When Innovation Becomes A Curse And Cause For Concern

The other day a friend of mine and I were talking about something that happened at her job. Someone had cautioned her about saying she was a hacker. I have to admit that I received a similar admonishment on my job. Also, I have to admit that the admonishment in my case had a good call and reason. Not so much for the reasons given, but for the nature of the place I work. As someone who has created technology and has worked in technical fields that some can only dream about, I sometimes forget that my words carry a little extra weight and authority. The story goes like this, three men walk into a bar; one says, “I can build a time machine,” the other states, “I will build a time machine.”, Which one do you believe? And which one do you fear? You can accept and acknowledge the first two because you have to take them on their word, and that is all. However, I mentioned three men walk into a bar. The third man states, “wow, you two certainly have the knowledge and ability to do what you say you can and will do, but do you want to see the time machine I built?”

The third guy, let’s say that when you build a time machine, the acceptance and acknowledgment go out of the window. What is left is fear because you have a freaking time machine in front of you. We talk about wanting to be a doer, but in reality, most people are unprepared to deal with someone who does what they say they can and will do and are proud of it. I told my friend that I deserved the chastisement because I knew whom I was dealing with, but I just wanted to confirm what I was thinking. I got my confirmation, so now I have to adjust my way of thinking to work where I am working. I told her that she would have to decide what she would do. My case is similar but vastly different. My supervisors informed me about the temperament of the people with whom I am dealing. Mature IT People (including myself) have to understand that IT now is different from when I started in it. Gone are the days of experimenting to find answers. Gone are the days of messing with systems to get them to work. Gone are the days when you sat around a table to find solutions to problems from the ground up. Now, you have to find a consensus or agreement, even if the agreement is an agreement to be erroneous.

I told my friend that her work is cut out for her because even though I know now that I must alter my way of thinking on my weekday job, I have an outlet for my creativity and “makership” on my weekend job, teaching. So I guess it comes down to understanding that change will happen for the good or the bad; the only constant becomes the eventuality of change and that which comes with it.