"IT Doesn't Matter"

Another interesting ZDNet piece updating about Nicholas Carr's the year-old story about Carr's notable HBR essay “IT Doesn't Matter”.

A year ago I agreed with Ballmer's “hogwash” dismissal. Now, I'm ready to listen. The first time I started seriously thinking about the future of our industry was when I participated in the .NET Server 2003 / VS.NET 2003 launch (on the beach at the Ritz in Puerto Rico!), which was a year ago next week. Back then, when I first heard the launch message “Do More With Less” I thought, “wow, now that's underwhelming.”

But you know something? That message actually resonates with customers. And in the past year - as I've talked to more customers and, in particular, have spoen at INETA user group meetings far from the bright lights of the big industry conferences - I've had a chance to see more closely how others are fitting in to our industry. Sure, there was a major upwelling of excitement at the PDC about Longhorn and Indigo, but did anyone other than the leading edge development community really notice?

It sure _feels_ like the industry is maturing. Certainly, there is substantially increased competition for those decent paying development jobs buried away in large business that seemed so uncompelling to many of my “colleagues” just a couple of years ago. Now, having tasted real competition in a tightening market, a number of them have “sold out“ and taken full time jobs in those same IT organizations that they were mentoring and training previously.

What am I going to be doing 5 years from now? What are _you_ going to be doing then?

1 Comment

  • What cracks me up is the way the IT industry seems to be glomming onto tired catch-phrases from the government and other sources.



    I smirk every time I hear people talking about "Defense in Depth" with respect to IT security these days, acting as if they are clever for having come up with such a descriptive term. Sorry, not so. I lived Defense in Depth as our Naval tactical strategy when I was flying F-14's in the Navy from the late 80's through late 90's. For us, defense in depth meant putting the fighters out hundreds of miles from the carrier, with frigates and cruisers in between, followed by close in weapons systems as the last line of defense. Don't get me wrong, it is a great approach to securing a precious resource, and I'm glad to see the IT industry adopting it. It just is funny to see people acting like they invented the concept.



    Now for the "do more with less" thing. That is a horrid concept that was prevalent in the military and government throughout the downsizing years of the Clinton era. The result? Undertrained, underequiped troops and forces expected to face more and more demanding threats. That is one I won't subscribe to adopting as a good idea. It sounds great on the surface, but the basic laws of physics usually kick in to make "do more with less" a fantasy that turns into a nightmare with a bad ending.



    My 2c on catch phrases.

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