There wasn't much going on in the OS/2 community during the holidays. Last month's Editorial generated considerable e-mail to the various state Attorney Generals opposing the Federal Government's proposed settlement with Microsoft. As a follow-up, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal suggested that we also express our opinions to the judge of the federal trial:
THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE
What I really want to talk about is the state of the IT industry. I am fortunate enough to have witnessed several ups and downs in the computer field over the last 25 years and, hopefully, have learned a thing or two. These are troubling times economically to say the least. There is a lot of uncertainty as to the future of industry, the stock market, and technology. Everything is drifting on the wind. To my younger readers, I would like to point out a few facts of life before you make a rash decision as to your career in computing.
Lesson One: Computer people are an expendable commodity. I don't care how good you think you are, there is no such thing as 'job security' in the computer field. The best programmer is usually the first to get a pink slip, particularly if you are the youngest person on the totem pole. Despite the technical knowledge you may possess, you do not command the respect of management. I am reminded of the true story of an IT Director who was charged by senior management to implement a major project. The Director lamented about the costs and egos involved with hiring new people. Management consoled him by saying, "Get as many people as you want, give them whatever title and tool they want, but when the project is over, fire them." This mindset is still prevalent today. Consequently, computer people tend to be nomadic sojourners. If you want to stay put in your current job, now is not the time to get cocky. A little humility will go a long way to preserving your job. You may want to think of yourself as playing in the "Survivor" TV show.
Lesson Two: Everything begins with a sale. I learned this sage advice early on. When you lose sight of this maxim, you are asking for trouble. If there are no sales going in one end of the pipeline, nothing will come out the other end. Now is the time for all aspects of a business to focus their attentions on generating revenue, everything else is a waste of time. I recently spoke with an old friend of mine who owns a manufacturing facility in Ohio. Whereas I complimented him on his new factories, he was worried that the lack of orders might force him to close them down. What I guess I am getting at is management is not currently interested in "flash" but rather with how to improve sales and minimize costs. Regardless of what job capacity you serve, if you are not personally working in this direction, you are an unnecessary overhead and will be eliminated. Now is the time to be a problem solver, not a "gadget guru".
Lesson Three: Don't believe everything you read. If we have learned anything from the Department of Justice's lawsuit with Microsoft it is that a powerful vendor can easily sway opinion by dominating the press. We also have to consider who is writing in the press these days. The old sages of the industry like Dick Canning, Bob Forrest, and Arnie Keller are long gone and have been replaced by a generation of Junior G-Men fresh out of college with a Journalism degree and without any in-depth experience in computing. Consequently, they are quite impressionable and easily influenced. If you really want to find out what is going on in the industry, go find out for yourself. Network with your contemporaries in the community. PC user groups are okay, but tend to cater to "mom and pop" organizations. Professional organizations are preferable; such as the Association of IT Professionals (formerly DPMA) or the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Commercial research groups are okay, but I sometimes question their integrity. Most importantly, get to know your contemporaries so you can study trends and devise a list of best practices.
Lesson Four: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Years ago, companies use to take great pains in going with a homogeneous computing environment. It was not uncommon to find "True Blue" companies who wouldn't dare think of buying anything but an IBM product. This all changed with the proliferation of minis and PC's as it became apparent that no single vendor could possibly offer a "womb to the tomb" solution for all of your computing needs. There is simply too many alternative technologies available today. In reality, we have been living in a heterogeneous computing environment for quite some time. Now is not the time to paint yourself (or your company) into a corner by blindly pledging allegiance to a single vendor like Microsoft, Oracle, Computer Associates, IBM, or whoever. Go for "open" solutions, not proprietary; as a small example, IBM's "Microchannel Architecture" had a devastating effect on the sale of early releases of OS/2 until IBM opened it up to ISA standards. Look for components that are interchangeable and interoperable.
Lesson Five: Recognize the squeaky wheel gets the oil. It is a well known fact of life in computing that a well managed project that is implemented smoothly and on time will get less attention from management than one that is out of control. So much so, management will inadvertently persecute the innocent and promote the guilty. I have seen on more than one occasion companies overlook successful developers and managers who effectively and efficiently implemented their projects in favor of those who created havoc. True, this isn't fair. And I am certainly not suggesting that you go out and create problems, but be aware of the political ramifications of a project and deal with it accordingly.
Lesson Six: You are on your own. Now is not the time to go out on a limb and make unilateral decisions and hope that your subordinates and co-workers will support you. They won't. Now is the time for team building and reaching consensus. Negotiating skills are incredibly important now.
Lesson Seven: Management doesn't care about your problems. Management is only interested in pacifying their shareholders at this time. They are not the slightest bit interested in your technical problems (see Lesson One), only results. Expect only lip-service from management if you are trying to implement some new development tool or technique. They will support you only until your first delay.
Lesson Eight: Common sense in not very common. People will always do what is politically expeditious, not necessarily what is right. Yes, we should be designing integrated enterprise-wide systems, but we settle for fighting fires instead. Yes, we should be managing data as a re-usable resource between systems, but we settle for redundancy instead. Yes, our systems should be well documented and easy to update, but we never seem to get around to it. Yes, projects should come in on time and within budget, but we settle for slipped schedules and cost overruns. Common sense would dictate that we run the IT department like a well-oiled machine, with discipline, organization and accountability. Unfortunately, we do not and look for ways to cover our ass instead.
After reading this, you might think I'm a bit pessimistic, but I'm not;
to paraphrase Mark Twain, I am an optimist who hasn't arrived. There is
an old Bryce's Law that reads, "If we lived in a perfect world, there
would not be a need for managers; projects would be executed on time and
within cost. However, the reality is, we live in an imperfect world." Now
is not the time to make rash decisions in your career but rather to sit tight
and play conservatively. Do your job, and do it well. One last lesson for
you: There is always opportunity during times of trouble and turmoil. Now
there exists opportunities in your own company for people with integrity
and the courage to come forward.
Keep the Faith!
Copyright © 2002 M&JB
