Busy day so just a short post for tonight:
The IT industry isn’t a manufacturing industry: it’s a service industry. Whether you’re a developer, a tester, or an ops/sysad, your purpose isn’t just to code, test, or run programs: your purpose is to make sure those programs work well enough to provide tangible benefits to the user.
But what if the software you’re providing poses some problems or negative effects on the users?
No, I’m not talking about malware or crappy software. I’m actually talking about good software that makes processes and tasks much more efficient than they are.
They can cause problems because some people actually thrive on inefficiency.
These are the back room personnel that block any sort of automation process because they know they will be rendered redundant (i.e. fired) once it’s implemented.
These are the software vendors or internal IT departments that refuse to allow third party companies/consultants to fix or replace their buggy systems because the former earns a lot of profit on support call fees.
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Sadly, I don’t have any quick advice on dealing with these people. I’m just here to point out again that Software Engineering isn’t about technologies and processes: it’s always about people.
