No Secrets in I.T.

Technology professionals are notorious for keeping information to themselves that should be institutionalized. Sometimes, this tendency is motivated be fear – maybe a technology professional knows he is under-qualified for his position and thinks that the less others know about what he does, the safer his job is. The motivation could also be power – “no one is going to modify the TPS reports without my consent.”

But, often, it isn’t a case of being motivated to hide information, it is a case of being unmotivated to document something that is boring. Many people end up in the technical field because they enjoy trouble-shooting and solving problems. But, once a problem is solved, they are bored with it.

Regardless of what the motivation may be, it is unacceptable for a technology professional to hoard information. Not only should your systems and processes be documented, but most everything that most I.T. staffers do should be recorded in an organized and searchable manner. This will greatly decrease the amount of time reinventing the wheel.

No organization should ever feel held hostage by their I.T. Department, any particular staffer, or by any vendor or group of vendors. A senior executive should have complete access to all documentation and should audit it on occasion to make sure it is current.

If you’d like a checklist of documentation you should have, and some suggestions for simple and quick audits, please contact me.