My supervisor gets credit for the term "shiny new penny syndrome," but I'll help spread it. If you're in IT, you probably know someone with this issue. He loves the new gadget, the neat gizmo, the cool idea, the latest buzz. He's always excited about what he's found and looking for a way it can solve a problem (oftentimes a problem we don't even have!). After he's played with the penny a while it begins to tarnish, he gets bored, and he moves on in search of another new penny.
IT professionals must be careful not to let social trends and "the shiny new penny syndrome" affect the way we conduct our professional lives. If every new and fun thing we find gets touted as a must-have technology then we lose our credibility. It makes us no better than the boy who cried wolf. It also means we can't give full support to the technologies which we have in place and working.
That leads to my cardinal rule of IT. "Everyone Comes Around At Their Own Pace." I'll save that for a later post, but I'm sure you can figure out what it means without explanation.
No comments:
Post a Comment