Guide to the TechWeb Network


The InformationWeek -- Blogs


Topics:  

  • Email this page E-mail this page
  • |  Print this page Print this page
  • |   Bookmark and Share

You've Got A Lotta 'Splainin To Do


Posted by , Feb 14, 2006 06:14 PM

With apologies to Ricky Ricardo, arguably the most famous line from one of the most popular TV shows of my youth was echoing in my head last night as my husband and I were dragging ourselves home from the gym.

The IT Guy was telling me about how he's heading out of town in a few weeks to present to the company president and 300 top executives. (I can't mention the name of the company, sorry.) It's an internal trade show type of deal, and IT Guy is going to be talking about what he does for most of the day, which involves server virtualization, and why it's such a beautiful thing because it requires fewer resources, saves the company money, and so on.

Then he started telling me some of what he hopes to use in his 'pitch,' and that's when I began thinking of Ricky Ricardo.

I understand the very broad strokes of what server virtualization is and how it works, or at least I thought I did. But I began blinking really hard when IT Guy started explaining about virtual NIC cards and virtual printer drivers. Turns out--and this is true--that 'pretend' servers have other 'pretend' gizmos to help them out. Kind of like your kid having a make-believe friend who has other make-believe friends. You don't see any of them, but you know they're there because other people are talking to them. (I suggested to IT Guy that he use this analogy during his presentation, but for some reason he didn't think his top execs would find it all that illuminating.)

But my point is this: if IT professionals and their groupies have trouble explaining ourselves to each other, how can we expect business executives to follow the bouncing ball? Because you know that when you're talking tech with most business types, they're really thinking about how to get their merchandise from the assembly line to their distributor in Japan--or whatever their big problem of the day is.

Back in the day, things were difficult to grasp because it was all so new. When I first began reporting in the tech industry, 20-something years ago, I had never before heard the term 'software.' (And this is also true: I went to my local hardware store, hoping to find some. The nice people there had never heard of it either.)

Now here we are all these years later, and most execs have the basics down (or at least I hope they do). But with these more advanced concepts like virtualization, self-healing systems, and the like comes a requirement to work even harder to help the business folks understand what we're talking about. Because if they don't get it, there's no way they're going to fund it.

IT benefit is about more than religious-type faith. Everyone in this business knows that. But it takes a particular skill set to successfully explain the technology in a way that makes clear what the technology is and why it's a good thing for the business so the people holding the purse strings will buy in.

The longer I'm at this, the more I'm convinced that lack of communication is at the heart of the chasm that has always existed between IT and business people. I’m not blaming IT-ers for the existence of this problem, of course, but I am saying that you can go a long way toward fixing the problem. And if you don't do it, nobody will.

Nobody else *can* do it, either. The more complex the technology, and the more interwoven the pieces, the more we need people who know how to 'translate tech' into language the rest of the world can understand. Most business folks don't or can't speak tech, but ITers can certainly speak business.

What do you think? Do you have any funny or disastrous stories of miscommunication between IT and the business side? Leave your comments below.

« Podcast: Interview With Eugene Kaspersky | Main | Daily News Podcast, Wednesday, Feb. 15 »



Tomorrow's CIO: Do you have what it takes?
Find out at the 2008 InformationWeek 500 Conference
Sept. 14-16, St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach, Calif.


Sign up now for the weekly InformationWeek Blog Newsletter.


This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.

Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service.

Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.






  1. Windows Vista: The OS About Nothing
  2. You Thought Vista Was Bad?
  3. Google Chrome: Browser Or Cloud Operating System?
  4. Apple Nixes 'Pull My Finger' App, Even Though It's A Gas
  5. Sarah Palin's Babygate And The Future Of Journalism


  1. Radical Desktops Deliver Power To The People. But What About IT?
  2. Need Disaster Recovery On The Cheap? Think Virtualization
  3. No Virtualizing Without A License
  4. Smart Stuff: The State Of Business Intelligence 2008
  5. Down To Business: Are Technology Leaders Focusing Too Much On The Small Stuff?
  6. Rolling Review Wrap-Up: Vendors' RFP Responses Make The Case For Switching

 
 

  Ars Technica
Boing Boing
Channel 9 Forums
CRN Blogs
Dr.Dobb's Portal: Blogs
Engadget
Gizmodo
GrokLaw
  Lifehacker
Schneier on Security
Slashdot
TechCrunch
Techdirt
Techmeme
Valleywag

  FEBRUARY 2008
JANUARY 2008
DECEMBER 2007
NOVEMBER 2007
OCTOBER 2007
SEPTEMBER 2007
AUGUST 2007
JULY 2007
  JUNE 2007
MAY 2007
APRIL 2007
MARCH 2007
FEBRUARY 2007
JANUARY 2007
DECEMBER 2006
NOVEMBER 2006