It is nearly 30 years since I graduated as an industrial engineer; back then, as the “new kid on the block”, I was given the assignment of being the liason to the IT (then called Data Processing) department. Yes, I’m an old fart and, yes, we had punched cards back then.
I simply freaked when I found that even the simplest request (add a subtotal on a report, change a report sort etc) took 6 to 8 weeks to happen. So, I figured out on my own how to do ad-hoc reports; if folks in the IE dept. needed a new report, they had it on their desk in a couple of hours. I put a few noses out of joint but this was the start of my transition into IT.
Sure, more complex stuff takes a while but often something simple that can be implemented quickly can provide huge business impact.
Roll forward 30 years; after a short stint at that company and 25+ years in product development for one of the BUNCH, I have spent the last few years consulting in Java and related technologies.
My observation is that not a lot has changed; many IT departments are still considered to be laws unto themselves. With all our technology and cool stuff, we still need to understand that we are there to support the business. If one of our internal (or external) clients needs something that is easy to provide, just do it. It will pay off in spades; the next time something is hard to do, and will take time, they will understand; if it’s easy and you take care of it quickly, the kudos will flow. Often times, something that is easy to us seems hugely complex to clients (of course, the opposite is the case too but, again, if you help them out most of the time, they’ll believe you when you say something is hard to do).
This all might seem obvious, but I fear that too many lose sight. All I can say is that this philosophy has worked well for me over the years.
Moving forward…
Satisfying the customer gives one a good feeling, but that alone is not enough. What gets me out of bed in the morning is the sure fact that I know I’ll learn something more today.
As time goes by, I hope to use this blog to share some of the more interesting things that I learn.
