are technology trends killing strategy?

Last night I spent the evening in the company of Steve White at the Colchester Institute where he held one of his master classes. Steve is an accomplished drummer who was in Paul Weller's group 'The Style Council' and also the youngest drummer on stage at Live Aid in 1985, as well as, played the Live 8 concert with The Who.

So what has a 47 year old drummer got against technology? Well he had a laptop for playing his backing tracks and a Roland sampler for creating loops so he was definitely using technology. But he made a very good point about being no quick fixes to anything and if you want to be good at something it takes hard work, understanding, dedication and time.

Steve stated that "technology was a enabler that made it easy to access information and the YouTube and X-factor generation want the quick fix to get instant fame."

As we all know you can search the Internet and get a video guide on anything, including drumming, which will have you doing something parrot fashion in a very short time. However, the short term fix doesn't provide the depth of knowledge required to progress or provide a consistent performance. In the case of drumming this relates to conditioning and muscle memory to sustain a 60 minute set night after night. Or the control and restraint to be able to play with a band without sounding like a bunch of children throwing their instruments down the stairs.

I've been in the IT industry for more years than I like to remember and like Steve have built on my knowledge from the basic, like paradiddles, which are invaluable and allowed me to grow as the IT landscape has evolved.

Now I'm not saying I'm the Tom Jones of IT compared to 'Danny from the Script' but I expect some of you have been in a similar position where you are in a meeting and the views of others seem to be founded on the latest products or solutions in IT magazines, tech tweets or specialist seminar attended.

What is your experience and do you feel the latest hype is enough to base a transformational IT strategy upon? Or do you think the old school approach where a solid background in IT infrastructure is required to ensure that you pick a 'Leanne Mitchell' that delivers on time every time?

Best regards,

Andy