IT should not bend to the prevailing winds of fashion

In IT we may sneer at the fashion industry where experts pontificate about what’s in and what’s out. But should we be so smug?

The IT industry is guilty of similar crimes. Anyone who dares query the latest trend is called a luddite, even when the panacea in question has been tried and found wanting.

One of the presentations at the recent Future of Web Apps conference was on cloud computing. It noted that this trend was predicted 40 years ago, and has existed in some form for years. In fact, time sharing from the 1970s has a list of benefits that sound remarkably like those of cloud computing ­ you could access time-sharing computers from anywhere with a phone, and someone else worried about the technology. All you had to do was plug in your modem and dumb terminal, and pay the bill.

Developments since have seen time sharing replaced by in-house mini-computers that were in turn replaced by PCs. Each move was heralded as reducing costs and providing more control. Now we are centralising into the cloud, based again on cost savings and convenience.

This centralisation or decentralisation debate is not unique to IT. It is like the cyclical argument in large organisations: centralise so that duplication is eliminated and waste is reduced, then later decentralise to get closer to customers. And so it goes on.

There have been steady advances in software engineering techniques, but these have been smaller than any experts would care to admit. The fundamental ideas of formal project stages, being responsive to user requirements, prototyping, developing modular and reusable code, and applying appropriate project management controls have been around since the computer was invented. So has paying monthly for hardware, software or services.

The truth is, the IT industry is driven by fashion. Whether to go with the latest fashion is a critical decision for an IT manager, especially when resisting the flow can limit a career. But assessing trends on their business me rits, not their “hipness”, is a professional imperative. It’s what we are paid to do.

Chris Barling is a BCS contributor