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I know, I know – I am one of those bloggers who asks more questions than answers.  That’s because over the span of my career, I just don’t get it sometimes.  This is one of those times.  I keep seeing companies looking for shortcuts or the cheap solutions.  I don’t like cheap products, because that usually means I will have to replace that product in a short amount of time.  I do not like buying the same thing over and over; I want to move on to the next project, next issue, and next task at hand.

I find this proclivity towards the cheapest answer/solution/product to be amazing.  In our business, each installation of software or hardware takes a team, as mentioned in an earlier blog, financial resources and the ongoing management of a vendor relationship so I find it somewhat puzzling that companies would want to repeat this very arduous process over and over again.  I don’t find putting together a business case, business specifications, functional specifications, and then assisting with technical specifications a job I want to do every day.  So when I am involved in the design, development or purchase of an electronic system, I want to do it right the first time, get the best product the first time, so the solution is successful the first time. 

Now I realize that technology ages over time, and much too quickly, but the environment in which we create, store, distribute and manage information is important.  Not only do attorneys attack the content of information during litigation, but attack this very environment where information resides.  Half of the battles in court are around the access of information, the processes in which we manage the information and the controls that a company establishes for the environment or systems where information is created and used.  Why do we continue to put more money in resolving conflict than preventing it?

Can it be that we still believe after all this time, that it won’t happen to me?  That those lawsuits we see on the news, the downfall of executives and the sanctions that are levied against organizations are never going to touch us?  I hope you are near retirement.  You might be right, but I am not that big of a gambler.  What I have learned has come through sweat and hard work and I won’t compromise quality to be finished faster or to cut costs. 

What I do realize is that if you do not compromise quality in your approach or selection, your technology solutions often do what you expect them to do and more.  Part of quality is making sure that expectations match capabilities, but that is for another blog.