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Computer Disasters

Entry 582, on 2007-08-02 at 20:04:04 (Rating 3, Computers)

Today I read an article in the New Zealand Herald which described the attitude many managers have to computer technology. Currently there is an annual conference running for CIOs where there seems to be a general attitude of negativity towards computing and the departments responsible for corporate IT.

A comment from five years ago was mentioned where a former chief executive of a major Australian bank claimed the US IT industry had "single-handedly wrecked the world economy". I didn't see the justification for this comment, but it certainly sounds like a load of rubbish. Is this really the sort of person who is allowed to run a bank now? Or maybe that's why he is a former CEO instead of a current one.

I do get a bit sick of the constant criticism of computing by people who have no idea what they are talking about. If computer technology is so bad why don't these large corporations do without it? They can't, of course, because their IT departments perform constant miracles for them and they are just too ignorant to see it.

We all know there are problems with computers. IT projects often go over budget, but non-computing projects often go over budget too. I also know of several situations where unreasonable promises made by business people have lead to unrealistic requirements for the people who actually do the work. So the big problem is often not the fault of the IT staff but of management. Of course the first skill people learn when they succeed in management is to become unaccountable for their numerous mistakes.

Another source of problems is management being fooled by IT sales staff. Managers tend to be people of relatively short attention spans and not exactly deep analytical skills, so as soon as someone comes in and does a flashy presentation they are usually sold. This then leads to purchase and installation, and often subsequent modification of inappropriate systems, with all the related problems.

So I think managers should look at their own performance instead of trying to blame the IT geeks for the disasters that do happen. Maybe if they were a bit more realistic about their own shortcomings things could be improved substantially.

Comment 1 (2007) by Computer Store on 2009-05-06 at 00:25:43: good article

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