Not all technology failures stem from technology problems. If you’ve ever seen someone drop their smartphone on the sidewalk or chuck a shoe at their TV in anger, you already know this to be the case. But at many companies, people can cause far more insidious problems. A few bad habits and poor management that doesn’t nip problems in the bud can result in million-dollar failures. It happens more than you’d think, but it doesn’t need to.
I think back to my early days as an IT contractor, before we started SwitchedLink, where I saw how a company failed to get its people onboard with a tech upgrade. The result was costly, and so very unnecessary failure.
Back in those days, I was in a more straightforward technical support role. I was part of a project helping this computer chip manufacturing company to make their email system more resilient.
On paper, the job was pretty straightforward. The bulk of their IT infrastructure depended on Linux, though parts used Windows and Microsoft products. The mission was to make their email system secure and redundant to withstand failures at any point in the email chain.
Employees had to have access to email at all times. It was their critical app. This went to the core of the company’s need for business continuity.
Apparently, not everyone in the company cared about those things. That turned out to be a big problem.
The importance of getting consensus before you click the ‘go’ switch
As I mentioned, my role in this project was limited to the technical design work on the new email system. But even then, long before I’d had honed the kinds of skills needed to deal one-on-one with CEOs and CTOs as an outside IT specialist, I caught hints that not everything was right at the company.
Many times, I witnessed firsthand how the in-house IT Director was having issues in his own department. It’s not unusual for junior IT people to have strong opinions about the right way to do something and see them passionately argue a point with a higher-up. But time and again, the arguments I saw seemed to cross the line to outright disrespect. The contempt they felt towards their department head was palpable in their sneering looks and dismissive hand waves. I don’t know if I’d ever seen anything like it at that point in my career.
Then there were the petty fiefdoms of IT – sadly, not a rarity in many companies, but again, the people in this firm took it to an extreme. I saw security people throw obstacles in front of managers and other people without offering solutions. The people in charge of the network did the same of thing, creating hurdles for other employees, making them go through bureaucratic processes more akin to a passport office, seemingly just to prove that they could. Certainly, the company wasn’t seeing huge benefits in security or connectivity in return for these arbitrary drops in productivity.
In my limited contract role, it wasn’t my place to step into the CEO’s office and report these issues or try to deal with it directly. I didn’t wonder how these kinds of bad attitudes might impact the project I was working on. I just wanted to do the job I was hired to do and get out of this place.
Soon enough, we saw the consequences of the IT Director and other senior people not getting everyone on board with the change.
We turned on the brand new email system. It failed.
In fact, it would never work.
Many senior people in the organization (and juniors who followed their lead) simply refused to stop using the Linux-based apps that they were used to using. They did this, even though we’d made it clear (as had the executive who ordered the email switch) that the new system simply wouldn’t work if people on the network were still using the old tech.
These people should have made the switch months before. Certainly, they all got the same memos. They were at the same team meetings where they got the same reminders. But they weren’t on board with the change to their favorite work apps.
At that point, the company could still have saved the situation. A senior leader could have simply said: “Hey folks. This new email system is what we’re using. It makes us more secure. It ensures 24/7 access even if there’s an earthquake. It’s essential to the company.
“Here’s what I’m asking you to do. Take the afternoon to download the programs you need, export your data, and do whatever you need to do. We have people on hand to help you get it done. I get that you’re attached to certain programs, but I suspect you’re even more attached to your job. Are we all on the same page? Great! Let’s do this.”
I’m told that didn’t happen. People stuck to their old habits and the executive team just didn’t want to have a difficult conversation. They stuck with their old system – and that was that.
These days, my colleagues and I play a more holistic role whenever a company calls us for outside IT specialist services. We’re not just there to help plan, design, fix or build the technology that runs their business. We also help with the human factor, helping their leadership team understand what they need to do to get their people on board. Technology is wonderful when it works, but everyone has to do their part.
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