July of 2005 was a very hot summer and I was stuck on Jury duty at Southwark crown court.
I remember the great attention to detail that the legal team paid to the proceedings. They really did cross every t and dot every i. That attention to detail sticks in my mind to this day because it's something that's lacking in virtually EVERY IT Department out there right now.

I fully accept that not every IT department needs to be as thorough as a court room and that sometimes the 'quick fix' is needed because without it you will have a system out of action for sometime but in far too many places the 'quick fix' becomes the accepted way of working, There seems to be no pride, no attention to detail, no following up or raising issues just generally sweeping it under the carpet and moving on to the next crisis.

In this type of environment no one is to blame and yet everyone is to blame. It becomes the accepted way of working. Any person who points known flaws is generally frowned upon and shushed until they slowly slip into the companies way of doing things.

Further down the line a crisis will occur which is either hampered or CAUSED by the multiple quick fixes and other shoddy practices that have been building up over the months/years.

What I've said here is nothing new. No doubt many of you who read this will be familiar with the pattern. No doubt many of you will be able to relate to what I've said here. No doubt the pattern will continue to be repeated and I am just as guilty as anyone else.

My problem is that I'm quite disorganised so I make a note onto a scrap of paper and promptly lose it or make a note into notepad and promptly lose that or have it get lost into a myriad of other files and folders.

I think it's time to get more lawyer-like. More organised. At least KNOW where we have quick fixes and other potentials issues.

Knowing where the problems are likely to occur is a good start to fixing them.

Time to get organised, Time to start being professional.