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November 8, 1999

Secret CIO:
But The Computer Said ...
Accepting what a computer tells you, instead of thinking, is a big mistake

Herbert W. Lovelace fter many years in the IT industry, I've finally gotten used to people blaming a computer for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with silicon chips. It's painful, but I've learned to accept that individuals are more comfortable attributing problems to inanimate objects than absorbing responsibility for their own ineptitude or that of their associates.

Recently, I was invited to speak at a conference. Frequent readers of this column might ask how my company can afford to let me wander away from the office so often to attend such meetings. In fact, I address industry events only a few times a year. The expense to the company is my time, not the cost of the travel and hotel, since I make an inviolate rule that if you want me to speak, you pay the tab. Finally, there is no real pain to the business because of my absence from our headquarters, because with voice mail and E-mail I probably get more done outside the office than I would if I were there.

I learn a lot at these gatherings--more than I would shuffling paper at my desk. My latest epiphany occurred not at the conference, but rather on my way to it, on a dreary Sunday afternoon as I sat in the airline club at our local airport, trying to remember why I had agreed to give a speech that required me to travel on a weekend. Cappuccino in hand, I walked over to the monitors and confirmed that it was time to board my flight. Putting down the unfinished coffee, I gathered my overnight bag and briefcase and began trudging to the distant gate.

Upon arriving at the gate my customary five minutes before boarding commences, I noticed something missing from the normally crowded scene--an airplane. Being of an analytical bent, I determined that if there was no plane at that point, it was unlikely that said plane could take off on time. I waited in line to talk to the gate attendant, who informed me that the aforementioned sky chariot was in the air and would be landing in about 20 minutes. Mentally calculating the time it would take the plane to taxi to the gate, unload its passengers, and be cleaned before boarding would be allowed, I decided to retrace my steps and return to the airline club.

Annoyed that the flight monitors had not been updated quickly enough to save me the useless round-trip from club to gate and back, I dumped my bags, grabbed another cappuccino, and noted that the monitor now said that the 3:30 p.m. flight would be departing at 4:30 p.m. I then went to the pleasant gentleman at the desk and asked him the status of the plane. He looked at his computer screen and confidently said the plane would touch down at 3:56 p.m. I then asked when it would board. He replied that it was scheduled to depart at 4:30, so I should assume boarding 30 minutes beforehand, or 4 p.m. Doing some fast math, I pointed out if that were the case, the plane would have four minutes to taxi to the gate, unload its passengers, and be readied for departure. He looked at me blankly and said, "I can only tell you what the computer says." I smiled and said, "Actually, I would prefer, instead, if you would tell me what you think."

He looked at me with a rather uncomfortable stare, leaned over, and said, in almost a whisper, "Well, I would go to the gate at around 4:15. I think it will take about 5 minutes to get the plane to the gate, and around 15 to 20 minutes to deplane the passengers and clean it."

I thanked him and followed his advice. His timing was almost perfect.

As the plane zoomed to its destination, I pondered the moral of this little event. Had the airline enforced so stringent a set of rules that its employees have no discretion to use their own common sense? Or was this vignette just another example of people viewing the technology we develop as a silver bullet, relieving them of all need to interpret the data they see before them on the screen? In all likelihood, it is a little of both. I also hoped that the pilots flying this big and thoroughly packed Boeing jet had not succumbed to either of these syndromes.

Herbert W. Lovelace is the CIO at a multibillion-dollar international company. Herb practices his day job under an alias and has changed the names of colleagues to protect the guilty. Send him E-mail at lovelace@home.com. He will provide real answers--and whimsical comments--to your questions on InformationWeek Online at www.informationweek.com.

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