Speak English, Not Technobabble

Ben Worthen writes about a CIO who hates technobabble: Ramon Baez of Kimberly-Clark.

He writes:

"Baez has tried to eradicate tech speak and acronyms since joining the consumer-goods giant a little over a year ago. He’s starting with the emails that the information-technology department sends out whenever it has to make changes to a system. You probably know these messages: They’re the ones that make your eyes glaze over for the three seconds it takes to find the delete button."

This is refreshing. Baez has a career in any organisation that sells electrical or electronic products never mind as a CIO. The fact that he has to bring in intermediaries is a sad reflection on the IT industry. We have to raise our game. However it is a move in the right direction. What must technologists be thinking when they send out an email that refers to the TFPS server? It is as if an entry requirement for a career in IT is to have proven record of being empathy-free.

(Here are my observations on where technobabble comes from.)