Comments on: The Business Suppression Unit

By: IT not interested in Windows 7? Hardly a surprise

IT not interested in Windows 7? Hardly a surprise — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:50:25 +0000

[...] The problem isn’t that new operating systems are so poorly designed – most aren’t, even though I suspect Windows probably is – it’s that IT isn’t paid to improve things. They’re paid to avoid unexpected costs and problems, and keep employees from abusing the system and their employer. Unpgrades mean change, change means risk, risk by definition entails the unexpected, and the average professional IT manager is about as risk-averse an animal as you can find. They don’t get hurrahs when things are working great, they just get blasted when they aren’t. If I worked in this world I’d fight any upgrade because people don’t miss what they’ve never had. That’s why IT is called the ‘business suppression unit‘. [...]

By: Generations@Work » Listening

Generations@Work » Listening — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:13:54 +0000

[...] A second post comes from YoungFeds a blogger from the land of government. The post, “How’s Work Going”, highlights many important themes about the need to rethink organizational models in government. There is much here to consider and learn from. And a third blog that I will be following regularly comes from “A Visit to Lornitropia”. learned a lot from a recent post “The Business Suppression Unit”. [...]

By: russ eckel

russ eckel — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:22:45 +0000

Great post!
AS SOMEONE WHO FOLLOWS THE ISSUE OF GENERATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE, I FOUND THE FRAMING INTERESTING AND REFRESHING. MANY CONSULTANTS AND COMMENTATORS TALK ABOUT “GENERATIONAL CONFLICT” WITH THE LOCUS OF ANALYSIS ON “GENERATIONAL PERSONALITIES”. YOUR ANALYSIS SPEAKS TO THE STRUCTURAL AND SYSTEMS ISSUES, POINTING OUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND SKILLS OF YOUNG WORKERS AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE NEED TO CONTROL THE FLOW AND CONSTRUCTION OF INFORMATION INSIDE ORGANZATIONS.
IT IS ALOS AN INSIGHT THAT ONLY YOUNG WORKERS COULD SEE.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:32:59 +0000

Des, that’s a great point! The burden doesn’t rest on IT’s shoulders alone to make things better.

By: Des Walsh

Des Walsh — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:53:25 +0000

If a business owner shows interest in blogging, asks for more info and then tells me they have referred it to their IT dept, I close the file. No contest.

OTOH, great suggestions for the IT people to build alliances, provide tools for testing etc. My suggestion is that it is also a good idea for the others to build alliances with the IT people. As a non-technical person previously in a corporate setting I was basically curious and gregarious enough to ask plenty of “dumb questions” and as a result could sometimes achieve extra results by getting the IT people to help me build computerised demos for new ideas that I couldn’t get attended to with paper presentations.

It shouldn’t he all one way.

By: John J Wonders

John J Wonders — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:50:19 +0000

Wow, as an IT person (both as a tech guy and a manager) I don’t even know where to start. Your points are all extremely valid and I guarantee that most or even all IT people agree with you. The IT people are also some of the biggest violators of the policy. Remember, they love all the new tech gadgets and probably have them at home already.

The problem starts with senior management. IT is no longer cutting edge and forget about bleeding edge, that is considered a total waste of time and money.

Instead, IT has become a utility. Something that is reluctantly paid for, but only as little as possible to allow the job to be done and revenue to increase. Every project, every gadget, every accessory is all boiled down to what kind of ROI can we expect.

I’m not saying that a company can just throw caution to the wind. But they do need to start working their way back out there on the edge. That list is a good place to start, but I would challenge the IT management to work on that list and not the tech people. I would also want the managers to add one more thing to that list; listen to the people that work for you! Find out from them what’s new, what’s hot and what would make life better for the end user.

Then find some courage and go push the ideas to your senior management!

By: Dr Joe Webb

Dr Joe Webb — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:55:01 +0000

excellent post… as long as execs think this computer stuff is a waste of time and not “R&D for basic activities” things won’t change. this is the kind of stuff that makes vistaprint happen… a company designed by systems analysts selling things common wisdom deemed nuisance work. our industry’s feet are incredibly bloody and we still have bullets left.