The Curmudgeon Report

Contributed by Brett Gerke

First, I am an academic. I feel a need to disclose this in the same manner as alcoholics disclose their affliction. As I have been told, the purpose of an academic is: research, discover and disclose the truth. Then you need to publish… without being controversial, offending anyone, and without making any statements you can’t back up empirically. In other words, nobody wants to know what you think, just what you know. This can be very frustrating. So this is my catharsis, my vent, and you’re the suckers, ahem, target audience for these rants. So… welcome to the part of my brain that doesn’t get exercised much. So here’s what I think:

I see no value in loyalty to a vendor.

I don’t see how using one vendor equates to having an ’ enterprise architecture’.

I’d hate to think that one product line is ‘the total solution’.

I don’t believe that anything with a name that includes the word ‘toolkit’ to be of any worth.

I don’t think that you need to genuflect each time you say the name ‘Gartner Group’.

I embrace the pure theory of Open Source and Open Systems though I think it is impossible for this movement to gain widespread traction where everyone has purple lips from drinking the Microsoft, Oracle, or IBM Kool-Aid.

What if the hokey- pokey is really what it’s all about?

I think anyone that believes their computer software can create ‘actionable intelligence’ is not very intelligent.

I think business needs to stop looking for the right answers and spend their time coming up with the right questions.

I believe that the new knowledge workers are cut from a different cloth than in the past. Therefore, they must be managed differently. Old management styles are not going to be successful with the new generations of graduates.

Change needs to be embraced, not managed.

Thanks for reading this far! I feel better… If any of these subjects hit a nerve, please let me know so I can explain my thoughts. If you agree, ditto…

And if you need any research done… I’m here for you.