The Human Element of IT

After starting my career in a programming and web development role, I moved closer to family and transitioned to the Information Technology field. Aside from the change in technical focus, I was surprised to realize that the biggest change was how prevalent the human element was in any technology-based procedure or workflow. As a programmer, I did have to account for how an individual would interact with any given process. However, in IT people use the tools and procedures to enhance their daily functions, while an organization then relies upon the results to enhance the overall goals of the agency. 

During my career, the biggest highlight has been being able to understand how the technological and human elements of an organization intersect. When challenges arise, the more the technical team knows about the individuals of any workflow the better they can implement solutions that allow an organization to flourish. Also, being able to understand the comfort level of any individual is crucial to supporting them. While there may be several advanced ways to accomplish a task quickly, if someone isn’t ready to use a process any time savings is immediately wasted. A more basic but easier to understand concept may be needed instead.

However, it must be noted that if users are not comfortable with solutions presented to them, IT staff must also look at how they present and communicate the options. Most individuals are very capable in their roles and would not have been hired if they did not have a high aptitude in their fields. I have found that most times when someone is struggling with a technical process presented to them, it is not because they are incapable of understanding the steps, it is because they are so concerned about “breaking” things and that their lack of experience with the tasks mean that they are “just not good with technology”. IT staff must be able to understand where that person is coming from and come up with a positive and reassuring approach when implementing a solution. Also, in situations like these, this can be an opportunity to investigate more training, and IT needs to be able to communicate that possible need to administration so a comprehensive plan can be put in place for the organization.

The pandemic created more challenges that put the focus on efficiently implementing new systems very quickly, such as ways for residents to sign up for vaccines, data dashboards to present Covid Statistics to the public, and ramping up the remote technologies after most of us went to a work from home scenario. I have found that understanding the process needs of the individuals of an organization allows for the development of an excellent communication workflow between IT, Administration, and all other divisions within an agency. This can be critical in forming proper long-term goals while fulfilling short-term needs.  So, when an emergency inevitably ends up happening, everyone in the organization is ready to react and move accordingly.

This same communication is also critical in the development of a company’s budgeting strategy. The understanding of the functions and focus of every team makes it easier to create plans that can account for immediate and longer-term goals. Technology can be an investment with great rewards, but if an organization is not all on the same page it can become a great expense instead.

This is an interesting time to be in the Information Technology field. The Pandemic has forced a paradigm shift in many ways, and any company that embraces the new philosophies of operating will set themselves up for the potential for long-term success. The more time that is invested into truly learning the human element within the organization, the better the chances are of reaching the agency’s full potential.