I quit my job today, oh boy
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I quit my job today, oh boy
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Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#2This article really hit the nail on the head about what's wrong with large corporate IT. Unless your business is IT, the upper management just don't understand it, therefore it's just part of doing business.
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#3The majority of changes in CA IT are driven by the business.
Exactly! As it should be. (As it better be.) The challenge for IT is to prove what they want is in the best interest of the business, not the IT department. We know that, we just have trouble communicating it.
Why should the business care about getting new servers or having developers waste their time rewriting already functioning code?
It's your job to answer that question. They just don't know. I had a client with slow response times the previous holiday season. Business had doubled since then. I had to paint a clear picture of what it would be like on the same infrastruture for the upcoming holiday season. x dollars spent vs. y business lost. That's a language they can understand.
Most people in corporate IT want to do a good job.
And that job is much more than development or administration. One of corporate IT's biggest job is education. We shouldn't blame others for not understanding what is clear to us. It's also our job to get them to "see the light".
(Maybe that's why I like hacking so much. I find it much easier communicating with my computer than with the bosses.)
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#4This article really hit the nail on the head about what's wrong with large corporate IT. Unless your business is IT, the upper management just don't understand it, therefore it's just part of doing business.
What exactly should IT be to a non-IT business? Why should it get any better treatment than Finance or HR?
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#5The majority of changes in CA IT are driven by the business. Exactly! As it should be. (As it better be.) The challenge for IT is to prove what they want is in the best interest of the business , not the IT department. We know that, we just have trouble communicating it. Why should the business care about getting new servers or having developers waste their time rewriting already functioning code? It's your job to an…
Not necessarily as it should be. Many modern business models really are, at their core, automation problems. Think of the heavily automated factory, or brokerage. These firms clearly need "domain expertise" in what they do, but the minute-to-minute operation of the business is done not by the experts, but by the automation systems.
In such a circumstance, it might make sense for the "IT" department to actually run the show, and use the experts in a consulting role. Instead, as the linked blog points out, the opposite is usually true.
And it's not like this hasn't been done. Look at Amazon: that's exactly what they are. Business-wise, they're just another mail order retailer. But they think of themselves as a software company, and they've been immensely successful.
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#6Finance and HR are seen as an integral part of the company, IT is seen as a vendor. It is very much and patron-client relationship, when it should be a partnership
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#7The majority of changes in CA IT are driven by the business. Exactly! As it should be. (As it better be.) The challenge for IT is to prove what they want is in the best interest of the business , not the IT department. We know that, we just have trouble communicating it. Why should the business care about getting new servers or having developers waste their time rewriting already functioning code? It's your job to an…
Not necessarily as it should be. Many modern business models really are, at their core, automation problems. Think of the heavily automated factory, or brokerage. These firms clearly need "domain expertise" in what they do, but the minute-to-minute operation of the business is done not by the experts, but by the automation systems. In such a circumstance, it might make sense for the "IT" department to actually run th…
Amazon's excellent technology is the result of IT serving its business requirements, not the cause of it.
Although they started out selling books, they had a grander vision. Sometimes I wonder if AWS was really planned or if it's just a byproduct of IT doing its job so well. This wouldn't be the first time a non-tech firm has become a tech firm once it realized that its most valuable asset was the techology it developed to serve its original needs.
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#8This article really hit the nail on the head about what's wrong with large corporate IT. Unless your business is IT, the upper management just don't understand it, therefore it's just part of doing business.
Sorry but I disagree.
I find the commonality are IT people who struggle with communicating technology in-plain-english to those that do not live it 24/7. If there is a logical business case to be made, then you should not have a problem getting budget approval (all things considered). That said, I've experienced IT departments looking to build a Rolls Royce infrastructure (disregarding cost-benefit) just because it looks good on paper, when in fact a Lexus-equivalent would have done just fine.
Furthermore, some IT people live in fear of their jobs becoming commoditized by self-sustaining technology so they enact extremely complex systems to bring value to their job. Upper management does not turn-over like an IT department... they remember the claims brought about by the former, and rightfully hesitant in their decision to embrace the latest and greatest kool-aid.
Certainly corporate America has it's faults, no doubt. But a majority of the time I've found the IT department to be one of the most miserable teams to work with at a non-tech company.
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not necessarily as it should be. Many modern business models really are, at their core, automation problems. Think of the heavily automated factory, or brokerage. These firms clearly need "domain expertise" in what they do, but the minute-to-minute operation of the business is done not by the experts, but by the automation systems. In such a circumstance, it might make sense for the "IT" department to actually run th…
Amazon's excellent technology is the result of IT serving its business requirements, not the cause of it. Although they started out selling books, they had a grander vision. Sometimes I wonder if AWS was really planned or if it's just a byproduct of IT doing its job so well. This wouldn't be the first time a non-tech firm has become a tech firm once it realized that its most valuable asset was the techology it develo…
Re: I quit my job today, oh boy
#10The majority of changes in CA IT are driven by the business. Exactly! As it should be. (As it better be.) The challenge for IT is to prove what they want is in the best interest of the business , not the IT department. We know that, we just have trouble communicating it. Why should the business care about getting new servers or having developers waste their time rewriting already functioning code? It's your job to an…
Not necessarily as it should be. Many modern business models really are, at their core, automation problems. Think of the heavily automated factory, or brokerage. These firms clearly need "domain expertise" in what they do, but the minute-to-minute operation of the business is done not by the experts, but by the automation systems. In such a circumstance, it might make sense for the "IT" department to actually run th…
Still, those refactorings can be justified as necessary enhancements, important to the survival of the business.
For that, of course, you need a relationship where there is a strong leader at the head of the IT organisation, who's willing to set priorities that will satisfy both the business and IT, and where the business side respects the IT organisation so that they don't constantly attempt to steam-roller over IT initiatives with their own urgent changes.
So, effectively, a stronger IT organisation is required. Despite the OP's assertion that IT departments are full of smart people, they are also full of not-so-smart people who don't do a good job. Once the business side is stung by repeated delays and issues, they stop trusting the IT side and the problems start increasing...