Philosophy

Disruptive Technology

The name "Disruptech" is a contraction of the term 'disruptive technology", which, in a general sense, means technology which is so innovative that it disrupts the status quo, causing all the established players in a given market to adapt or perish. Free software is disruptive technlogy. The disruptive nature of free software is inherent in the license. For most free and open source software, the license is the GNU General Public License.

Keep your people, change your software.

This slogan is derived from a more general principle of valuing relationships over transactions. Rapid change is constant in the IT sector. In an industry where things changes so quickly, human relationships may actually be the most reliable things we have. Avoiding excessive turn-over in your IT department can help maintain continuity and stability.

The approach of Disruptech can be summed up as follows:

• Adapt proactively to change.
• Curtail influence of technology vendors.
• Disarm internal resistance with non-threatening approach.
• Aim for lower turn-over in IT staff.
• Preserve continuity through transitions.
• Invest in general integration.
• Emphasize future-readiness.

Problem: Software Identity Politics

Software vendors like to encourage a sense of identification with their software among developers, administrators, and users. IT professionals are enticed and encouraged to brand themselves as Microsoft administrators, Unix administrators, .net developers, etc.

The tendency for IT staff to identify with a particular brand of software is usually not beneficial to the companies which employ them, however, it can benefit the software vendors at the expense of your company.

Software vendors don't mind having advocates inside your company. These advocates can help them maintain customer loyalty and help them with new business development.

The problem is that this situation can interfere with the corporate culture of your company. The result of this interference can divide your IT staff into factions based on personal identification with software licensed from external vendors.

The integrity of an IT-oriented company depends on it's personnel not dividing their loyalty between the company and various software vendors.

Problem: IT Workers can be Unpredictable

Information technology professionals are notoriously unpredictable for managers and human resource departments. Information technology professionals can seem to exist almost as a culture of their own.

Two aspects of the IT business set information technologists apart from other professionals:

1. IT professionals are often connected online with others in their profession as part of a knowledge-sharing collective.
2. Most IT professionals have a very portable skill set, so they tend to be more transient than other kinds of workers.

The unpredictability of information technology professionals challenges old ways of management which are based on more predictable types of workers. Keeping IT professionals acculturated to the company they work for requires different rules of engagement.

Solution: Human Resources vs Personnel

The best approach is for your company to treat their IT staff with an emphasis on their humanity, not their utility as "resources".

Treating your IT staff as cognitive resources, identified by and evaluated for their expertise with the specific products and software vendors can lead to a high turn-over rate in your IT department.

The loss of IT staff means that continuity and stability may suffer, competitors may gain inside knowledge of your business operations by hiring your former employees, and worst of all, security can be compromised by disgruntled former IT personnel.

A company should have a better reason to lay off a good employee than a mere change in technology or vendors. Consider the financial consequences of applying the "human resource" management style to a new kind of work force.

Disruptech favors the use of the classic term - "personnel" rather than the materialistic sounding euphemism, "human resources".

With this disarming style of engaging your IT staff, you can clear hurdles such as major upgrades, changes in technology and software vendors. Instead of panicking about their job security and flaming each other and their managers, they can look forward to re-training, confident in the knowledge that their own interests are served by on the job education.