Ran across another headline: “Agile development aligns tech, business better. Studies show agile development works, and yet few companies follow its principles.” Hmmmm what does that mean to us?
How about this one….”Social networking: Not IT's problem. Blogs, wikis and user-driven content can get out of hand if not managed by dedicated human resources….For social networking tools to be successful, the buck has to stop somewhere other than IT, according to technology pioneers and experts.” Does this one have any impact on our Organization?
And finally: “Google has released a new Javascript API this morning dubbed Gears that adds offline support for web applications”
I wondered if any of the TS Staff has read any of these articles. Then I wondered further, as to what thought process they might have undergone when/if they had. This line of thinking then lead me to my next question…. When was the last time one of our technical support folks approached me and submitted a thought or idea that tied technology to the work we do here…something they read somewhere, (like the above) or something they experienced somewhere else. I can honestly say, it took me awhile to answer that question. Bottom Line: Not often enough!
While Leadership within an IT org should have thoughts and ideas and they should be
bringing technology solutions to bear….they should not be the only ones on the team to do so! If we rely solely on Leadership to provide that insight and way of thinking, we will miss some valuable opps and we will not be providing the best value to this organization. IF only one or two people come up with all the ideas…then why would they need anyone else? The solutions would likely be narrow in scope and vision. The real benefit is to have the entire TEAM on-board and thinking of ways to move Conservation forward.I would argue that we did not set out to hire “robots” within this IT group…we hired walking, talking, THINKING people. That is the value you bring to this group! Help us to think about ways technology fits….listen….read…..TALK. Try to understand what impacts that new piece of hardware/software or how a new technology could solve a problem for US. Bring ideas to the forefront, talk to your Managers/Leaders. …. I guarantee they will appreciate the thought and time you’ve invested.
TAFN
2 comments:
I did read about Google Gears and have tried it with Google Reader. The most exciting thing is this now gives users of web apps the ability to take their app and content with them offline. Though not released or even a date planned, imagine having the ability to take Google Docs & Spreadsheets with you. Most people are online most of the time, but this could be key to the acceptance and growth of web apps as a real competitor to locally installed apps.
I like the concept of web apps over the traditional local apps. Updates or upgrades can be applied once instead of on many computers, and collaboration may be easiser. Perhaps cost may even be a factor, since Google Docs & Spreadsheets is currently free. While it may not be much of one today, it does look to me like there could be some competition with Microsoft and other traditional vendors coming.
I have a link to the Agile Modeling/Software Development website and have been trying to read up on it.
(http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileSoftwareDevelopment.htm)
I think that it has some good practices but it may take awhile to actually get it set in place in our environment because it takes a really different way of thinking about what we do. Hadn't wanted to mention it until I had a better understanding of it, but since you mentioned it......
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