Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Yet.there.will.always.be.times.when.someone.who.is.not.
a.part.of.their.specialty.will.need.to.understand.what.they.are.
doing..It.might.be.one.of.the.engineers.or.project.managers.
who.is.trying.to.ind.new.and.better.ways.to.run.the.business..
Or.it.might.be.someone.from.a.different.area.of.the.IT.spec-
trum.who.needs.to.coordinate.with.them.for.some.reason..It.
might.be.the.managers,.executives,.or.accountants.who.need.
to.create.a.business.case.for.budgeting.and.strategic.planning..
Or.it.could.be.the.security.specialists.who.need.to.understand.
what.might.have.happened.within.a.system.in.order.to.analyze.
a.compromise.or.develop.logical.and.effective.policies.
It.could.also.be.the.legal.counsel.or.auditors.who.need.to.
acquire.important.information.and.electronic.evidence.for.a.
legal.action.or.audit.
In.any.of.those.cases,.the.technician.may.have.dificulty.
inding.a.way.to.translate.their.everyday.concepts.into.a.lan-
guage.that.someone.who.is.not.familiar.with.those.concepts.
can. understand.. From. their. point. of. view. the. systems. and.
language. they. work. with. looks. obvious. and. clear,. but. that.
can.be.hard.to.get.across.to.others.without.some.effort.and.
excellent.communications.skills.
Unfortunately,.those.skills.are.not.typically.taught.or.even.
valued.in.the.realms.of.IT.training.and.recruiting..There.are.
some.technologists.who.chose.that.career.speciically.because.
they.were.more.comfortable.working.with.computers.than.with.
people,.and.whose.people.skills.are.thereby.relatively.lacking.
However,.as.we.are.beginning.to.understand,.in.this.ever.
more. IT-dependent. world,. these. folks. are. integral. to. every-
thing.we.do..Thus,.it.is.important.for.us.to.ind.a.way.to.com-
municate.clearly.with.and.among.IT.staff.of.all.stripes.
2.4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AS AN ALLY
We.walked.through.a.typical.day.in.any.of.our.lives.and.we.
jumped.into.the.world.of.information.technologists.to.look.at.
things.from.their.point.of.view.
