After handling e-mail, Brooks deals with various issues, including the company's midterm and five-year IT vision plan. He also devotes anywhere from three to eight hours a week to budget matters. But mostly his job is to facilitate the operation by providing guidance and support to business managers.

"I try not to be on the front line of fighting fires unless they're already elevated to some kind of executive level," he says. "Most of the time, my people know what to do. They don't need me hounding them to see whether they've done it or not."

Noon

At lunchtime, Brooks usually goes out for a sandwich, which he brings back to the office to eat at his desk.

3 p.m.