Ay, yi yi. More Complications

Just the other day a friend of mine was struggling to disengage a read/write CD from the CD drive of the personal computer. It was obvious that a writing action had begun and never completed. The CD drive would not open automatically since the software was still trying to complete its task but couldn’t, for some unknown reason, complete the write-to task. It wouldn’t open with the eject button either. So, every time the PC came up, it just kept spinning and grinding away, trying to write some job to the CD. So what to do? I suggested the paper clip in the little hole in the CD drive. It worked. The drive opened and the writing activity (presumably) stopped. My friend was amazed at this little know piece of information. The paper clip hole is not really a secret but few actually know about it. Why?

The little, discrete hole in the CD drive is common knowledge to IT support people (which I'm not though I've managed them in my career). I almost think it's intentional that that piece of information is not readily documented...job protection for the IT industry people? IT wants everyone to believe that technology is a black art to preserve their sense of superiority and supremacy. I just wonder. Does that explain a lot of the resistance I get to my standardized and "process-centric" documentation approach to managing IT? Is IT afraid I'll reveal their little secrets? Are they afraid that their secrets are comparable to the secrets of a magician? If they’re known, will it remove the mystery and undermine the reason IT exists? Does IT maintain an intentional level of obscurity to keep their franchise? Is it possible that some of the insecure, backroom, closet introverts in IT want you to think what they do is mysterious and that they are really, really, really smart so you’ll continue to seek their service and advice thus preserving their justification for existence?

I don’t pretend to have the data to support this leap in logic. However, if there is just an inkling of truth in this, I have to challenge those who might be trying to hide behind the pseudo-mystique of technology. If the only value-add an IT organization provides is knowledge that should have been written down (ah, that’s called documentation) in the first place, then perhaps those in IT should be doing something else with their lives anyway. If the only value IT adds to the organization is kept hidden from all except those few gifted souls “wise” enough to ask the right person, then maybe information technology employees SHOULD be insecure. The user is going to find a way to use technology with or without IT. If IT makes it difficult, time consuming or frustrating to use their services, the user is going to find another way to get their work done. IT has a choice: either work hard to understand what the user needs and how they use your services so you may simplify and enable the user to leverage the technology, or just get out of the way completely and let the user bypass your services.