Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives
Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.
Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices
Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.
Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices
This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »August 01, 2007 — CIO —
IT departments have had a long, sometimes deleterious and mostly fun-filled history of making up nicknames for clueless, overwhelmed and tech-challenged users of IT software and hardware.
One of my favorite derisive terms is a calling a user a luser. Good one.
Another one that Ive recently latched onto is PEBKACproblem exists between keyboard and chair. Zinger!
How about this one? UBD: user brain damage. Nice.
Or this old acronym, which has a different (if still toxic) use these days: DDT. That is, Dont do that, which is usually in response to a user who just said, When I do this....
This one was new to me: Wetware, referring to the source of some type of user-introduced error. Theres also the id10t error, and the less biting Luddite.
This antagonistic relationship between IT and users has been wonderfully parodied by Saturday Night Lives skit Nick Burns, Your Companys Computer Guy, played by Jimmy Fallon. (A couple of my favorites are on YouTube, including Nick and his dad (Billy Bob Thornton) and Nick and a smart user (Jamie Foxx).) His three catch phrases typify horrible IT and user interactions: Nick Burns shouts, Move! whenever he commandeers a confused users keyboard; Was that so hard?! is his sarcastic remark when he fixes the problem; and Oh, by the way, youre welcome! is the snarky way he exits the room after he has easily solved all of the lusers tech problems.
As someone who has committed many idiotic computer transgressions over the years, I find the simmering animosity between IT staffers and the user base fascinating and mostly funny. (The legendary story of the user trying to use his CD drive tray for a cup holder justifiably lives on.) Still, many people feel that derisive IT comments widen the divide that IT sometimes drives between itself and other non-IT staff, according to an unscientific gathering of user opinions among my colleagues and friends.
Weve tried to figure out the whys and wherefores of this dynamic on CIO.com from time to time, as in Why IT and Users Hate Each Other and Users Are Right to Hate IT, or Time to Rethink Your Relationship to End Users and Why an Autocratic Approach to User Support Will Fail.
Whatever the case, you cant deny the adversarial vibe and the occasional wit that results. So what other names have you heard IT use to identify clueless or annoying users? Lets see what you can do.