Write us a program ...
Hello, habrasoobschestvo.
The idea of this topic for discussion came to me for a long time, but the reason that pushed to actually open the editor and write the text was a recent interview. But first things first.
In 2009–2011 I led a project of a knowledge management system (CPS) for a fairly large company. Actually, this project in itself is the reason, if not a cycle of articles, then two or three exactly. It was during the implementation of this project that I was in full growth faced with one huge problem - the mythologization of information technology. The worst thing is that it seems to be subject to adults, and even from time to time people from this industry.
This phenomenon is manifested in the fact that for some reason the entire management without exception (with very few exceptions) believes that the introduction of some modern and magical software, in rare cases of information systems, will drastically change everything, and the same people dealing with the same issues (but for some reason unwilling to work as the leadership wants), will start working with a return of 110%. This is so funny written, and it seems to be banal, but examples are innumerable. For example, CPS.
The main task of KMS is the collection and dissemination of knowledge within the company. There is also the task of generating knowledge, but for now we will not consider it, with it, in general, scientists seem to cope as usual. So, in order to successfully collect and disseminate this very knowledge, it is required first of all, so that each key employee, when the need arises, shares what he has researched, invented, wrote, etc. That is - so that there is no psychological barrier “you write off from me”, “you will receive money for my work”, “I dug this hole for three days, you should spend no less”, etc.
')
I will note in brackets that the position “give a man a fish, and you feed him today” stands somewhat apart - it rather refers to the issue of internal training. We are now talking about accomplished specialists who need access to knowledge to complete a specific job, or to plan dates (in the case of managers), or something else.
So, to overcome these barriers in the average person may not be enough trite consciousness. From this point of view, comrades engaged in information technology are in an advantageous position:
That is, the “high-level” IT-specialists for the most part are accustomed to share this very knowledge, otherwise they would not become the one who is now.
And these people come to the company, where two departments, sitting in neighboring offices (and even in a modern fashion, in a landskape), can communicate only through the management - “it’s like that”. Well, that is, no discussion of problems in the tea room, the screaming “I overcame this plunder” from the body, stupid for three days at the monitor, and then with jokes telling how he put a comma three days ago, and therefore he was looking for a non-existent error - nothing. Only a business keystroke and a data request, sent through a chief, signed by the department director, sent for execution with a response time of three days. What kind of knowledge transfer can we talk about here, if an employee starts to forget not only what a company or a department does - even what he himself does is not really remembered.
Without thinking at all, automatically, the IT approach to life and the exchange of information is transferred to people who are not adapted to it. And it starts:
Further, I think, all can add. In especially neglected cases (anticipating questions - yes, we had exactly the same option ), proposals are made on organizing an internal VKontakte, “so that people can communicate over the network”.
Here, by the way, it is necessary to make a reservation that all these schemes - the creation of forums, the holding of bribes, the creation of bays - are justified in some cases when the enterprise has matured for them. But in our case, people don’t know what a colleague is doing at the next table! .. And managers (if they are provided for in the structure) do not have information about what projects have been carried out at the enterprise in the last, say, three years (at least on the area), and what rakes were trodden on them.
That is, to put it briefly, the IT department is assigned the task of the personnel policy service for team building, sharing experience, establishing communications, and so on. And they are not invented for that. Moreover, if there is a reasonable person in the IT department and tries to solve the problem using appropriate methods (that is, they go to teach people to talk with each other), or simply do not subscribe to this task, the management will pull it down: “Are you an IT specialist? here and write us a program ... "
I think every IT specialist has heard these words. Often this is an attempt to solve their problems at our expense, because if the program does not solve the problems, then this is a bad program, and if it does, then “that's how I came up with a good idea!”.
In fairness, the second part of the statement is usually true, unlike the first. Indeed, if the need for a program or other automation tool is long overdue, then even a bad program that performs its functions every other time will be more in demand than an ideal product launched in the wrong environment. I think everyone can bring illustrations on their own.
In my case of the CPS (and in the example of a hypothetical enterprise discussed in the previous section), it was precisely the situation of the wrong environment. That is, people scattered geographically, often not connected by common projects, goals — nothing but the name of the organization — were required to be networked and said: “share your knowledge!”. Sorry, why? Who needs it? An employee whose load varies from 110% to 150%? To the head, who will be taken away from the employee?
This could work if there are well-defined regulations and guidelines in the style of, for example, Schlumberger - after the completion of the project to hold a seminar on the exchange of lessons learned from the project. Or, in identifying and successfully resolving any problem, within one day, fix the results in the internal database.
That is, first of all, to organize the rules for the exchange of knowledge in the form of seminars, seminars and other things. What is not an IT task at all is the task of the personnel policy department. This is a methodological problem, which is often not solved at the time of launching an IT project. Moreover, they usually do not even realize the need for this project, as well as the impossibility of successfully introducing the resulting product into operation.
Attentive comrades here may ask: how does the Stack Overflow work, for example - apparently there are no general rules forcing a programmer from Russia to post a question, and a programmer from Australia to answer it? ..
In fact, there are such regulations - the same kind of regulation “suffer for 20 minutes, it does not work - ask your neighbor”, which is being implemented in teams all over the world. It is he who forces him to look for an answer, first of all, from his neighbor, and then, together, on Google. And it is he who then forces you to open a page with an open question on the Stack Overflow, and answer it. Just because it is so accepted here .
Returning to the myths. The main and most important - the program will help us. That is, no matter what to do, how clear the process is, how well it is documented, but if you write a program, everything will be a bundle. In fact, of course, no. It is always necessary to take into account not only the development of the IT infrastructure (and not even so much!), But also the external conditions.
In fact, I would have thought about writing here for a long time, if I had not recently gone to one interview where the “Smart City” system was mentioned. When I asked what was included in this concept, I was told a lot of interesting things, including the idea of automated traffic control. That is, about a special software and hardware complex that centrally controls the traffic lights, forming traffic flows, which are then promptly passed through the routes. Stated that the city is unloaded by 25%. Yeah, in sunny Australia.
Coming out into the snowy Ural winter, and looking at the snowdrifts along the sides of the road, partially filling up the cars, and turning the road into four lanes into a two-way street ...
... hemmed, remembering the ruts on the asphalt on the avenue ...
... sadly thought of the odious Matvienko with sosuls ...
... shaking on the razdolbannom turn from home to work ...
... I realized that ignoring the external conditions in the implementation of IT projects is not worth it.
Thank you, Habr, for your attention, and thanks to those who read to the end - double thanks.
The idea of this topic for discussion came to me for a long time, but the reason that pushed to actually open the editor and write the text was a recent interview. But first things first.
Introduction
In 2009–2011 I led a project of a knowledge management system (CPS) for a fairly large company. Actually, this project in itself is the reason, if not a cycle of articles, then two or three exactly. It was during the implementation of this project that I was in full growth faced with one huge problem - the mythologization of information technology. The worst thing is that it seems to be subject to adults, and even from time to time people from this industry.
This phenomenon is manifested in the fact that for some reason the entire management without exception (with very few exceptions) believes that the introduction of some modern and magical software, in rare cases of information systems, will drastically change everything, and the same people dealing with the same issues (but for some reason unwilling to work as the leadership wants), will start working with a return of 110%. This is so funny written, and it seems to be banal, but examples are innumerable. For example, CPS.
On the transfer of knowledge and the main myth of IT
The main task of KMS is the collection and dissemination of knowledge within the company. There is also the task of generating knowledge, but for now we will not consider it, with it, in general, scientists seem to cope as usual. So, in order to successfully collect and disseminate this very knowledge, it is required first of all, so that each key employee, when the need arises, shares what he has researched, invented, wrote, etc. That is - so that there is no psychological barrier “you write off from me”, “you will receive money for my work”, “I dug this hole for three days, you should spend no less”, etc.
')
I will note in brackets that the position “give a man a fish, and you feed him today” stands somewhat apart - it rather refers to the issue of internal training. We are now talking about accomplished specialists who need access to knowledge to complete a specific job, or to plan dates (in the case of managers), or something else.
So, to overcome these barriers in the average person may not be enough trite consciousness. From this point of view, comrades engaged in information technology are in an advantageous position:
- a large number of forums and generally Internet resources of various topics;
- habit of sharing your knowledge;
- understanding of the principle “if I help him today, then tomorrow he can help me”;
- understanding that the amount of information when copying does not decrease, but increases;
- and what's more, the effect is possible that in the transfer of knowledge they will spontaneously increase their value and become actual.
That is, the “high-level” IT-specialists for the most part are accustomed to share this very knowledge, otherwise they would not become the one who is now.
And these people come to the company, where two departments, sitting in neighboring offices (and even in a modern fashion, in a landskape), can communicate only through the management - “it’s like that”. Well, that is, no discussion of problems in the tea room, the screaming “I overcame this plunder” from the body, stupid for three days at the monitor, and then with jokes telling how he put a comma three days ago, and therefore he was looking for a non-existent error - nothing. Only a business keystroke and a data request, sent through a chief, signed by the department director, sent for execution with a response time of three days. What kind of knowledge transfer can we talk about here, if an employee starts to forget not only what a company or a department does - even what he himself does is not really remembered.
Without thinking at all, automatically, the IT approach to life and the exchange of information is transferred to people who are not adapted to it. And it starts:
- let's put a forum, they will write questions to each other there;
- let's oblige everyone to go to the forum;
- let's get a points system;
- let us hold meetings and fly-outs where we will ask why there are so few topics on the forum;
- Let's be ...
Further, I think, all can add. In especially neglected cases (anticipating questions - yes, we had exactly the same option ), proposals are made on organizing an internal VKontakte, “so that people can communicate over the network”.
Here, by the way, it is necessary to make a reservation that all these schemes - the creation of forums, the holding of bribes, the creation of bays - are justified in some cases when the enterprise has matured for them. But in our case, people don’t know what a colleague is doing at the next table! .. And managers (if they are provided for in the structure) do not have information about what projects have been carried out at the enterprise in the last, say, three years (at least on the area), and what rakes were trodden on them.
That is, to put it briefly, the IT department is assigned the task of the personnel policy service for team building, sharing experience, establishing communications, and so on. And they are not invented for that. Moreover, if there is a reasonable person in the IT department and tries to solve the problem using appropriate methods (that is, they go to teach people to talk with each other), or simply do not subscribe to this task, the management will pull it down: “Are you an IT specialist? here and write us a program ... "
Write us a program
I think every IT specialist has heard these words. Often this is an attempt to solve their problems at our expense, because if the program does not solve the problems, then this is a bad program, and if it does, then “that's how I came up with a good idea!”.
In fairness, the second part of the statement is usually true, unlike the first. Indeed, if the need for a program or other automation tool is long overdue, then even a bad program that performs its functions every other time will be more in demand than an ideal product launched in the wrong environment. I think everyone can bring illustrations on their own.
In my case of the CPS (and in the example of a hypothetical enterprise discussed in the previous section), it was precisely the situation of the wrong environment. That is, people scattered geographically, often not connected by common projects, goals — nothing but the name of the organization — were required to be networked and said: “share your knowledge!”. Sorry, why? Who needs it? An employee whose load varies from 110% to 150%? To the head, who will be taken away from the employee?
This could work if there are well-defined regulations and guidelines in the style of, for example, Schlumberger - after the completion of the project to hold a seminar on the exchange of lessons learned from the project. Or, in identifying and successfully resolving any problem, within one day, fix the results in the internal database.
That is, first of all, to organize the rules for the exchange of knowledge in the form of seminars, seminars and other things. What is not an IT task at all is the task of the personnel policy department. This is a methodological problem, which is often not solved at the time of launching an IT project. Moreover, they usually do not even realize the need for this project, as well as the impossibility of successfully introducing the resulting product into operation.
Attentive comrades here may ask: how does the Stack Overflow work, for example - apparently there are no general rules forcing a programmer from Russia to post a question, and a programmer from Australia to answer it? ..
In fact, there are such regulations - the same kind of regulation “suffer for 20 minutes, it does not work - ask your neighbor”, which is being implemented in teams all over the world. It is he who forces him to look for an answer, first of all, from his neighbor, and then, together, on Google. And it is he who then forces you to open a page with an open question on the Stack Overflow, and answer it. Just because it is so accepted here .
Returning to the myths. The main and most important - the program will help us. That is, no matter what to do, how clear the process is, how well it is documented, but if you write a program, everything will be a bundle. In fact, of course, no. It is always necessary to take into account not only the development of the IT infrastructure (and not even so much!), But also the external conditions.
Ambient conditions
In fact, I would have thought about writing here for a long time, if I had not recently gone to one interview where the “Smart City” system was mentioned. When I asked what was included in this concept, I was told a lot of interesting things, including the idea of automated traffic control. That is, about a special software and hardware complex that centrally controls the traffic lights, forming traffic flows, which are then promptly passed through the routes. Stated that the city is unloaded by 25%. Yeah, in sunny Australia.
Coming out into the snowy Ural winter, and looking at the snowdrifts along the sides of the road, partially filling up the cars, and turning the road into four lanes into a two-way street ...
... hemmed, remembering the ruts on the asphalt on the avenue ...
... sadly thought of the odious Matvienko with sosuls ...
... shaking on the razdolbannom turn from home to work ...
... I realized that ignoring the external conditions in the implementation of IT projects is not worth it.
Thank you, Habr, for your attention, and thanks to those who read to the end - double thanks.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/169123/
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