When a Company Just Doesn’t Get IT, part two.
For years computers made it easier for people to do their jobs. In many cases computers have eliminated jobs completely. You won’t find an argument against efficiency here. Hard, smart workers recognize good tools and use them to their benefit. Computers are no different — they may not be the best tool since the cotton gin, but they’re certainly in the running. So why are so many people skeptical, frustrated and even angry with their IT departments? Surely we aren’t failing that bad. Its probably a mix of things, but in large part it is due to the fact that many people are what I call ‘lazy thinkers.’
Give a hard worker a good tool and they will use it to work harder. Give a lazy thinker a good tool and they’ll complain that it doesn’t do everything they need it to. For these people the switch from wanting computers to help with their job to wanting computers to do their job is almost involuntary. In their defense most lazy thinkers are actually very diligent employees; they merely tend towards an overreliance on the tools they’re given. Nevertheless this frame of mind causes significant detriment to technology efforts. Realistic requirements cannot be provided by lazy thinkers. When IT departments attempt to reply with the voice of reason it is often misinterpreted as “IT trying to drive the business.”
Computers being such complicated devices suffer significant exposure to this condition. What’s worse is that this problem is starting to spill over onto how people view their IT departments. Lazy thinkers start to lean on IT departments for general analysis and problem solving. This is understandable because IT departments are usually staffed with very bright people who like solving problems and have sufficient knowledge of the business. The ‘T’ in IT stands for Technology. IT build tools to help their company do analysis and solve problems. The only problem an IT department should be trying to solve are problems with their tools.
This will prove to be a very difficult trend to push back against. You won’t make friends by calling people lazy or giving them more work. Still, architects need to remain dogmatic about system design and focus more on innovation than on keeping people happy. Be less like short-order cooks and more like accomplished chefs. Indeed innovation is really the only way to produce the next generation of productivity tools. IT should definitely not be the only experts in the house. The roles of Business Analysts in corporations need to be significantly expanded: into groups within each department or perhaps even into free standing Business Analysis departments. Serving the dual purpose severely dilutes IT’s effectiveness and tarnishes its image.
