It's not always a technical solution ...

One of the interesting things I learned at NAIT was that technology is not always the best solution.  Sometimes simple, every day solutions, non-technological solutions, are actually better.  For instance:

I take the bus to and from work.  While on the bus if I get a brilliant idea, or even a not-so-brilliant idea for a daily migration note I need to capture the idea so that I can later cogitate on it and then spew it forth.  I carry with me, a Blackberry.  Seems like the appropriate thing would be to type it into the Blackberry using my thumbs, but I've found that, for me, it is the wrong solution.  A pen and a small notepad are what I need.  Faster.  More intuitive.  And I'm less prone to correct my spelling.  Later I can look at it and determine if I want to save it electronically.  Initially though, paper is king.

While I consider myself a geek, I also consider myself to be open to alternatives and, quite frankly, paper is a valid alternative for me.  While I like electronic toys and I like building little applications that do something, I also understand that sometimes pen and paper, a new process, or even revised expectations, are all valid solutions to a problem.  What we, as IT professionals, need to understand is that when a client comes to us with a problem it is in our best interest to come up with a proper solution, regardless of what technology we are or are not using.

If you talk to a user and persuade them to change their process to resolve a problem, rather than create an entirely new system, then you will have done everyone a service.  Over fifteen years ago I was asked to build a system for a client that did some inventory work for them.  Our recommendation was that they change one of their existing processes to handle the requirement, but the client was adamant that he wanted a new computer system built.  We built it in VB4 in about 20 hours.  It didn't have any error handling and the interface was kind of clunky, but it did everything he wanted.  Within two weeks of rolling it out to his staff they changed their business process and dumped the application.  Sometimes you need to experience the pain to understand the truth.