Session 03
You will learn:
• That IT business systems can always be made to work — one way or another — and that’s not always going to work for the business greater good.
• That a working system means nothing more than it working.
• That in the typical engagement model of corporate IT, you have no way of ensuring that what’s under the glossy hood of digital systems have been well-built.
• The innate nature of digital systems is such that they require more quality control than simply the assurance that they do the job.
Welcome to the world of the virtual.
Because information technology business solutions are based on computers, software and data, they have unique characteristics that cannot be found in any of the other products to which we’re accustomed.
The raw materials are software programs and data, processed by immensely powerful calculators. They are not bound by the laws of physics or nature. As such they are highly malleable.
There are always multiple paths to get to the same result. What seems to be a blessing is in fact a double-edged sword that can be misused to create unwanted complexity as well poor quality results. This truth is a foundational one. The fact that IT solutions can always be made to work has a huge impact on the quality of the digital solutions delivered to your enterprise. It also explains some of the dysfunctional behaviors that you will learn about in the next sessions.
