March 31 = World Backup Day

There must be some synergy with this being the same day as Easter, but I, for one, will not count on my files resurrecting themselves.

Go!  Do!

Still?

Women are underrepresented in high-tech and IT management jobs?  Still?

I guess I can't argue with the numbers, but it's frustrating that we never find out why -- and try to address it.  All I have to go on is my own experience, so here are some possible reasons why IT doesn't attract more women:

• IT is, by nature, detail-oriented and linear.  Perhaps my sisters, like I do,  prefer themes and multi-tasking? (I make myself focus, though.)
• IT is fast-paced and it's difficult to keep up with the latest versions, the latest products, the latest innovation.  Perhaps my sisters, like I do, like to be able to master one thing and feel good about it for a bit, without instantly feeling behind-the-8-ball on another topic. 
• IT is very ego-driven; whoever argues their point loudest generally gets to try their solution first. Even if it's not the most elegant, whichever solution proves effective first generally gets used -- and gets the kudos.  Perhaps my sisters, like I do, prefer to vette the best possible solution, trying a few different things on an equal playing field until one surfaces as the best solution?
• IT is political. You'd think the line-of-business units would have all the politics, right? Nope. Wherever there's a budget, people will count how many FTEs report to so-and-so. Also, as much as I'd like IT to be about the pure "best choice for the organization," many IT recommendations are trumped by "business decisions," meaning that even though we have a top-notch solution, other factors can reject it.  Perhaps my sisters, like I do, prefer to deal with straightforward decision-making?

I don't have the answers either.  I wouldn't ask women to change their core personality -- or change the nature of IT necessarily, but I suspect that my male colleagues would be happy to have a few more women around.  And women can do the work.  I believe women can find IT work interesting and fulfilling.  Maybe those of us in the field just need to say it loud enough to be heard -- and hold a hand out to the young women who DO take a chance on IT.

Bye Bye Lotus

No, not that one. . . THIS one!

I missed the opportunity to say farewell in November, when IBM dropped the Lotus branding, but I feel a bond and an obligation to Lotus, which gave the world a visionary piece of software for the time (Lotus Notes) and gave me not just a job, but the beginnings of a career in IT. Without Lotus (and Iris before it), there wouldn't be Lotus Notes and I would likely be an aging Program Assistant instead of having the interesting and challenging career I do have.

So thank you, Lotus - it's been a good run!

No Bozo!

Hahahahahaaa!  Oh my gracious!

It would have been so easy to write this article, Why Every Company Needs a No-Bozos Policy, from a snarky perspective with thinly veiled references to people the author thinks are Bozos.  But Eric Jackson takes the high road, bless him!  Makes me wonder if I could be so noble.

So Email's Not Going Anywhere, eh?

Not according to this Computerworld article, anyway.  (Thank you for the reference, Lina!)  Then what does this mean for all those collaborative "solutions" that are trying to replace email with "activity streams" and other options?  I suspect they won't do well unless they surface the email IN their streams instead of attempting to replace it with non-email.

Unfortunately, this effort is only happening for the enterprise. Non-organizational email is dwindling, so there's no market for go-getter developers to come up with something new and hip. So we can't hope to social-source an next-gen email--we can only hope that the big corporate solution providers come up with something not-heinous.  Avoiding heinousness requires vision and being in touch with the go-getters.  Both of which become increasingly more difficult, the bigger the solution provider gets.

I am skeptical that we will see a next-gen email come from these sources.  I suspect (and this makes me sad) that we will ride email out until the last of the email-comfortable workforce retires and then replace it -- whole hog -- with something not-email.  By then it may be too little, too late.