Comments on: Some timeless IT/tech jokes, and why they’re still relevant

By: Paul LaFave

Paul LaFave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:03:15 +0000

IT, IS, et. al., have always been their own worst detractors. In my 35 years of IS&T Leadership, I have fought the notion and impression that IS&T are a bunch of hackers located somewhere in the bowls of the boiler room – who never come into the light.

The trick is two-fold. One, to get senior management to recognize the value of bringing IS&T to the table and two, while at the table, don’t spill your soup. The most successful CIO’s are the ones who come from business… because, unless the company produces or services technology, they are not interested in it, other than it’s value to the organization.

Try putting a tie on your crew and getting them out of the server room – into the business light. Communicate business goals and motivate them to think outside narrow IS&T parameters and instead from the customer’s business need perspective.

Stop presenting IS&T as a bunch of broken-glasses geeks, and you will be astonished at the positive impression the business will adopt of technology.

By: John Bauer

John Bauer — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:55:07 +0000

Number 4 caused me to recall a past employer where, a few years back, a technology group jump on Agile and completely fulfilled your discipleship description. Needless to say, they burned bright but quickly faded. What ultimately caused them the most challenge was agilely developing their infrastructure … you can’t keep swapping OS’s and application server platforms as business requirements change with taking on huge costs and delays.

By: Arun Manansingh

Arun Manansingh — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:45:26 +0000

Peter,
Very funny and so true. I forgot about #4. But it is still relevant. Thanks for sharing.