Tech Op/Ed

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The last thing an opinions writer wants is to be discovered by their, how shall I say it, least “defendable” post.  But sometimes a little unvarnished opinion leads to a moment of clarity that objectivity would otherwise muddle.
Such a moment was provided to me a month ago when I was doing one of my (many) […]

On their web site, the FTC estimates that "as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year."  There are 300 million people in the US… you can do the math.  On average, they say, you will likely be impacted by identity crime several times during your life.
In the IT world, we’ve […]

Jump to part 1…
II - Use the Resources you have -
Damn, if I had a nickel for every organization that bleeds money on unimplemented technology and underutilized, or more accurately “inappropriately utilized” staff…
Companies, the world over, could save billions in IT, and operational costs, if they just used what they already have.  It doesn’t matter if you’re Unix based or […]

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Jump to part 2…
I’ve seen my share of IT gone wrong, and I pay attention when it does.  Sure, the problems and solutions may seem obvious, “do good, don’t do evil” as a CIO colleague of mine likes to say… but making the conscious effort to recognize and stand up for the most critical values takes […]

Yes, I could devote every article to the pervasiveness of bad IT management and it’s chilling effects on business, but it depresses me and it’s time to move on, so we’ll wrap that up today.  The next article will be on how to fix IT gone bad… tips anyone can use to restore the value […]

Who da man? -
What does it matter that the top IT leaders of today are more and more akin to the Pointed-Haired Boss instead of the Pocket-Protectored Practitioners of the past? An IT department is just a commodity service provided by a collection of people needing to be supervised, so any MBA will do… right?
Well, interestingly enough, […]

Mistaking good values for good values -
There are a few themes that I’ll go back to over and over again. Here is one:
“Your IT is a reflection of your organization’s values.”
That’s a good thing, right? You organization values the work it does, those it employs and those it serves, so if your IT is following […]

What’s IT?  For a complete, clear and detailed explanation, we turn to Wikipedia.  Well, ok, so I jest… it’s woefully vague, probably inaccurate, though not entirely indefensible.  The current entry just doesn’t annoy anyone enough to bother changing it - it’s a “democratic truth”.  Fact is, IT used to mean something, but misuse, time and evolution have diluted […]

I have been in the so-called “IT” profession for more than half my life.  I am shocked to find how little has changed in that time… and how much everyone thinks it has.
I was pleased to find a lovingly-written article on the perennially reborn, long-beloved operating system called GEOS.  If you haven’t heard of it, […]

Well hello world, glad to see you again.  If you don’t recall, seven years ago I started a little e-zine called the j.ello | report.  I kept up with it for a couple years, had a good number of subscribers… but, as it was a labor of love as opposed to revenue based business, I had to […]