Technology is Crack

I'm not sure if "crack" is an common slang word in the U.K. and Europe. In the U.S. it's the term used to refer to a certain formulation of cocaine. The term "crack" is often used to refer generically to an something addictive -- "Honey roasted almonds are like crack to me!"

Anyway, the point of my title is this: I am honestly coming to believe that the ever-increasing march towards more complex technological "solutions" is a manifestation of an addiction.

I'm very serious.

What I've not fully settled on is what's driving the addiction. I doubt very much that it's being driven by true business needs. We've had this discussion before: much of what's being developed today was adequately addressed years ago.

I have two theories as to why this is occurring:

1. Technology companies have a need to demonstrate and deliver "new stuff" to maintain an appearance of progress and growth. A rock-solid product that isn't "enhanced" every six months is considered a dead product.
2. I/T departments in customer organizations have a need to generate the perception that new stuff is required so that management doesn't focus its cost-cutting eye on the I/T staff. I like to refer to this as "maintaining the priesthood."

So in a sense it's a two-way addiction -- one side helping feed the other.

I got to thinking about all of this when I received a note this morning inquiring about crafting another workshop to cover "SOA" and "ESB". I thought, "There's no way I can keep up with all this. The rate of introduction is too much." I take some comfort in knowing that some of the smartest people I know are just barely keeping up with the new technology. I think what's happening is that we're being forced to specialize in a slice of the bigger picture ... and hope that somehow we can come together as "slice holders" to address problems with the "bigger picture." I'm unconvinced we'll do that. Certainly not efficiently.

The thing about being forced to specialize that frightens me is that choosing the wrong specialty could mean getting cut out of the herd. And once out, I'd never get back in.

It's akin to the lion hunting the gazelle on the African plain. They pick one and go after it. If they pick right, they have dinner; if they pick wrong and the gazelle gets away, they go hungry.