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In July, I wrote a feature discussing how developers and content owners can increase their chances of selling an intranet to "old-school" users — those who, regardless of age and experience, are afraid of change and least comfortable with the adoption of new technologies. While the majority of the feedback I received on that piece was very positive, there was a small handful of readers who seemed to have missed the point entirely and saw it as an argument for the blind acceptance of all new technology — but this isn't the case.

That article was meant to warn against the inability, or outright refusal, to adapt to new corporate technology standards to the point where some employees end up with outdated skill-sets, making it increasingly difficult to do their jobs. But the solution to this type of technological immobility doesn't automatically translate to a blind faith acceptance of the "bleeding edge" — technology that's so new and untested that developers risk system integrity by using it.

You want to make sure that your systems have a certain amount of longevity — prolonging system lifecycle, avoiding the risk of obsolescence, and maximizing your return on investment — by making use of current technologies while not hastily chasing bleeding-edge promises of some sort of high-tech eden.

Users should stop seeing technology at both ends of the extreme; it's a granular, not an all or nothing, approach. And when it comes to technology, non-action is just as dangerous as blind action. It's our job, as IT professionals, to understand our users' needs and then determine what technology to implement, how much of it, and when it's appropriate to do so. After all, technology — for all it's done to improve our business processes — still requires a good amount of old-fashion human judgment and common sense.

In this article, a follow-up to the July feature, I'll flip the coin and focus on the dangers of following bleeding-edge technology and allowing your intranet to fall prey to a bloated featureset.

Put a Lid On It: Getting Control of Your Technology

Technology has been integrated into our normal everyday business lives so much that some of us have unknowingly blurred the line separating it from the process. But these processes existed long before the introduction of the thousands of new software tools on the market today. What a lot of people seem to forget is that technology is merely a facilitator, a tool we use to make our processes more efficient. It should never be mistaken with the process itself.

Take this as an example: The technological invention of the airplane has made the process of getting from New York City to Los Angeles much quicker. Of course, the need to travel between the two existed long before the airplane — perhaps travellers sat for days inside a stuffy steam train. But no one in their right mind would ever confuse the journey with the airplane. The airplane is a tool, a means by which to get from Point A to Point B. You wouldn't sit in an airplane simply for the sake of sitting in an airplane, would you?

Similarly, you should never implement new technology simply for the sake of technology — it needs to serve a purpose and shouldn't be allowed to dictate your business (unless, of course, your business is technology). Technology and process are interdependent components of a single solution. And like all things, there needs to be a balance. The key is to find a technology that suits your business processes, not to bend those processes or add unnecessary features in order to experiment with new technology.

Unfortunately, many people I speak and work with view technology as both the cancer and the cure. While it's true that technology has made old processes much more efficient and given us the ability to do things we never thought possible, untested, bloated, and overly complicated technology has left a sour taste in users' mouths. They wow at technology's advances just as much as they lament, "Why can't I just get it to do what it's supposed to?"

Those not used to the speed of technology seem to feel as though they're at the mercy of some silicon god, constantly inundated with advertisements, articles, and books describing the newest trends. It's easy to see how they can become overwhelmed by this information.

But this struggle to reconcile the true purpose of technology hasn't really been helped by overly eager developers who haphazardly implement untested, bleeding-edge technology because some IT analyst said that it will be the next big thing. And this type of experiment-driven "progress" is usually at the expense of the user community.

There's always going to be something newer, something faster, something bigger; it's a never ending chase — but only if you allow it to be. IT developers needs to know when to stop chasing or nothing will ever get done.