Author Harwell Thrasher starts his book, Boiling The IT Frog, out with a quote from Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
The point he is making is that, although having the status of wizards makes information technology (IT) people feel important and useful, such "magical thinking" is actually a major cause of inefficiency in the business world as it strains communications and fosters a lack of common sense where the needs and capabilities of technology are concerned.
A representative quote: "Technology -- and in particular Information Technology -- is a lot like the Wizard of Oz. It's impressive, it seems to work miracles, but in the end it's just a bunch of gadgets being controlled by some people just like you and me. Those people can be friendly and helpful, but only if you learn the "secrets" that keep us from understanding what Information Technology (IT) is all about."
According to Thrasher, "I've always believed that IT is more about people than about technology, and that most IT problems come from misunderstandings between business and technology people. Wouldn't it be great if there was a book that IT people could give to their business customers to help explain the issues faced by IT organizations? I've always thought so, but I couldn't find such a book, so I wrote one myself."
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