By Steve Ranger, 15 November 2005 12:50
NEWS
Predictions that the techie will soon be rendered obsolete have been met with a furious response from silicon.com readers. They say that business people need to learn more about IT, not the other way around.
According to analyst house Gartner Group, good technical skills won't be enough for workers who want to hold onto their jobs in IT, as many of the basic jobs will be offshored or automated.
Workers will have to prove they have business skills if they don't want to end up on the scrapheap - but silicon.com readers have hit back, saying that business execs also need to boost their understanding of technology.
IT consultant John Woods argued: "As a 'techie' who is keenly aware of the business, commercial and customer issues, I am increasingly aware that the failure of many IT projects is largely due to the fact that the 'bizzies' (it's about time they had a derogatory label) know almost nothing about the technology they try to sell, deploy and manage - and more importantly, they seldom appear to think this lack of knowledge is any problem."
He added: "I'm sure Gartner is right that we need a new breed of techie. But we need a new breed of bizzie, as well."
Ted Howl agreed: "If business managers consulted their techies before deciding on a software system instead of after, there'd be substantially fewer disasters. For years business managers have seen techies as an unnecessary cost. They don't understand exactly what they do so conclude that it isn't necessary."
IT is constantly evolving, according to another reader who pointed out "the same cannot be said for the so-called person with business skills. It is time [for] the business person to develop their skills and knowledge and not to push all responsibility [on] to the person working with IT."
But IT manager Bernard Peek predicted that as the next generation of tech-savvy teens enters the world of work this may change. "IT will no longer be something that managers need to have done for them (or worse, to them)," he said. "A lot of the current techie roles will merge with the 'bizzie' jobs. So in one sense the pure techie roles will mostly disappear, at least in the USA and UK."
Still - Bill Gates may come to the rescue of the home-grown IT worker, as 'IT couch potato' wisecracked: "As long as Microsoft continues to 'improve' [its] software, there'll always be a job for a techie. So, it doesn't matter if it's outsource, off-shored or right-sized, some poor tech has to try and work out how to do it."
Comments
There are 14 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
From experience, the biggest issue is bosses who are more prepared to spend money on and listen consultants who neither have the indepth business nor the technical IT knowledge that their own employees have.
2. anonymous
Spin seems to be the over-riding principle for managers - appearance over substance then blame someone else when plans aren't feasible after they've been decided!
It seems to be fashionable to exclude anyone with technical skills or knowledge from management meetings, possibly because mere skills are perceived as resources to be managed and nothing more. It's a continuation of the 1980's Civil Service practice of keeping specialists in subsidiary positions while administrators hold the top posts and make the decisions.
3. Jim Dodd
I work in a large mobile phone company with extensive in house developed systems. Due to an ongoing process of outsourcing we have all had to increasingly develop project management and BA skills alongside use of our core technical knowledge. In lots of ways I agree that the days of technical people being able to live inside a world of almost academic isolation is over. However even in a company that uses offshore partners extensively excellent technical skills still seem important. The business units that have radically deskilled are now a significant source of technical problems and cause constant bottle necks to business processes. Departments that have retained a knowledge base and hands on skills and work well with offshore partners are measurably more effective and clearly deliver better results. Although companies may not need large numbers of technical people, it is still important that they don't become 'water empires' whereby they are incapable of understanding their own IT infrastructure and guiding their outsourcing colleagues. Given the small number of capable technical people inside some UK companies, I would suggest some caution about annoying your remaining talent. You might live to regret it.
4. Chris Knowles
Both arguments have merit. There is clearly a need for business managers to accept responsibility for the processes within their companies, and that means having an understanding of the applications that support those processes. They are (or should be) the system owners, the IT department is the custodian.
Equally the IT managers must understand the business and propose / provide appropriate solutions that meet the business requirement.
Ideally a business has strong business managers with a good understanding of IT, strong IT Business Managers who understand the business and can interpret business requirements into technical solutions (and vice versa), and strong IT Technical Managers who can deliver appropriate technical solutions.
5. Dr Garry E Hunt
This topic has brought the usual naive emotional comments from both the business and technical camps, who are defending today’s situation and not considering the future.
In the first place IT projects do not exist as there are only business projects enabled by the appropriate IT solutions. The business must have financial and management control and therefore the skills too to perform this role. Therefore companies require business people with an understanding of technology so they can contribute to the discussions and technical staff who understand the business activities. We must not have two separate camps. The most successful companies are those who interchange business staff with those who have a primary technical role. This also means they must develop a common language so all parties, including senior management and the Board members, can then contribute to the discussions. Until we reach this situation with associated accountability from all involved parties, companies will continue to have projects involving IT which over run in time and budget and fail to deliver the expected results. I am still amazed that this situation is worse than several decades ago.
Gartner’s comment may be an over statement, but they have focussed attention of this crucial matter. I do believe we need urgently a better mix of business and technical skills supported by a common language if companies are to have the flexibility to gain competitive advantage from IT.
6. anonymous
... those that manage IT don't understand it, those that understand IT don't manage it.
Traditional - anon
7. Tony Sygrove
I have come 'through the ranks' first as a techie and later as a senior IT manager and I have to agree with the arguement that there are far too many senior managers who do not understand the technical aspect of their job. I try to maintain a 60/40 split in my knowledge of both business management and IS/IT technologies. I do this by reading white papers on the latest technologies (so I have some idea when talking to techies and suppliers), and I allocate a certain percentage of my working week mixing with the technical staff. This ensures that I keep up to speed at a higher level on the technology and that my staff can see that I have some knowledge of what they are doing and how. There are too many senior managers who think it is beneath them to get involved with the techies and do not realise that they cannot make any feasible decisions without having the knowledge of both the business requirements and the technical enablers. So come on bosses take the blame for once and let the techies get on with their jobs the vast majority do an excellent job. Conclusion: if the managers get their act together they will see a substantial increase in efficiency in their respective working environments.
8. martyn
Who cares what Gartner says ?
Organisations like Silicon who need to fill their web pages with "news" and Gartner and their cohorts who need the publicity
9. anonymous
Putting IT to one side for a moment business people who actually understood their businesses would be a good start.
Amongst THE major reasons projects fail is because the people commisioning the work have never gone through the process of understanding why, what and how their businesses "work" and the same for the changes they intend to make. If you dont know where you're starting from you have no means to work out how to get to where you want to go.
The ill-informed guff about "common languages" adds no value here. What is required is a leap of mindset so IS and hence IT is seen as an integral part of the business. When business processes include not only HR and receivables / payables but change management and IS / IT management we might have made some headway.
10. Rob Garner
The sea has already changed - Douglas Adams described technology as the word we use for things that don't work right yet - and hence need a lot of care and support.
Computers, operating systems and software aplications are rapidly becoming "stuff that just works" like TV sets and cars.
This brings about a whole different approach to how these things are used. Business will need a lot of skills in picking the available tools to gain advantages in their individual situations. Then there will be a need to impliment and maintain as there is with fleets of vehicles.
The real in depth engineering skills will move towards the solution suppliers, and I would not be supprised if some new roles appeared in the middle.
11. Parveen Kumar
!!Now there's something right from the horse's mouth!!. Well done Mr. Tony Sygrove for your honesty.
Because IT managers have to prove to Management Board that they are efficient in management, rarely do they take the blame for not understanding the whole business process end-to-end as it apparently jeopardizes their chances of big bonuses and promotions. And if Management Board do not recognise the real culprits for IT failures, I very much doubt the statement that "Bizzies understand management"!! Whereas in actual fact "NO THEY DONT"!!
12. The Software Tailor
As an IT consultant who has worked in many companies large and small I've seen some large projects thrown in the bin after Millions have been spent due to lack of consultation with the IT department.
Ask the average owner of a smaller business how often they reach for the advice of a Techie before spending money, you will find the number is far higher than in large business and with far less lost and wasted money.
I've had to dig "Home grown" projects out of the mire many times where a Bizzie has written "a little thing" for himself, the rest of the Bizzies have used it, and it turns into a mission critical pain in the behind that doesn't work.
13. David Quinn
This is an interesting debate. Correspondents seem to divide between those who understand the realities of the IT world and recognise its complexity and messiness and those whoutter the same complacent simplicities as Gartner and many senior business and even IT managers. Anyone who thinks that hardware/software "just works" is either living a fanatsy or working for a hardware/software supplier with some hype to peddle.
Don't know if you are offering a prize for this very stimulating discussion but Tony Sygrove would get my vote.
14. anne beaumont
How simplistic. Not all IT staff are the same, any more than all 'business' staff are the same.
I wonder what will happen my Oracle DBA is replaced by a 'bizzie'? or my LAN administrator. Or maybe the same clever person could do both jobs - and Unix Sysadmin and networking as well. Yeah right!
In my environment, we have application system owners who do understand the business requirements of the software they use, but they are a very small group within the total IT workgroup.