[thelist] webmasters acting as sysadmins

[Randal Rust]

On 2/19/07, Steven Streight <steven.streight at gmail.com> wrote:

> The end result will be, and is already happening: companies outsourcing IT
> to the IT services companies, who sell the companies a "black box" that
> management cannot look inside and figure out. This means that when there is
> a problem, they have to have the outsourced IT firm fix it.

That's been happening for years, especially since the Y2K bug. In the
biz, they call it customizable-off-the-shelf software (COTS).

> IT and business management really need to spend the time and effort to
> understand each other's realms.

No, they really don't. Would it help? Not really. Then you have too
many cooks in the kitchen. The IT folks aren't included to run the
business and vice versa. Don't try to push that square peg into the
round hole.

> Would it kill an IT guy to read a book by Drucker, Tom Peters, Seth Godin,
> Jack Welch, or some other management or marketing guru?

That only helps if they actually manage the budget and/or people.
Realistically, there should be an IT director who is on the board of
the company, helping make decisions. And guess what? Those are the
people who want the outsourcing. It's lower cost in the short term and
they don't need staff with the necessary skills on hand.

> Would it kill a management executive to study a little about web services, HTML, web
> usability, CSS, etc.?

No, but why on earth would they want to do that? Besides, the last
thing most of us need is a client coming and telling us how to do our
jobs. It's bad enough I have to listen to people attempt to talk the
talk and have no idea what they are saying.

Oftentimes, a little information can cause a lot more problems that it is worth.

-- 
Randal Rust
R.Squared Communications
www.r2communications.com