Doodle - University users and attitudes (xkcd tribute)

Working title: 'OUR department is special; everyone else is stupid'

 

Notes from the field:

 

Enterprise software development has its moments, no doubt. But I contend that development for the academic enterprise is one of the more challenging undertakings. At a university ROI and efficiency are fighting words to be uttered only in secret, the chain of command is often murky. Large groups of users can easily be described as anarchistic on a variety of issues, including software choice and organizational processes.

 

For a couple of years now I have been working with, listening to, and serving academic users of all types: from tech-savvy engineering students to set-in-their-ways historians. What unites them? The logo on our letterhead and their common, but contradictory convictions:

(1) that they speak for all users when they voice an opinion, and

(2) that their needs and routines are unique.

 

Increasingly, I also hear that 'they' — that would be everyone else — are 'idiots', and in general 'the problem with everything'. This all makes for some interesting times. It is also why well-received changes are something to be savored.

 

NTNU is by no means unique. The temperament and power structures of the academic arena have been remarked upon before, even formulated as a Law. Sayre's Law: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low."

 

Techies will tell you that platform discussions are notoriously religious, anywhere — but they have nothing on questions of what color something should be or data ownership. (grin here)

Done