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Addledoit
Jeff Foxworthy defines this word as, "The Exact Right Amount."
In Information Technology, this is exactly where we should aim. That includes software development, software and hardware purchases, and investment in human resources through direct hire and consulting.
The correct answer is always, addledoit. The problem is that the formula for "The Exact Right Amount" is often different. That is the true skill of an IT Professional. We need to make the right investment with the greatest return for the lowest cost resulting in short term and long term profitability. Sometimes that means spending money on more expensive items; other times it means running things as low cost as possible. Other times you find yourself spending more money because the cost of downtime outweighs the risk for investing less.
Here’s a software example…when writing a software solution we must balance solving the currently know problem with the ability to extend or re-use the code we write today. Other times we start optimizing code before we have completed it to get the optimum performance. Perhaps the first version was adequate. If it performed in an acceptable time would it not make more sense to move on to other things that move the company forward?
I know as an IT professional I always struggle with what is "right" and what is expedient. I always want 99.999% uptime for a database server. But, does your company really need that kind of reliability? There is a huge cost differential between 99.99% and 99.999% uptime, even using cloud services.
My point: "The bean counters are not always wrong." You should have to justify your expenses and plans to provide "the Exact Right Amount" of service that keeps your company profitable for the short term and the long term.
How do you decide "addledoit" in your world? Drop a note to me at btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
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