...as a child....

"When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." I Cor. 13 v 11.

As most any parent of a child still residing in the home can tell you, this time of year is busy. As a parent of one High School and one College age child myself, this year has been every bit as busy as any that preceded it. Parenting has been a humbling, exciting, disappointing, and challenging experience at times. Not unlike the world of Technology and for those of us in the IT world. I have compared working in the IT world many times to that of raising children. If you think about it, there are many similarities.

Children begin life almost totally dependent on a parent; Information Technology (as we recognize it today—applications, PC’s, Internet) began in a similar fashion…in that most employees were very dependent on others who knew something about the technology. As the child grew they become a little more self-sufficient, i.e. they can walk and talk; Information Technology grew in favor and was being used by more and more people in the work place and home and becoming a little less dependent on the IT gurus. The child becomes a teenager and while still needing some protection, some guidance, some money, etc, they are beginning to exert a lot of independent thoughts and actions; IT grew to that point also, people used technology in many ways and began to implement some of their own thinking about what tools to use at work and didn’t just follow what the IT staff directed.

If we have done our job as a parent, the child continues to grow and mature and becomes a self sufficient adult. One who is able to walk, talk, THINK, act and survive in the world with much influence from Mom or Dad. While the child still has a very strong bond to their parents, they are not totally dependent upon them for survival. NOW---the question is where is IT in this maturity process? I would offer that Technology as it exists today in our organization has matured to the point of a late teen. It has developed a great deal and is being utilized extensively throughout the organization. There is some independent (contrarian) thinking (teenage trait) that exists, there is some freedom flexing, and there are some direct challenges---all of which I would point us back to the child and what we have or do experience with them.

One of our important IT tasks that we have is to help that “child” grow into a fully functioning, almost completely self sufficient Adult…with the goal of being able to function completely (if possible) all by themselves. Is that possible? Can we implement technology solutions that mimic that scenario? Well honestly I don’t know if we can ever get technology to the point of 100% self-sufficiency. I believe IT Staff will continue to play a critical role in this Agency for the foreseeable future….BUT I do think we can help grow our work force to the point of being much more self-sufficient and less reliant on us for common day to day issues.

I have long professed that our Agency is on the edge of great change….including technology change and workforce change. For many years we have served as “mom and dad” to many staff whose expertise was not understanding technology, but rather resource management and biology. Well, that ship has sailed….the work force coming to us today is much, much more technology educated. They don’t need to be trained on the basics of file folders, storage devices, tools to use, etc…in some cases they bring those ideas/suggestions to us!

The new breed of Conservation Worker requires a different service from IT---more advanced tools, forward thinking, advanced troubleshooting, strategic visioning, etc. They, themselves, can figure out the basics of PC operations, spreadsheet functions, graphics manipulations, file storage, E-mail, etc, etc….they are wanting (and needing) for us to be looking forward, helping with future technologies…the next tool or a tool that helps them even more than the current one. They look to us to know down the barriers in the road ahead of them, i.e.—in many cases they know the value of technology and how to use it…they want us to find ways for them to use that technology where ever they may be, at home, the office or in the field.

Our tasks are numerous of course….we must continue to support an aging workforce that still may require that lower level technical support, but we must also be moving (at a accelerated pace) towards meeting the technology needs of the new breed of worker. What are those needs---look around, if you are paying attention, technology is used in almost every aspect of day to day living. “Speed Passes” at the gas pump, card readers at toll booths, 10MB pipes into homes, Wii game stations, GPS devices in VW’s, RFID tags, etc, etc. The expectation exists for technology to help people do the basic functions….that won’t be any different in the work this Agency does. But the basic functions won’t be enough, we must do more. We must develop new ideas, new ways of tackling and completing the tasks needed to move Conservation forward. It will be expected….check that…..it will be DEMANDED of IT .

TAFN