I haven’t read the nitty gritty details about the whole story, but I understand that Duke University IT folks decided this afternoon that heavy iPhone usage was not the culprit for their network problems, after all. Hm. This, in spite of the fact that various tech-related news outlets have been reporting that the iPhone was definitely causing major network problems there. The real culprit, apparently, is a Cisco network software and/or hardware glitch.
The gist of this story resonates alot with me because I have seen too many instances of this phenomenon, especially from IT: pointing fingers at what is not understood. Whenever something goes wrong in a major way, what gets the blame, it seems, is any service, application, or code that is “not approved” or being used in a niche environment like the library.
This tendency is not unique to IT organizations, of course, but everywhere I have worked, without exception, I have encountered this mindset. I get so tired of fighting this particular battle.
It’s easy to blame or to denigrate that which we don’t understand. The truth is, I’ve done it too at times. I just need to take a deep breath every once in a while, not let this kind of thing get to me, try not to do the same thing to others that I’ve just been complaining about, and keep movin’ on.
