Thank you,
@reeshau,
@tyler2016, and
@Uturn, for your thoughtful responses. My observations mirror your feedback.
The opportunity, indeed, fell into my lap; the previous manager was fired one day in July. Before that happened, I was at first asked to assist the team in better organization as a project manager, then asked whether I knew possible replacement, then informed that the decision to fire the person was made, and then that I would be managing that group in the interim. Two days after the manager was fired, my own boss went on vacation, leaving me to the sharks without protective lifeboat of his experience, and with the eyes of senior management firmly fixed on me and my new charges.
As predicted, resistance arose almost immediately from one member of the team; everyone else was too scared to question the decision. Two months later, the dissatisfied person gave me administrative access to Lansweeper, while mumbling something about how he trusted that I knew when to stop. Our internal customers have acquired a habit of coming first to me with any requests for assistance. The number of Microsoft Office licenses is now known and the information about licenses and how to work with Microsoft Volume Licensing has been published internally; looks like we are lowering silo walls and making areas of expertise redundant. I purposely seek knowledge and learning opportunities from the group. I occasionally step in to work on support tickets, which gives me insight into the effort that is required in this area and possible headcount increase in that area. I'm finding that backbone helps when dealing with team hermits who bark at users who happen to wander into their den. I feel like I'm making progress; too slow for my satisfaction, but progress nevertheless.
I feel that getting experience in systems operations will give me a more rounded expertise that I will be able to use when an opportunity to become a head of IT comes along. I can also parlay the knowledge into speaking to local startup and small business groups about practical aspects of managing and securing business information. I am planning to keep my PMP certification; a lot of things in IT seem to be projects and knowing how to organize complex effort will pay dividends. Project management will remain a useful fallback should things not work out on the managerial path.
To address risks, I have held conversations with business leaders where reasons for dismissal of two previous managers were discussed. These people indicated that they would support me stepping up to management; I fully trust one of them because the person is always blunt and tells it like it is. My own boss, whom I judge to be trustworthy, believes that the only way I can be fired is if the top management changes and he loses his job, too. Due to the way our budget works, the business leadership does not want to hire a manager for this group until early next year.
After considering risks and opportunities, and analyzing your insightful feedback, I am prepared to ask for promotion to the managerial position within two or three weeks.