Go to page: 1 2   

Printer Friendly Version

Why are we here? What's it all about? What's the meaning of life?

These philosophical questions that explore the complexities of human existence have weighed heavily on the minds of many great thinkers, but they should also be applied to technology and its acceptance in our business lives. Unfortunately, these existential questions don't garner nearly as much attention among the cube farm dwellers responsible for the application of technology within organizations. And when they are considered, it occurs after some form of technology is implemented -- not in an experimental R&D environment, but rather in a real world production setting.

While all manner of effort is made to inject new technology into the corporate bloodstream -- installing new software; adopting new development languages, platforms, or frameworks; and writing new systems -- its authors are sometimes unable to answer the most basic question: Why?

What's the motivation or reasoning behind this new technology? Is it because everyone else is doing it? Is it some mindless busywork you created because you're bored with what you're currently doing? Or is it simply because ... you can?

Purpose drives development and design; it's not the other way around. You need to have a reason for writing that new app or buying that new software before applying it. Otherwise, you're merely playing with technology for your own amusement under the guise of productive work.

Too many people get caught up in the cool factor and jump aboard something new without having a valid reason for doing so. They declare that they need it first and decide (or rationalize) why they need it second. They will spend a lot of time developing and setting up a tool only to ask, "Now that we have this, let's decide how we're going to use it," after it hits production. If you need to ask, you probably don't need it.

In my days as a systems developer, I saw countless instances of people starting up some tech tool with great enthusiasm only to see it languish in anonymity because there was no reason for its existence. I've seen daily blogs turn into bi-monthly blogs turn into obsolete blogs because the bloggers thought it would be cool at the beginning, only to realize down the road that they have nothing of substance to write about. I've seen discussion forums set up with several hundred registered users and only a dozen half-serious posts because the forums lacked focus and purpose. And I've seen developers deploy applications no one asked for because they just felt like building something with a new software kit they got their curious little hands on.

All those projects eventually died for the same reason: The authors knew what they were doing, but they didn't know why they were doing it. They simply did it for the sake of doing it. And when you lack a goal or destination, it's no surprise you get lost.

Go to page: 1 2   

Printer Friendly Version