Which is your next step?
Speed and the commoner’s sense of urgency has steered the IT development area into a Drag and Drop heaven. Creating useable software (like an app or a tiny database) is almost as easy as ordering food online. And to get it to market you need not know anything about data structures or programming. Nor do you need to hold any knowledge of hardware, servers or infrastructure. And you don’t need to know about product lifecycle span, continuity plans, or application maintenance.
Things have never been easier. But the question is if this is good or bad?
Since going from idea to end product is now a one click operation, many organizations see no point in putting time, effort and money into thinking things through or evaluating customer needs. They do not view the intended development in an overall strategic light and they do not stop to evaluate sustainability. Instead they push for the bringing of more solutions to the customers. As fast as possible, and if possible even faster yet. Staging platforms are popping up like digital mushrooms all over the World Wide Web to accommodate for this, and they are constantly open for business.
Fast. Easy. Simple. Three very popular buzzwords in this modern world. All you need is an account and a free trial and you are up and running. Off to do your thing! Be happy. Get creative! What ever could go wrong?!
This easy go, easy build way of looking at things is all well and good if you are a minor business in need of a standalone application that does not coexist with any other software or systems. But if your IT arena is a systems portfolio within a mid to large organization, you are in for heaps of trouble if this is your digitalization strategy. IT is like the digital variant of the neuroplasticity of the human brain. Everything is wired together in an intricate web of impulses.
The thing is that this intricate web that constitutes an organizational IT portfolio isn’t a simple thing. Nor is it easy. Hence there is a limit to how fast it can move (whether we like it or not). Nothing has become easier over the years when it comes to what makes IT tick, instead it’s more complicated and complex than ever before. The only difference is that we are now masters of making what is hard seem easy and thus making it available for anyone who want to try it. Five years ago (give or take), you needed a programmer to create a mobile app. Today everyone can do it. But, there is a but… the tech behind it hasn’t really changed all that much… it’s still as complicated as before, and even more so. And when we choose to ignore this, we set ourselves up for a bumpy ride.
The faux pas is that simple and easy isn’t the equivalent of correct and secure, and fast and quick not the equivalent of solid and sustainable. So if we keep adding to the portfolio without stopping once in a while to make sure the additions fit into the bigger picture, things might (or will) go downhill fairly quickly. The faster you go the further away from your goal you’ll end up if (or when) the direction proves to be wrong. So perhaps it’s time to dare to take a break and slow down? Take a breather, and then, ask yourself:
Which is your next step? Your best step?
Which is your next step?
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Satirisk text som gör upp med påståendet att extrovert är bättre än introvert
