The almost cliched “challenge” to IT departments to “do more with less” takes on a more personal meaning as the “less” comes to mean fewer people. I’ve been the survivor, the decision-maker, and more recently, the affected. While there is no shortage of online advice for job seekers and plenty of blogging about ways to search for IT leadership roles, IT organizations facing these difficult times should step back a moment and look at this from several perspectives.

Perspective is the first casualty of a layoff. Most companies realize that people are their most valuable asset, and the smaller companies I’ve worked for never used layoffs to “trim the fat.” But no matter how strong the team was, the actual reduction in force generates a violent wake-up call to everyone. Each person’s perspective shifts from the theoretical, high-level motivations–why I love my job, what the future holds, the people I enjoy working with–to much more pragmatic ones.

It’s never fair. But from the executive level, the choice is driven by disruptive events: if we fail to take action immediately, we may lose the business. Efficiency ideas that were discussed last month, all the best practices that didn’t quite make it into practice…too late now. The bottom line is how to survive–not just “do more” with less.