Newsletter
Business: Using the Appropriate Technology
A challenge for any manager is selecting the most appropriate solution for the job in hand. The problem is well illustrated if you think about buying, say, running shoes. Basically, you need something like these $20 unbranded trainers. But you know inside that you really want the $100-plus pair with the little transparent window in the sole and the famous logo on the side. And you have a sneaky suspicion that its worth the extra money for that squishy, bouncy effect which will help protect your ankles, even if you will use the footwear only for trotting down to the pub.
The decisions can be much harder at work. The process is compounded because recommendations will come to you mostly from those with vested interests. Your operations people will hardly suggest a new process that puts them out of a job. Your widget vendors will recommend widgets with characteristics which happen to match their range. Even independent consultants have an interest in telling you what they think you want to hear.
This problem is especially true with technology-related decisions (eg, see this month’s Security article). When technology is changing so fast that it is even hard for the specialists to keep pace, what hope does the non-IT manager have?
Moreover, there are many reasons why your IT people might not recommend the technology that is best for the job. Believe it or not, they could promote a particular option because: it will be fun to play with (geeks love this stuff); it will boost their résumé; it’ll cover up the mistake they made last year; it’s the in-thing; the company across the road is buying it; it’ll be future-proof (for long after its obsolete); no one ever got fired for buying IBM; and so on almost ad infinitum.
Your best hope with any decision is to start by defining as carefully as possible what you need to achieve. With goals and targets in mind, it becomes easier to line up the options and rank them accordingly. You need to ask hard questions and, usually, make value judgments – which is partly what you are paid for as a manager.
Trouble is, with technology the hard questions can be very hard to identify and even harder to answer. Let me suggest two important areas to consider.
First, ask if there is a risk of getting tied into the wrong systems? Old hands will probably know very well about data in a format that can be read only by an expensive and obsolescent proprietary system. At the very least, demand that all new technology complies with the appropriate standards (space prohibits me ... but the web sites for various standards bodies are useful – be more suspicious of standards promoted by single IT goliaths).
Second, ask if the proposal is overkill: too much, too many features, too near the bleeding edge. A crucial area is capacity (storage, throughput, peaks, concurrent users, licenses, etc). You need to know what’s included, what you need now and for the duration of your plan, and what is involved in making changes. New projects often carry expensive over-head of excess capacity. But be sure that you can add extra if the undertaking is a huge success.
To summarize, here is what you can do to help get the optimal solution:
- Check for standards compliance
- Don’t get sucked into paying for overkill
- Ask tough questions
- Don’t place too much trust in any one opinion
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