The IT Curmudgeon

After a particularly frustrating week at work...

1. There are rarely good technological solutions for bad behavior. (this one comes from Ed Crowley)
2. Any meeting that gets off track more than twice will not achieve its intended goal.
3. Projects that are not well scoped will come in late and over budget.
4. "On time and under budget" are misnomers in IT.
5. An IT department's effectiveness is inversely proportional to the number of layers of management.
6. IT organizations that are afraid / intimidated by their users will inevitably serve those users poorly.
7. Scope creep is the enemy of IT.
8. Good information security practices are important; rigorous information security practices stifle productivity and creativity. 
9. Regularly scheduled meetings diminish in productivity after each meeting occurrence. Beware the recurring meeting!
10. Consultants and vendors almost always act in their own best interest.
11. Complexity and change are the enemies of high availability.
12. Everything has a maintenance / sustainment cost.
13. Fear the IT Manager that tries to get too much in the technical weeds.
14. No good can come from your CIO meeting with your consultant’s “senior practice manager.”
15. No organization ever knows the true cost of their IT infrastructure, services, and operations.
16. Avoid major IT projects using internal staff.  Internal staff gets sidetracked with existing duties. 
17. Beware the IT manager that wants Administrator rights.
18. A Configuration Management team that treats engineering and operations teams like their enemy are encouraging people to find ways to bypass them.
19. People have to see “what’s in it for them” with regards to collaborative tools otherwise they won’t use them.
20. Bureaucrats always expect you to know about their bureaucracy.