Disconnect

In the past I've had thoughts about a disconnect that may exist between upper management and the techies in the trenches. I have seen signs of this disconnect in my current employment as well as in previous places of employment. Let me give an example that may show how this disconnect exhibits itself.

Let's say that a company pays for several managers and techies in the trenches to attend training on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ITIL is a set of concepts and techniques for managing information technology infrastructure. (See more about ITIL at this link.) I could see upper management attending this training and focusing on all the things that their company is doing right. I could also see the techies in the trenches attending this training and focusing on all the things that their company is doing wrong. Now the managers come away from the training thinking that their company is doing well. The techies in the trenches come away from the training thinking that things would be so much better at their company if they changed the way they did things. This is one of the signs of a disconnect between upper management and the techies in the trenches.

I'm convinced there is also a similar disconnect between the majority of citizens and their elected officials. Time and time again, you hear about how ethics reform is needed in our Utah State Legislature. (See this editorial from Monday's Deseret News.) Previous studies have shown that a majority of Utah citizens favor such legislation, but, the legislation never sees the light of day in the legislative session. There are other issues where there seems to be a disconnect between citizens and the state legislature.

This type of disconnect is extremely difficult to overcome in the corporate world. It appears to me it's even more difficult if not impossible to overcome in the political world.