Category: blog

IT Axioms

Things I’ve learned in 30 years of IT

axioms
  • User convenience wins over IT security
  • Security and compliance are not the same
  • Security and privacy are not the same
  • Authentication and authorization are not the same
  • Trust and verification are not the same
  • If you have ‘nothing to hide’, you have everything to lose
  • Build a 10 foot security wall and users buy a 12 foot ladder
  • A backup is as good as the last tested restore
  • To understand how a decision is made, follow the money
  • Don’t confuse activity with productivity
  • If a user says something isn’t important…it is
  • A missing $50 cable can delay a $1M project…details matter
  • Complex projects take 2x the time of the estimate
  • Technical debt is easy to add and difficult to remove
  • A software sprint is anything but
  • MDM solutions don’t find 10% of your devices
  • Customers don’t pay for documentation
  • If every user is special…no one is
  • If everything is urgent…nothing is
  • Important and urgent are not synonyms
  • An end user problem is not my emergency
  • This will only take a minute…won’t
  • Anyone claiming 100% compliance…won’t pass an audit
  • If you can’t measure it…you probably don’t understand it
  • Complex IT system fail gradually…then suddenly
  • Managing people is convincing you my emergency is yours
  • Work-Life balance does not apply at end of quarter
  • If you have a quota…the number is the number
  • No good deed goes unpunished
  • A manager who is ‘here to help’…isn’t
  • A feature and a bug are all about perspective
  • Your initial project estimate is a client’s final price
  • In a training class of smart IT people…sit next to the quiet one
  • Junior IT people…mouth shut and ears open
  • Smart IT people sit in the back of the room
  • Open source is free…unless you’re the maintainer