From Infoworld, Guerrilla IT: How to stop worrying and learn to love your superusers

The reason superusers go rogue is usually frustration, says Marquis. “It’s a symptom of the IT organization being unable to meet or even understand the needs of its customers,” he says. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be happening.”

The solution? Put them to work.

“Most IT managers have too many requirements and not enough time or budget to get everything done and keep everyone happy,” says Jeffrey Hammond, senior analyst at Forrester Research. “If your infrastructure is flexible enough, you can let superusers solve their own problems, take the heat off your developers, and provide some of your business needs.”

Good ideas in principle, but I don’t think the article goes far enough.  I realize there are governance issues around having your users do things like host their own web servers, but some of the most productive apps in business are made with VBA, Lotus Notes, and other quick-and-dirty languages that end-users can use without much risk to solve immediate business problems.  Not every enterprise issue needs an enterprise-grade solution.

Granted, as a super-user who isn’t in IT, I probably have a different perspective than most of Infoworld’s readers.

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