Why it’s whiz-kids who run the world

NOW, it’s well-known that knowledge of computers is inversely proportional to the position of the person within a company. The new boy in the postroom will know far more about them than the CEO or any of the directors, but all decisions relating to computers or software will be made at the highest level. The CEO will claim that he and his directors are advised by consultants and experts who know far more about computers than the new boy. But this doesn’t quite explain how a 14-year-old with a computer in his bedroom can hack into sites protected by those same consultants and experts. When new software is introduced, several members of the company are sent on a training course to learn how to use it. In time, these people leave or move on and are replaced by people who are given a rather briefer induction into the correct procedure, or what the previous person thought were the right instructions. After the person filling the position changes several times, the new person is being shown how to do the job by somebody who didn’t know what they were doing in the first place. Sometimes it goes on for years with people phoning Fred in the warehouse to make sure the customer has got what he ordered regardless of what comes out from the computer. no one bothers to get the computer software amended as long as they have Fred doing what is necessary. All CEOs think that their computer system works perfectly and all secret data is locked in the safe over night — until a CD is left in a taxi or some confidential documents are found in a briefcase on the Underground. That is why millions of pounds are wasted on IT systems that have to be scrapped when they can’t be made to work. Fortunately, the reward for failure in the Civil Service is usually promotion, as it’s not their money being wasted.

Derek Trayler, hornchurch, Essex.