If you’re anywhere in the corporate world then you’ve probably had some kind of bad experience with a group of people affectionately known as IT. They’re the folks responsible for setting up your computers, making sure the network doesn’t break and helping you out when you can’t figure out what’s wrong with your email. They’re also the folks with the reputation for being surly, unfriendly, unhelpful, uncooperative and a variety of other, less complimentary adjectives. In fact, at most companies I’ve worked with, IT was the department people disliked the most and they were generally viewed as an obstacle to people’s productivity.

Why Is This?

How do a bunch of people who usually work pretty hard and are in general smart and friendly develop a reputation for being absolutely awful to work with?  By the way, I will firmly stand by my assertion that IT folks are very smart and quite friendly once you get to know them.  They’re no different than any other person I know and there’s nothing inherent in IT which makes awful people.  So why is it that they have such an awful reputation?  It’s an easy answer actually, they have absolutely zero respect for their customers. [Read more...]