Misc. Ramblings

InfoWorld has their Top 20 IT Mistakes to Avoid list. Number one on the list is "Botching your outsourcing strategy." On the upside, our IT did outsource the hosting and running of our Internet site. The downside is that it was done because they are apparently less than clued in on how to run a website. So the good news is that they recognized their weaknesses. However, as the article goes on to say, it is a mistake to "outsourc[e] important IT functions to avoid the hard work of understanding them. Relinquishing those functions can make it hard to get simple things done."

Ditto for number two on the list: Dismissing open source -- or bowing before it. "For better or worse, many IT shops are susceptible to religious behavior -- a blind, unyielding devotion to a particular technology or platform." We loved Wang, even as Wang disappeared. We loved IBM, even as IBM got out of the PC business it never understood nor fully supported. Now, our leadership is in love with Microsoft, even as it is clear that MS is, as a server platform and desktop, insecure by design.

The list goes on but I'm already too depressed to continue. The pitfalls of IT are easy to point out, avoiding the problems is the art of good management.