Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
A Good Worker Needs Many Tools
It is a well-known fact that a good worker always carries many tools in
his or her toolchest. But in corporate environments, there is always an
attempt to reduce the variety in tools. In the name of “standardization,”
“integration,” or “re-use,” there are fewer tools available from which to
choose. There is often one modeling tool, or one slide creation software,
that becomes the “standard.” Practitioners may end up having insufficient
variety in these tools to handle the variety in the situation they are trying
to control. These tools may improve with time but that does not com-
pensate fully for the lack of variety now.
These tools and representational frameworks are languages that we
use for thinking. As James Martin and Carma McClure say in their topic
entitled
Diagramming Techniques for Analysts and Programmers
,
“…what we are capable of thinking depends on the language
we use for thinking. When mankind used only Roman numerals,
ordinary people could not multiply or divide. That capability
spread when Arabic numbers became widely used.”
One should carefully select the tools that one uses on a project.
Channels
Communication in projects employs many channels: phone, e-mail,
spreadsheets, slide presentations, corridors, documents, meetings, and
many others. Content is generated and retained all over the place. Even
if all communication had “perfect content,” it should be no surprise that
this multiplicity of channels could lead to miscommunication. This section
examines some of these very familiar channels.
Slides and Diagrams
We must address the issue of PowerPoint and related slide tools. Power-
Point has become the
corporate vehicle for sharing information.
Fortunately, the rampant use of PowerPoint remains the prerogative and
domain of managers and “manager types.” (In fact, some managers are
called PowerPoint types). Software developers have not embraced this
tool and remain skeptical. Tufte has a good pamphlet criticizing Power-
Point for its low information content and poor use of real estate. Power-
Point slides seem to contain cryptic bullet points drawn from the age of
the telegraph, all the way to long sentences cut and pasted into the slide
de facto