Respected consultant and author Steve Jones wrote an intriguing and funny post recently about the contributors to the mess IT finds itself in. For example:

“First off is the view that new technologies and solutions will clean up the mess. This is wrong for the simple reason that in almost all companies this represents less than 20% of the total IT spend (often its less than 10% or even 5%). This means that 80% of the spend isn’t being touched or looked at. A simple 80/20 rule would tell you that this approach is wrong. Unfortunately IT continues to believe that yet more lipstick on the pig will make the pig attractive.”

Steve’s blog is definitely a worthwhile read in general, especially with other rants like these:

• Why republicans don’t like SOA
• Narcissistic IT, same old challenge, same old idiots
• Why procurement is meant to be hated

My favorite quote: “IT suffers from a massive dumbing down, people make arguments based on out right stupidity, a stupidity based on little or no understanding of the principles of computer science. The complexity of IT is ever increasing but the average intelligence is plunging. Things that were plain dumb 10 years ago are now being promoted as “best practice,” not because they have become good ideas but because there is a volume (as in barrel) of people who think that their mickey mouse experience is all that anyone ever needs to know.”

Tell us what you really think Steve!