No facts allowed: Discussions about IT strategy are for sissies

Another day, another project roadblock! So it goes in IT. But one of the worst is when managers insist on implementing a certain technology — no matter what. The most infuriating aspect of the whole thing is not being listened to and not given a good reason for the decision. Finding middle ground or even just having a discussion about the options? In your dreams.

Back up some years to when I started working at a food manufacturer. The founder and CEO, who was there for the majority of my 24 years at the company, encouraged innovation and “using our brain.” His favorite catchphrase was, “There’s a better way. Let’s find it!”

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I began in a different department, then was given IT duties in the late 1990s. We were a branch location, providing about 30 percent of the total products for the company. My boss gave me my first task in my new role: Put an intranet to work as a cost-saving measure.

The golden years

I savored my new job, and within a year had discovered the power of dynamic Web content. I tried ASP, but soon grew tired of its instability and cryptic error messages. On the advice of a corporate IT crony, I tried WAMP. Within six months I’d moved a dozen clunky paper apps over to the Web.

I learned more and more as time went by, such as how to make PHP communicate with Oracle and SQL Server. My boss was thrilled, productivity at our branch was up, and I was told my apps were the talk of the organization. I was invited to another branch location to meet with folks there to talk about building a stock approval app for them, which successfully streamlined one of their workflow processes; they raved about it.

I continued to learn and build even more, including an intrusion detection system, a production metrics app, and the company’s first AD-aware Linux server. I also began deploying apps from Linux that provided single sign-on security via standard PC logins on XP machines.

Climate change

But after the company founder and CEO passed away, the new CEO had a different philosophy than his predecessor. Instead of innovation and “seeking a better way,” he advised caution and treated new ideas with skepticism. The dynamic within the company started to shift accordingly.

One day I discovered I was under the spotlight of the corporate IT department. Until then, the IT groups in the different branches had worked pretty much independently from each other. But one day I was informed that an unadvertised decision had been reached some time ago to be a 100 percent Microsoft shop, and anything I’d built in PHP was subject to conversion to VB.net, preferably by me.

This was the first I’d heard of such a decision. I asked what the reasons were but was brushed off, told that “it was just the best thing to do.” I pointed out how well my apps were working and suggested that, instead of converting 100 apps, it would make sense to explore the idea of adding at least one more open source developer to keep it going and to further develop in it.

The debate grew more intense, without corporate giving more of a reason than “this is what we decided to do.” But I had solid numbers on my side: Our location had gone from least to most profitable in the company, and production brass had figures showing that my apps had made up a large part of that trend. Officers got involved. Our branch’s manager was looking brilliant, thanks to the numbers, and he didn’t want a thing changed. There had been plans in the works to expand some of my apps as well. Finally, I was invited to corporate headquarters to present my case formally.

I spent a week putting together demos of my best stuff, with actual savings and raves from customers included. I got up before the corporate IT group, including the CIO, and put my heart into pleading the case for FOSS in the workplace. My personal favorite was demoing my IDS, which at the time ran a couple of thousand MySQL queries and loaded a Web page in about 3 seconds flat.

When I was finished, the CIO stood up and read from a (previously) prepared statement reiterating the policy that all development was to be 100 percent VB.net, and further stating that the conversion of my 100-plus Web apps was to be handled by me, beginning ASAP. Open source development was to stop.

I went back to the hotel room and got drunk. The next day, I told my boss I needed a week off. When I returned, I told him that I’d be willing to learn and do new development in VB.net, but refused to convert apps that worked perfectly to a different platform just because of an unpublicized decision to go with a certain technology that was reached without the input of any developers outside of a few in corporate.

Moving on

A year later, corporate dissolved our local IT department and replaced the jobs with corporate ones. There were six of us, and five jobs were offered. It’s no surprise who missed out.

After 24 years at the company, I was dumped. It’s been a few years since then, but insiders tell me my open source Web apps are still purring along better than the new ones — and have not been converted.

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This story, “No facts allowed: Discussions about IT strategy are for sissies,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more crazy-but-true stories in the anonymous Off the Record blog at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.