What (Infomation) Technology Really Does

In an explanation to a colleague today about what I do at work, I caught myself saying, "I'm here to make life easier for other departments." While I'm just as much a sucker for warm-and-fuzzy as the next guy, I realized I was telling a white lie that only sounds uplifting from the outside. It's not that I have no intention of helping my colleagues and teammates at the office; it's just that the nature of my job, of information technology really has nothing to do with "making life easier".

If you're thinking that I'm crazy and confused, let me ask you: Does having computers, email, word processing and spreadsheet software or any other piece of technology really make your life easier? The answer for me is simply "no". None of it makes my life easier; all of the above simply raise expectations for my output at the office. If I had to crunch numbers by hand, maybe 20 calculations a day would be considered amazing. But if I'm crunching numbers with Microsoft Excel, 200 calculations a day could get me fired.

So, this was a little depressing to me... Until I thought about the bigger picture. Increasing productivity is the only way for us to raise the standard of living and the quality of life for you, me and everyone else. But I won't bore you by waxing poetic about world peace, food for all, etc.

All I wanted to say are really two things.

1. Information technology is here to increase productivity, not to make work cushier.
2. My work as an IT professional is to improve my organization, my country, and... you get the idea.