Naked IT: Shel Israel on social media and IT (includes podcast)

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Deja Vu all over again

You said: "Many IT departments have already discovered users adopting social media tools, perhaps bypassing corporate policies in the process."

Were you around when PCs were first being introduced to organizations through the back and side doors back in the early 80's? It's all about guerilla warfare, then and now.

I'm an old IT guy from way back, but I worked in a systems group within an operational department for nearly half my career, so I understand all sides of the story. In the end, if the rest of the business thinks it's a good idea, IT has to either help make it so or get out of the way. But they never do. And they won't this time.

Businesses would be better served if internal IT organizations would figure out how to work with operational departments and get the money and staffing into the budget to do this stuff rather than wasting their energy fighting it. I feel sorry for the IT grunt who gets this sort of thing dumped into their lap. But the problem is their own management, not user management.

Shel is right on the money that the responsibility for the actual implementation should rest entirely in the hands of the "users". They will likely screw it up royally in the beginning. But you can only learn from mistakes if you are allowed to make them and cannot conveniently shift the blame to the IT folks.

Posted by: another ken   Posted on: 01/11/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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