Peter DeJager

If you don't occasionally experience failure, you're not trying hard enough.

Magpies are fascinating birds. In addition to beautiful plumage, they possess an instinctual behaviour pattern common to most self respecting technologists: they are fascinated by shiny things. They scavenge bright objects from the landscape and pile them in a heap to gather dust in the dark corners of their nests. Sound familiar?

IT managers e-mail me that they cannot find skilled people, and skilled people e-mail me that they cannot find work. This almost humorous contradiction is worthy of some examination.

In nearly every industry there's a growing and disturbing trend. The lack of time, dwindling resources, and a increasing desire to protect personal time from the incursion of business are all conspiring to bring about the demise of the professional association. Membership numbers, conference attendance, and willingness to participate on boards and in meetings are all on the decline.

John Caudwell, president of Phones 4U says he banned inter-office e-mail from his company and reaped an immediate productivity increase of three hours per day per employee. If we accept this claim at face value, we're forced to ask whether every organization should follow his lead.

Most IT departments are organized as service departments serving all or part of the organization. While the charge-back budgeting structure is arguably the easiest to manage from the IT side, most organizations shy away from it for political reasons.

The Internet continues to generate unexpected consequences. The ability to send information anywhere, immediately, at minimal cost, means most white collar work is now geographically ambivalent.

Zookeepers have an interesting problem.