Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

An IT Thanksgiving Wed 25 Nov 09

We in IT can be thankful for the iPhone and Windows 7.

My family has a Thanksgiving dinner tradition. Before we start eating we go around the table and everyone expresses what they are thankful for. It is interesting and insightful and not always what you expect to hear. More importantly it makes you stop and think about some of the good things in your life that you may take for granted. Since Thanksgiving is upon us, I thought I'd write about some of the IT-related things I'm thankful for.

IT: It's Not Just About Technical Skills Wed 11 Nov 09

Why interpersonal skills may be more important now.

While perusing the online versions of some of the more well-know information technology journals recently, I was surprised to find one that had quite a few stories on the stupidity of users. While these stories ostensibly were presented as humor, they also represent a dark side of IT behavior: The IT guys really are the smartest guys in the room, and users are dumb and annoying.

A closer reading of some of the stories shows the fallacy of this: Users were having problems, and the IT person was more concerned with showing his superiority than in providing customer service. This type of stereotypical behavior has long been an impediment to IT's success and acceptance in the corporate world.

The good news is that this attitude among IT workers isn't nearly as prevalent as it used to be. We've made great strides in improving customer service. These stories, however, show that our job is not complete. There is more to do.