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I just had a very interesting conversation with a customer, who told me that the problem with IT comes down to the three G's, which stand for: Girls, Geeks, and Grandfathers.
My contact had recently attended a business development seminar, where the speaker had summarised what the "Three G's" were about.
I hope this stuff isn't trade-marked, or copy-write anywhere - I couldn't find it on Google! The summaries are what I considered made sense about the concept.
Girls
There aren't enough Girls in IT.
This makes a lot of sense for anyone who has a wife. Wives like the place to look tidy, everything should have it's own place, they are concerned about the little things and they make sure you follow up on your commitments.
Now, if we apply that to IT, every piece of software would look great and be well organised, there would be no little "issues" with software (we call them "bugs") because the software would be thoroughly tested and wouldn't ship until all the little things had been worked out, and they would make sure that customers requests and suggestions (and the commitments you make to your customers) would be followed up upon.
Geeks
There are too many Geeks in IT.
I count myself in this group (to a certain degree). Yes, I did stay up until 1:45am last week waiting to download Notes 8.5 when it hit the IBM BP Software Catalogue - so I definitely qualify. My contact was kind enough to mention that I wasn't really a Geek though, because I could "talk like a normal person" and I always had a business case or justification behind my suggestions or comments.
My customer mentioned that the "Geeks" he had come across were more interested in what computers and software could do, and what the "latest thing" was, rather than how that technology could be applied to business. IBM once had a video called "Cool Factor" which went some of the way to explaining the phenomenon.
Grandfathers
There are too many "Grandfathers" who work with IT.
This doesn't necessarily mean the guy who you send your kids to on holidays, but more a generic term for anyone "set in their ways" who doesn't completely embrace new things, or who is resistant toward implementing new technology or ideas.
Again, applying that to IT, how many customers (including internal customers - your fellow employees) do you have who don't like a new version of software - or even different software - just because they are familiar with the current software and don't want to change?
I know I am guilty of this. I really don't like Office 2007 - for me it's just TOO different - and I still find myself working in Notes 7 a lot of the time.
So in summary, we (in IT) should hire more girls, learn how to "talk normal" (I love the way Jeff Foxworthy says that!) and be more open to new technology!
What do the Three G's mean to you?
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