I think the real issue is not that the suits do not understand technology, but at what level should we expect their knowledge? After all, their time is vastly more valuable than the worker bees. They have massively more demands than we understand.

What do you know about HIPPA? SOX? 10b5-1 plans? I thought so.

Let's compare it to your car knowledge. At what level are you knowledgeable? If you had to take your car in to a mechanic, would he bemoan your lack of intimate knowledge? Could you discuss the advantages of struts versus shocks? Does your car have ventilated brakes? And who makes the fuel-injection system for your car?

I don't get how this makes you a better driver. Car owner maybe. If you take the approach of a suit, you would get the best mechanic you can for the money and trust them to do the job. If your brakes are squealing, you would take it in and let them examine the brakes. If it's just an annoying squeal, you might just have to live with it.

It is not cost effective for most car owners to buy a repair manual, spend hours reading it, then doing their own diagnosis. And don't forget the cost of any special tools plus the need for repair space. It is similar to thinking an executive should understand the difference between server OS's. The onus is on the IT folks to boil it down to a couple of paragraphs, using their language. "Linux is a free OS and we have on-site expertise. We estimate saving Widgets Inc. over $100K in the first three years." This is the language suits understand.