Category: Technology

This kind of goes with my prior post, The Importance of HCLs.

As a technologist I have some very long-held beliefs and preferences as far as technology goes. I know what I like to use, why I like to use it, and could talk for hours about why someone else should use a certain technology or consider trying it out (at the very least).

However, when does that fight become counter-productive? When does trying to fit my preferences and wants, my assumptions, start to fight against me and create more harm than good?

There is certainly something to be said about loving the tools that yo use, but what if those tools, for the current job, just don’t work not because they are incapable …  but because of factors outside of your control.

Say that you want to use a vendor’s virtual appliances in order to add some much-needed new technology to make things better … but that vendor doesn’t support your virtualization platform. What do you do? Do you spend the time and effort either:

1. Trying to get their virtual appliance to work on your infrastructure.
2. Try and convince the vendor to support your infrastructure.

Even if #2 might create a little less work for you in the short-term, think about what that time might mean for your vendor. More resources devoted to supporting more platforms can mean a slower-moving vendor. Apple is the prime example of this … if you want to use Apple’s stuff, USE APPLE’S STUFF. Everywhere. As much as possible.

It is a good fight to get all technologies to inter-operate together, but there are so many things to do, so many improvements to make in all facets of IT that maybe, just maybe, fighting the good fight in this instance might not be worth it not just for you … but for everyone else too.

What would you do if you could, for lack of a better phrase, burn it all down.

I’m talking about your IT infrastructure. What built-in assumptions does your current infrastructure contain which you would revert if you were able to start with a completely barren landscape and build something entirely new.

That is an interesting thought experiment, but that is about it. In almost no circumstance will you be able to find yourself starting from a completely barren landscape and able to build up something without the interference of the past. Even new buildings need to interface with old buildings or people who expect things to work in a certain way are going to be in that new building, so completely starting over is never a true option.

Something more fun is to think about what benefits you want from that new infrastructure and to think about how you might bring those benefits without tearing everything out to start over new.

Small changes add up over time, just like they did to get you were you are. Create a plan, or a goal, of what you want to change and then start picking off the low-hanging fruit (now I’m really getting the metaphors in here) so that you can get some momentum.

Many times we might want to just tear things out because it seems like the easier path, and maybe it is sometimes … but perhaps there is a better way to get some the benefits without tearing your hair, and your infrastructure, out.