Thimbles & Care

A couple of words I don’t recall hearing at the ASMP meeting were “excellence” and “quality”, and that’s unfortunate. If the University is to truly be “of the first class” it should have administrative IT of the first class as well.

Now, some people hear “high quality” or “first class” and think “luxury”, but that’s not what this is about. We don’t need IT systems with lots of chrome or bells and whistles. Instead, we need systems that do their jobs correctly and efficiently, that require minimal maintenance and upkeep, and that make the people who use them more productive. Systems like this may cost more up front, but that additional cost will be more than covered by savings elsewhere.

When I started working here, our goal was to use information technology to make the University a better place to work, to learn, and to do research. Today it often feels like we’re just trying to keep things running. Can we go back to trying for first class IT?