Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1304IR // #c1304Synthesis

"They were set up to take care of technology, not people. People were an unnecessary distraction. The old IT joke was, “My systems would work well if you stopped using them.”"

— In our words · Source: Digital Impact (Steve Lucas)

[Use when]

A support function is optimizing for its own metrics at the expense of the people it serves.

[Why it matters]

Quinlan uses the joke to describe how IT departments used to measure themselves. Today almost everything a CIO wants to do depends on other business units, so a team built to protect its systems from users fails at its job.

Filed under situations:When the team is looking to you to leadWhen new tech lands in your work

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