Calculus of IT - Season 3 Episode 8 - IT aka the Pasty Anthropologist

Mostly true but also possibly just purely theoretical fact: IT's real job is studying human behavior, not fixing computers.In this episode, Mike and I set out to explore why IT needs to think like anthropologists (e.g., observing how people actually work instead of how we think they should work) and discovered, as we tend to do in every episode, some uncomfortable truths along the way. It seems like the reality is that we design systems for idealized users, train people on features they'll never use, and then act shocked when they create workarounds or just Slack us instead of reading the wiki we spent weeks building. We realized that every workaround is a cry for help, every shadow IT solution is a prototype for what we failed to provide, and the shift-tab key is apparently still classified information in 2026. The conversation spiraled through: whether IT should be in every job interview (yes), whether we're designing for the people we have or the people we wish we had (wish), whether surveillance equals observation (it doesn't, but the line is thin), and why business analysts should've been behavioral scientists all along. We also mourned the death of CASBs, debated whether Mike's tolerance for "how do I use Outlook?" questions will last until 2030, and agreed that someday soon, not knowing how to write prompts will be a firing offense (Nate is banking on Q1'27). The breakthrough moment: if you could secretly watch how everyone uses your systems, you wouldn't be shocked by what they're doing wrong, you'd be shocked if they used them correctly at all. Next week we're tackling PowerPoint Incorporated, aka why the corporate world's only storytelling mechanism is a six-by-five-inch white rectangle and whether we'll ever escape it.Listen at thecalculusofit.com • Join our Slack board at thecoit.us • Leave five stars • Be nice to IT people • Stop the ethnic cleansing • Learn how to use Word, or at least shift-tab.—Nate & MikeSupport the showThe Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us"The IT Autonomy Paradox" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/libraryThe COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.comDonate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_GiveBuy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofitSlack - Invite LinkEmail - [email protected] - [email protected]