Where should IT staff sit? This apparently simple topic - raised by Stephen Agar-Hutty, chief executive of managed services firm Preferred International - has triggered much discussion in Sneak’s broom-cupboard-sized basement beneath the IT Week office. Agar-Hutty thinks IT staff should be distributed throughout the organisation.

The idea is that IT personnel will sit close to the point of need, and will enable the IT function to become more fully integrated into the organisation, becoming part of every team and not just “those annoying/helpful/useless/talented people/angels/idiots/wasters from the IT department”.

It’s a nice idea in theory, but Sneak worries that “embedded” staff may go native, lose perspective, and perhaps become afflicted by Stockholm syndrome. That is, they may begin to see the users’ cause as their own cause, and start to perceive the company’s PCs as belonging to each user: no longer serious business tools but toys fit only to be stuffed with MP3 libraries, downloadable detritus and kitten screen-savers.

No, keep your IT staff where you can see them, Sneak says.

28 Mar 2006