The circular reasoning of Nicholas Carr

OK - this is a little belated - but I was reading some CIO magazine back issues, and came across this interview with Nicholas "IT Doesn't Matter" Carr. The light finally went on: the guy has a circular premise.

- If it's in IT, it doesn't matter.
- If it matters, it's not the concern of IT.

Wonderful way to frame a thesis - you can never be proved wrong.

Language is power, and that is where he's playing - in the authoritative allocation of meaning to the term "IT." Beware.

-ctb

Comments

[RTodd]

I would encourage anyone to read Mr. Carr Harvard Business Review and Book before passing judgment. While all of us in IT hate to look at our function as something that doesn’t matter. However, the industry in under a dramatic revolution or perhaps evolution which none of us can ignore. One of the better references online (i.e. Free) is here.

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/files/misc/Web_Letters.pdf#search='does%20it%20matter%20letters

[RTodd]

I would encourage anyone to read Mr. Carr Harvard Business Review and Book before passing judgment. While all of us in IT hate to look at our function as something that doesn’t matter. However, the industry in under a dramatic revolution or perhaps evolution which none of us can ignore. One of the better references online (i.e. Free) is here.

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/files/misc/Web_Letters.pdf#search='does%20it%20matter%20letters

[DemianE]

While Mr. Carr has good points, his greatest skill might be self-promotion. But the fact that he has some good points keeps him from being considered a buffoon.

[RTodd]

Lee Iacocca wanted convertibles but the engineers said no, the salesmen said no, the dealers said no, the plants said no. Lee said yes, if you have to take a can opener and pull the tops off each car, we are having convertibles.

Mark Twain said the man with a new idea is considered a crank until the idea succeeds.

Beethoven wrote the “Heroic Symphony”, which broke every rule; the orchestra said no we can’t play it.

Stravinsky premiered the “Right of Spring”, the critics declared him insane.

Marcel Duchamp painted “Nude Descending a Staircase”; everyone declared it the worst picture ever painted until it was recognized as a turning point in art history.

Freud described the unconscise world, while the concise world said no.

James Joyce changed the literature world forever by writing in the stream of concise technique and everybody declared him insane

Perhaps he is in good company

[Michael Harris]

Heartily agree with the first poster that a careful read of the Carr Harvard Business Review article is needed before passing judgment. A 20 year IT veteran, my eyes were opened to an entirely new world after spending several years as a management consultant. The company I was with specializes in value growth strategies, which causes one to look at things from a very different perspective. Information technology doesn't provide the same sort of differentiation it once did. Companies have mostly similar levels of access to the same technologies. While CIOs often have a seat at the strategy table, the LoB usually has a better understanding of emerging customer priorities, and will thus drive the strategic agenda.

A nice critical analysis of Carr's article is "IT Doesn't Matter, Business Processes Do," by Smith and Fingar. However, this also misses in that strategic intent drives process architecture, which drives the architecture of people and applications, which drives the architecture of information and technology. Each enterprise aspect has to work with adjacent aspects. They all matter, though the most value is created by the strategic decisions at the start of the chain and not the technology decisions made at the end of the chain. Value is all about understanding, selecting and serving markets better than the competition. In addition to a superior approach, markets must be served with equal or better efficiency than the competition. Everything else is incidental.

[DemianE]

I have a whole new take on part of what Carr has to say...I would say that he has created a new alternative to "For Dummies" and it's called "Doesn't Matter"

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/ppm/archives/006086.asp

Demian Entrekin