The Data-Driven Support Manager

This guide was written to empower support operations leaders to become business leaders within their companies through the effective use of operational metrics and analytics, as well as effective people management. Support operations professionals are often undervalued, underappreciated, underutilized, and sometimes ineffective due to insufficient training in data-driven operations management, project management, presentation and leadership skills. This guide is designed so that a person with 5–10 years of experience outside of operations, or a new operations manager who has been an individual contributor in the customer support field, can become a strong, influential manager by using these concepts, practices, and techniques. Be sure to check out the resources at the end of this guide; both the Practical Resources workbook and the Recommended Reading list are valuable for any operations manager looking for strategies to improve their team's performance and their own expertise in the industry.

This guide was written to empower support operations leaders to become business leaders within their companies through the effective use of operational metrics and analytics, as well as effective people management. Support operations professionals are often undervalued, underappreciated, underutilized, and sometimes ineffective due to insufficient training in data-driven operations management, project management, presentation and leadership skills. This guide is designed so that a person with 5–10 years of experience outside of operations, or a new operations manager who has been an individual contributor in the customer support field, can become a strong, influential manager by using these concepts, practices, and techniques. Be sure to check out the resources at the end of this guide; both the Practical Resources workbook and the Recommended Reading list are valuable for any operations manager looking for strategies to improve their team's performance and their own expertise in the industry.

Todd Zabel is a veteran software and hardware support operations leader, both in B2B and B2C-oriented businesses. After graduating from law school, he began his career as a regulatory compliance officer at a tech start-up in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his career in software support at TiVo, Hearsay Labs, Google, and Akamai Technologies, he has held the following roles: Technical Writer, Knowledge Manager, Instructional Designer, Program Manager, Call Center Supervisor, Training Manager, Data Analyst, Project Manager, Developer, Customer Support Manager and Technical Support Director. As an operations leader, he is focused on data-driven leadership, global team building and career coaching. Todd currently lives in the Vancouver, Washington area with his wife and two children.