#ifdef

About the same time I described a local company’s IT abomination as “antiquated”, I came across loosewireblog’s post about user determined computing. An apt description of a blossoming concept.

Why do companies inflict IT systems on their employees that they wouldn’t dare ship to their own customers? Sadly, use of the word enterprise in the name or description is an early warning that it is going to suck. Here are a few examples of internal enterprise solutions I’ve encountered recently:

• Restricted email clients. If you don’t use the corporate approved client, you can’t get support.
• Internal mail lists that don’t archive messages. What’s the point?
• Time accounting systems that suck.
• Gold plated, IEEE compliant project management tools that make your eyes glaze over with features, links, colors, formatting, buttons… Please make it stop.
• Wikis (nice try, though) that have no RSS feeds or change notification.
• Byzantine process for scheduling conference calls on an internal bridge.
• Serialized document collaboration based on email workflow.
• Over engineered bug tracking and case management tools.

Some companies see their IT services as cost centers rather than strategic. When that’s the case, employees suffer the consequences and ignore the tools. Everyone loses.