The end of the IT department

37 Signals’ David Heinemeier Hansson:

When people talk about their IT departments, they always talk about the things they’re not allowed to do, the applications they can’t run, and the long time it takes to get anything done. Rigid and inflexible policies that fill the air with animosity. Not to mention the frustrations of speaking different languages. None of this is a good foundation for a sustainable relationship.

If businesses had as many gripes with an external vendor, that vendor would’ve been dropped long ago. But IT departments have endured as a necessary evil. I think those days are coming to an end.

Worth reading in full.

1 thought on “The end of the IT department”

  1. I was going to comment on that post, but if I see loads of comments I don’t bother, as I’m going to be yet another voice. However I’ll say it here because I’m going to be top of the list!

    I’m an IT Director and IT does more than run email, they also look after databases. If everyone who wanted their own little database went off and put it in the cloud we’d have the situation we had here 10 years ago, with lots of silos. Even if the IT department chooses a cloud hosting solution, they need to be involved wherever databases are involved, so they can meet the needs of the whole organisation.

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