Office politics, unfortunately, is a part of almost any job, and IT is no exception. The key to navigating it successfully lies in knowing what kind of people you are surrounded by, advises Al Kuebler, whose resume includes CIO stints at Alcatel, AT&T Universal Card, Los Angeles County and McGraw-Hill.

Kuebler describes two situations in his own career in which corporate politics drove him out of a job. In some cases, he writes in a post at Computerworld, too much politics indicates that it's simply time to move on to the next job. But if you expect to stay in a position despite a politically charged atmosphere, it is useful to know how to tell the difference between the organization's performers and operators.

Performers are the people you trust and want to work with, Kuebler writes. They like to have facts documented, are courteous, hard working, learn from their mistakes, etc. Operators, in contrast, prefer to keep things informal so that they can interpret situations in their own favor. As a performer, you need to protect yourself from operators, Kuebler warns, and the key to that is to be meticulous about documenting agreements and commitments, reporting on your progress, and summarizing your accomplishments.

"You have to adopt the rigorous habit, as soon as possible after every meeting, of drafting a concise email that reviews the course of action that was decided on, the direction that was given to you, the exact parameters of any assignment given to you, and time frames that were agreed to," he suggests. "My memos tended to start off with a statement such as 'I have already begun to implement the actions we discussed at today's meetings, but before my people get too far along, I want to ensure that I haven't misunderstood anything.'"

And what if your boss doesn't appreciate all this formal documentation? "That is pretty much confirmation of operator status. Which means, of course, that you should not go along with the suggestion," writes Kuebler. "Your emails are an insurance policy, making it much more difficult for an operator to pull you this way and that, according to whim."

For more:
- see Al Kuebler's post at Computerworld

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