Managing IT with no IT experience

You'd never think it would happen but you see it all the time. With websites too - decision makers wanting bells and whistles without looking at the implications for keeping the site ticking over - or even what the end user gets out of the experience.

Still, it happens in every industry. A while ago I wrote (ooo, hark at me) an article for PM Live magazine with a colleague on the benefits of getting marketing people to understand the research process better - and of getting researchers looking at the marketing process. In complex organisations the knock-on effects of seemingly innocuous decisions are easily overlooked.

As an example, a site I'm building now will have banners at the tops of all the pages, which need to be randomised. Now, no pages can go live without the banners in place, and the banners are going to have to be designed and built. Without decisions being made on these banners - bearing in mind briefing creatives and the procurement process - the whole site is held up. For one small element of the page. Now, factor in the number of elements on a page, and the size of a site (around 300 pages) and the relationships between all the elements start to get a little confusing. I've been having fun with Gantt charts, scissors and selotape.

That's what keeps it so interesting though.

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You may also notice my banner's not there at the moment. My very kind web host, who's been a great technical resource and generous to a fault with his hosting charges, is doing something with the server. Normal service will resume soon. In the mean time, I'm still able to recieve emails sent to my normal address but you'll get a reply from a hotmail one. Sorry about that.