Potential Unbound

Information technology departments often focus conversations around “technology debt” on the need to regularly replace and update hardware and software infrastructure. However, there is another crucially important, yet often overlooked, component of technology debt – knowledge debt. Knowledge debt refers to the gap between individual knowledge and organizational knowledge about how technology systems are configured, deployed, and managed within a specific environment. When new technologies are implemented, typically individual contributors take responsibility for deployment based on their personal expertise. Over time though, those individuals’ undocumented understandings and insights into the how technology works becomes "knowledge debt" if they are not effectively converted into organizational knowledge. This knowledge debt poses huge risks as refresh projects and personnel changes occur. If individual knowledge has not been mapped to organizational systems and processes,...

A growth mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort and practice rather than being fixed traits. It stands in contrast to a “fixed mindset”, where people believe their talents and skills are set in stone. Employees with growth mindsets are more willing to take risks, try new things, and pick themselves up after setbacks. They see challenges as opportunities to learn rather than threats to avoid. I see the power of this mindset play out in my team everyday. When we get stuck on a problem, my team rolls up their sleeves to experiment with different solutions rather than throwing their hands up in frustration. Just yesterday, we realized we had installed a server rack backwards. Rather than cast blame or lament the mistake, the team grabbed tools and worked together to fix it, cracking jokes all the while. We are far from perfect, but it’s this spirit of curiosity, grit, and good humor in the face of mistakes that enables breakthrough innovations...

As IT leaders, we are constantly facing the challenge of keeping our teams' skills relevant in a field that evolves at lightning speed. With new technologies entering the marketplace daily, it's easy for hard-won knowledge to suddenly become obsolete. This skill obsolescence puts us in a difficult position - should we retrain existing staff or attempt to bring in new talent who may be more familiar with the latest trends? Neither option is easy or guaranteed to succeed. I believe the root of this problem lies not with the pace of technological change, but with how we approach learning and development. Too often, our training focuses narrowly on specific tasks and tools rather than broader concepts. For example, we teach employees how to configure and maintain legacy telephony systems without giving them a deeper grounding in networks, protocols, audio encoding, and the like. So when a new technology like VoIP comes along, they lack the context and adaptability to smoothly tran...