Sh… IT Happens #3

This was ‘the week that not was’ for me… as I’ve been hiding out in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It was a great place to relax and catch up on some reading (for fun!) and scouring the blogosphere for interesting posts. So, from Sharm El Sheikh, here are some of the best finds out there:

1. What Can IT Become When It Grows Up?

   Here is another great post from Dr Jim Anderson on his blog TheBusinessOfIT, where he writes about the views of Michael Vizard from publisher Ziff Davis . Vizard talks frankly about the need for IT to get it’s act together, and focus on the production and access of knowledge to the Business. Dr Anderson interjects with his opinion that business revolves around information, and that information is often too overwhelming – what business needs is knowledge . Dr Anderson shares five of Vizard’s key ‘developments’ for IT departments over the next five years in order to satisfy the business need of knowledge, and remove the overhead of information.

2. What would a professional do?

   If you haven’t read anything by Seth Godin yet, then you really must! I love Seth’s work, and his books, as he says it ‘how it is’ and doesn’t waste his readers’ time. In this post, he asks the question ‘What would a professional do? ‘ and considers the difference between professionals, and ‘deliberate amateurs’. Why have I included this? Because in IT we tend to specialize, or being ‘jack of all trades’, although most of us really work as both as we apply our knowledge and experiences to wider issues that our professions would dictate. For example, I comment on topics like Cloud Computing, but I am not an expert in it… but I do profess to be a deliberate amateur, so I can ask questions about it that a professional wouldn’t! Seth has written something deeply poignant here. As a deliberate amateur, we can ask questions without fear of our professional pride and credibility being damaged, so why not ask and be enlightened, or just as likely, enlighten the professional?

3. India Unveils $20 Laptop

   Found on InformationWeek.com , W. David Gardner covers the breaking news that the Indian makers of the Sakshat laptop have unveiled what will become the world’s first $20 laptop, with the promise to drop the price to $10! I find this unbelievable, and I don’t mean in the superlative sense. How can they really do this, even with MASS production? What do you think?

4. Cost Of Data Breaches Keeps Going Up

   George Hulme (again from InformationWeek.com ) tells us that average cost of a data breach for an organization is a whopping $6.5M! What’s more the numbers are rising in terms of cost and frequency! Hulme discusses the content of a new study by the Ponemon Institute (no, not Pokemon!). There are some startling statistics in the report (which you can download from a link off the post). Several questions sprang to mind when I read it:

   • Who is taking responsibility for these breaches?
   • Whose ‘head will roll’ next time it happens?
   • Are we all complicit in these breaches due to slack practices?
   • What will the career prospects of anyone involved in these breaches, once they’re discovered?
   • When will enough, be enough?

5. A Strong Foundation for Personal Excellence

   You gotta read this post from Dave Crain on his blog DaveCrainOnline.com , because it really does say everything you need to hear for personal excellence……. Be Nice! It’s much harder than you think. Why? Well it’s easy in the moment, but there is the perception that being nice is being weak – so these consequences often mean we think twice about being nice and, well, we’re mean instead. Being nice is one of things I went full-circle on, as do many people I talk to. Eh? What I mean is that early in my career, I was nice to folks. I had to be, so I thought, to fit in and build relationships. Then I became more successful, and strongminded, and then assertive… and then often aggressive. I wasn’t nice, in order to forge ahead in my career and appear as a badass. Then, with hindsight, guilt-ridden nightmares and the occasional ‘talking to’, I realized being nice was really the way to get things done. So Dave, thanks for ymy post!

6. Does Your Customer Trust You? The Acid Test

   A post by Charles H. Green on his blog TrustedAdvisorAssociates that you Sales People and Consultants will enjoy, but is really applicable to anyone in the modern enterprise where downstream colleagues in our value-chain are our customers (see my latest eBook The Ten Habits of Highly Successful IT Professionals to read more about this.) In essence, Charles checks our selfishness (or self-orientation) with our customers/colleagues by asking a simple question: Have you ever recommended a competitor to one of your better clients? He suggests that your answer can lead to some very powerful conclusions – it’s an acid test of your trustworthiness. What it led me to think about is who am I serving? Do I write my blog and books, and provide coaching services to line my pocket first, and then help my readers and clients second? What’s your opinion? Do I? Whatever your opinion, take a look at Charles’s post for an enlightening read that you’ll really enjoy.