Paul Shafer, an IT Professional, former client, and friend shared his thoughts about IT in the words and poem that follow. Paul has graciously given me permission to reprint this item.Â
I appreciate your thoughts on Paul’s article, outsourcing, and your experiences in this regard.
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NO LEG LEFT TO STAND ON
In the 1960’s, The Corporation told us to get college degrees. So we did. Then, in the 1970’s, when credentials inflated and the job market crumbled, The Corporation told us to get graduate degrees. So we did. Then, in the 1980’s, as it prepared to decimate post-war bureaucracies by replacing legions of middle managers with systems, The Corporation told us to learn technology. So we did. Now, with Information Technology (IT) outsourcing having ramped up, the remaining leg of our young people trying to launch their careers has been lost.
The long-term damage that outsourcing does in shredding our socioeconomic fabric, for the sake of short-term profit, is incalculable and surreal. The poem below tells the story of a reality I recently lived, perhaps more succinctly than text would.
CASEY ON THE MAT
(with apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s “Casey at the Batâ€)
The hunky wasn’t dory for America’s IT that day;
The “cost bloat†had to go, and there was no time left to play.
So when slashing trash removal, travel and training proved too lame,
A cold sneer carved the faces of the bosses of the game.
Many staff had already gone one way or another. The rest
Prayed for the day when with leadership their IT workplace would be blessed.
They hankered for a honcho who would prove a savvy cat,
So their muscle would be utilized while cutting only fat.
But politics being what they were, it was the Chairman’s call.
And when Casey took the IT helm, the earth shook not at all.
Upon our collective IT face a sullen grimace sat,
For new vision would hardly now advance upon the bat.
Outsourcing ramped up overnight, at a pace that cowed us all;
A deeply piercing stillness took possession of our halls.
And when the dust had settled, and we all saw what went down,
One tenth of our extended family we would never again see ‘round.
Then from countless anxious throats there came a distressed yell;
“I can’t get my reports.†“Our system has gone to hell.â€
The tear in our social fabric had so grieviously advanced,
That lifelong friends and comrades found their whole world had collapsed.
Low tone and easy manner, showed Casey as he took his place,
“The few went to save the manyâ€, he explained with smiling face.
And when responding to the doubts, he ordered, “Fire two!â€,
We all saw our own brutal future coming into view.
Wall Street’s ears were on him as he crowed about the deed,
Their tongues applauded, as instant cost cuts made a pleasing read.
Then while IT’s shock and awe caused a prolonged productivity dip,
“We must be cost-effective†was heard coming from Casey’s lips.
Reports of related developments, now streamed in the door;
Innovation, trust, morale, lay bleeding on the floor.
And when a few courageous souls proposed a gentler way,
“My way or the highway†was all that Casey had to say.
From the top ranks, who mostly held the shares, strong sentiment did swell,
And of the Company’s future, their message did foretell.
“Kill it! Kill the cost bloat!†they insisted one and all;
And in this fateful mandate shone the writing on the wall.
Above the din our Casey, fired three, then four, then five,
Despite the rising tumult, which he merely dismissed as jive.
When signals started coming in of damages being accrued,
Casey just ignored them, in his feat of derring-do.
“God!†cried the dwindling workforce, as they endured life on the run;
Order became chaos, no work was getting done.
Stress, fear and mistrust had all but shut down the whole place,
While all the honchos fought a daily battle to save face.
Word got out, as it always will, that signs of life had gone;
Customers and the better talent opted to move on.
Wall Street’s earlier accolade eroded in dismay,
As vultures’ rotten stench became the order of the day.
Oh, somewhere in the working world, young talent’s star shines bright;
Somewhere people matter, and everyone has rights.
And somewhere the best among us, enjoy an upward route;
But that’s not the story here, folks – front man Casey was sourced out.
