08.16.08
Tight Budgets Can Make Strange Bellows
In the late afternoon just at dark, the lake behind my house comes alive with sounds. The frogs and the crickets begin calling out. Sometimes we even hear an alligator bellowing.
IT budgets are beginning to enter into this time of darkness. Times are tough and budgets are being cut. Because the business needs automation to compete, deadlines remain the same. So like the frogs and the crickets and the occasional alligator, you can hear the duct tape ripping from the roll.
Key personnel may have their jobs eliminated and more junior players attempt to pull together the functions and information needed for each project. Those that remain have a strong sense of survival. Solutions must meet the immediate need. Long term repercussions are ignored. Duct tape solutions prevail.
You cannot find fault with a development staff for using duct tape when resources are cut. They see their friends being tossed overboard into the unknown, dreaded sea of unemployment. They see the ship getting smaller and simply do what it takes to survive.
You cannot find fault with the development staff, but you can find fault with the management. They control the resources, the expectations, and ultimately the morale of the IT staff. They can follow the old approach, “The beatings will continue until the work improves”, or they can find a way to reduce the workload at the same time the resources are being reduced. They could even insert a reward system to make clear their objectives which should not include duct tape solutions.
This can be a great time for innovation if the management encourages it. Some of the best ideas come about when our backs are to the wall.
