“IT pros complain primarily about logic, and primarily to people they respect. If you are dismissive of complaints, fail to recognize an illogical event or behave in deceptive ways, IT pros will likely stop complaining to you. You might mistake this as a behavioral improvement, when it’s actually a show of disrespect. It means you are no longer worth talking to…”
This is a really good article by Jeff Ello over at Computerworld about how to manage and work with IT pros. Lots of good insight to those outside IT and to those inside IT who just haven’t been paying attention.
A lot of the tension inside an IT group often comes from the influx of so many non-IT people into an IT environment. I’ve seen way too many cases where a mid- to upper manager came in and, instead of trying to understand the department, ran roughshod all over everyone, stomping on well-defined processes, all in the name of progress, change, or “diversity”, which now seems to be defined as whatever fits the current management focus.
Don’t get me started.
Anyway, it’s a good read. Check it out at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137708/Opinion_The_unspoken_truth_about_managing_geeks?taxonomyId=14&pageNumber=1.