Proving Clark's Third Law
With last week's events still fresh in my mind, I am resuming blogging today, but only because Carly made me. I was in a training session yesterday with Carly, and she used a phrase a few times that resonated with me significantly, and I'm betting that it will resonate with anyone who's ever fixed a computer, ever coded a website, or dealt with specific matters of technology in general:
“It's not just Insert Miracle Here,” she said, explaining to a client why it's important that they understand how something works, not just that it does.
Those of us who work in tech do this on a daily basis. We insert the miracles that make their websites work, or make their mail servers go, or fix the annoying little blinking clock on their VCR. But part of what makes the “miracle” effect interesting is what comes after you invoke the miracle: you show them how it works.
Good technical people, like Carly, demystify the miracle to show their clients, their friends, their acquaintances why it's not magic, but mastery. Sure, a bit of illusion now and again is good, but so is showing your clients why they pay you. For several classes of executives, there's a disposability in IT departments, they see IT as a cost they need to reduce to its barest level, instead of use as professional development and resource department. If you get good technical people, instead of just putting out fires they're able to effectively improve the knowledge level of your staff, improving your productivity well beyond the cost of your IT department. Creating better staff should be the goal of all IT departments, as it leads to fewer problems, and most importantly, the requirement for fewer small miracles, allowing for more frequent large miracles of technology.
Comments:
awww...shucks! As much as sometimes I'd like to just shout, "move!" I don't think that really helps the clients!
(fyi, "move!" is the classic SNL bit about IT guys. Just in case anyone missed the reference)
Posted by CarlenLea on October 17, 2006 — 1:54 PM