ZDNet today reported on a study that found that IT moral was at an all-time low. It suggests the reasons are primarily 'continuing lack of job growth' but that doesn't sound like a reason to me. It sounds more like a symptom of an industry gone mad.

Apparently the report says that 'fewer employees, fewer dollars for projects, and the perception that there is not need to focus on retention' will also not help productively in the industry. I can't agree more with the first two – particularly in software development where they are basically the same thing – because being able to use fewer employees and allocate fewer dollars to projects is a sign of increased productivity not a cause.

I don't think the IT industry is engaging in particularly challenging projects. Sure the Internet makes the results of some projects more visible to customers and commentators; and the consulting industry does keep coming up with new names for the same stuff – but the industry is still engineering software, integrating systems, and building infrastructure.

So if the projects aren't any more challenging why should they still be allocated the same number of dollars? And the reason is that the IT industry isn't becoming more productive – it's becoming less productive.

Now some notes on why;

* there are too many non-IT people in the industry; people without the aptitude for the industry who a simply looking for the 2o percent higher wages the report also speaks of

* the IT industry suffers from the strange perception that having certain skills means that you are incapable of having other skills; for example if you are a 'techie' you can't manage

* combining those two points, it's the non-IT people who are managing the industry. This is justified specifically because they DON'T have knowledge of IT; not based on any particular skills that they DO have

* therefore management of the IT industry is performed out of context. so it's dominated by the types of management Mintzberg refers to in 'Managers Not MBAs' (which is, incidentally the type of management that MWT does without)