From the front of the Oracle Siebel CRM classroom

From the time I started in the IT profession in 1973 the Business Units in corporations have complained about the unresponsive many times quirky nature of the IT departments. I have seen the name of the IT departments change in each decade from Data Processing, to Management Information Systems, to Information Technology. Each time we have tried to re-invent ourselves to solve the problems of the past and each time the problems seem to re-surface.

My experience has shown me that the root cause of the tension between IT and the Business Units is that we speak two or more different languages and have trouble communicating with each other. In the late 1970’s a book called “The Psychology of Computer Programmers” highlighted the fact the IT professionals in many cases are not the most social of creatures on the planet. I remember as a child my father making jokes and calling me Mr. Anti-Social illustrating my own challenges in this area.

In this month’s article instead of talking about past projects, I discuss a pet project that I have been working on. For quite a while I have been advocating an approach that I believe will reduce the time and cost associated with the requirements gathering and design stages of an implementation project.