I have so many professional pet-peeves that I don’t even remember them half the time. However, one big pet-peeve of mine is when Information Technology “leaders” simply accept the limits of their full-time employees (FTEs). These leaders may not overtly say that they accept FTE limits, but in outsourcing even the simplest services, that’s the message they’re sending. Now, as a consultant, I benefit from the view that FTEs are limited in their capabilities. Heck, this mythology basically paid for my son’s tuition. But when I’m submitting deliverables that any number of FTEs could have produced, I can’t help but feel icky. Over the years, I’ve had to shower at the end of the day in order to get the icky-ness off of my skin.
The basic problem is almost never with the FTEs, however. The real problem is that IT leaders, especially in government agencies, accept their own limitations such as budget constraints, salary constraints, and perhaps even labor unions. And while these are valid limitations, they should never prevent leaders from developing an innovative context through which FTEs can extend their own capabilities. More often than not though, IT leaders will complain about what they can’t do without looking for ways that they can do things better, within their perceived limits.
Maybe it’s human nature to look at limits and think they can’t be extended (or removed completely). Maybe the IT leaders who continue to hire me think that I’m like the Warrior Bugs from A Bug’s Life and that I can save them from the grasshoppers of their contexts. I’m glad to have to work, but here’s a secret that perhaps I shouldn’t share: IT Leaders don’t need me! Really, I can’t say that I’ve ever been in an environment that is completely devoid of talented FTEs. It’s just that IT leaders either don’t recognize talent or know how to develop it. Which is that causes me grief: IT leaders would rather outsource their capabilities and create dependencies or admit that they have no clue how to lead. Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain, I still have to send my son to graduate school.
