This morning, I gave a talk at MacAD.UK on building Human-Centric IT Systems. You might be saying to yourself, “Tom, all IT systems are used by humans, ergo…” and I understand your meaning. But there’s a difference between correct and technically correct. Many IT Systems vary by how much they’re meant for use by actual humans.
Generally, I think most Mac Admins are aware of this dichotomy, and build to advantage people at the core. However, they are not always simply responsible for the systems that they build. There are often countervailing pressures that can come into play.
This talk is focused on how to operate as a department that is visible, responsible, and part of the organization’s success by reminding folks of the following:
The hardest lesson I’ve had to learn in organizational behavior is that while it feels good to create frictionless IT systems that are often invisible, invisible things are susceptible to deep cuts, because management may not understand what it is that you do. Building visibility into your IT Department’s future plans is one major key to people understanding the value proposition of your department. Otherwise, you risk being deprioritized, cut from funding, and then either deprecated entirely or outsourced.
Building human-centric IT systems will help you in your career, help you run your business better, and help your colleagues appreciate the force multiplier effect of IT systems.
There is no one way to do this right.
There are many ways to do this wrong, however.
Cannonball 