major problem at many desks/banks is that the people in charge are still scared of technology (or at the very least, don't understand it very well). It is hard to manage technology wisely if you don't understand the details or have someone very good at relaying the pros and cons of competing technologies.

Mind the details of your organization. It helps a lot. Maybe not at first, but after a couple of years you'll see how much more productive you can be with the "ins-and-outs" you have learned.