RE: Users replacing specialists in IT

["Cardimon, Craig" <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com>]

>> 

Forget outsourcing. the real threat to IT pros could be Web 2.0. While
there's a lot of hype and hubris surrounding wikis, mashups, and social
networking, there's also a lot of real innovation--much of it coming
from increasingly tech-savvy business users, not the IT department.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=?articl
eID=202601956

This does not appear to be directly related to TW, but it is.
Developers and IT staff are facing the same situation we face, which is
that as users become more knowledged about technology, they need less
of the standard functions (write the manual, install the operating
system) we are accustomed to provide.

<< 

 

But when something goes wrong, they still need instructions and a
manual, or whatever. And as intuitive as things may get, the behind the
scenes software will fail, the keyboard will fail, the joystick will
fail. And as easy as things may get, you still have to follow
instructions. And as my sister says, "I don't have time to read." She
slams things together and hopes for the best.

 

To my mind, our instructions have to be made even simpler and more
direct, with tons of pictures and graphics. The sheet for my VCR, yes I
still use one, is so terrible I had to write a crib sheet for it. Not
enough sketches. Not enough pictures. I had to draw in freehand what the
cable hookups should look like, and I can't really draw.

 

What we do will evolve just as everyone else's careers do.

 

-- Craig

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