I think Patrick's article was addressing a different point entirely but these comments have branched off into the old 'Management vs. The IT Department' debate.

Firstly, I agree with Patrick that IT need to present a pleasant experience to its users. Not just initially but throughout the whole process. So many of us in IT think we own the department and things should run the way we want them to that we forget we are a service department. Yes, the business may crumble without IT, but without the business there would be no IT. Tech staff really need to understand this rather than continue to blow the old "management doesn't give us what we need' trumpet.

And in regards to management not giving IT what it needs, I used to feel exactly the same as bjk. It was a very frustrating time in my career and I was sick of the lack of respect IT received from stakeholders. But I have now realised it's all about perception and shifting things into a cost perspective because that's really what these people care about. If systems are failing and IT are having to do all sorts of fancy things to keep it running because management wont approve expenditure, then in their opinion, that's what the IT department is for. They don't give a rats a$$ about how much work we have to do. All that matters is the bottom line. IT staff need to think on the same wavelength. How will it save the company money? And freeing up IT staff to do other things is not the answer. They want answers that means something to them not to us. Think about it.