I think it’s finally time for me to retire.
Those of my readers who know me likely know that I’m well beyond the traditional retirement age. I actually did my first network project in the 1960s, one that required me to modify IBM field-developed software to build a distributed computing application for IBM 360s. I also led the team that built the first IBM SNA financial network that included no IBM computers at all; we had to write SNA for a minicomputer. I ran another team that implemented the X.25 packet-switching standard on another minicomputer. I’ve been a successful industry analyst in networking since 1982, and a writer for industry publications from that same time. I’ve seen the dawn of the Internet, broadband, and the transformation in telecom, been a partner in a hedge fund and learned what Wall Street has done, and is doing. It’s been profitable, fun, and work, and sometimes disappointing, but through it all I’ve been dedicated to facing reality, facing the truth.
I’m a technologist, a programmer and software architect. I’m also a writer, a speaker, a communicator. When I became an analyst (around 1982) I started surveying users to find out what technology they needed, and my work was helping vendors align product plans to buyer needs, or helping buyers exploit technology successfully. That, to me, was interesting, honorable, and fun.
It’s less fun today, perhaps because truth and reality seem less valued, important. I think that the shift to ad sponsorship of publications, the explosion of online publications, and the “chase clicks” mindset that’s resulted, has changed both the media and the role of analysts…like me. There was a time when companies wanted to know what buyers wanted and needed, and asked me for that information. Now, they want others to buy what they sell, want me to promote that, and that’s a PR role not a technology role. Not a role I want to play.
Tech publications are under “click pressure” these days, to match stories to SEO, to maximize ad revenue, and to manage costs. More and more often, I find that I can’t write what a publication wants because I don’t believe it’s true. Or that, when I do write it, they can’t seem to get the payments to me on time. I’ve gradually stopped writing for publications because of this, and focused on blogs. But even with blogging, I find myself constantly saying that this or that technology is over-hyped, that there’s a bubble. How many times can that be said, and how many times are you willing to read it? It sure looks like this is a waste of my time, and yours.
I’m not blaming vendors or publications for the state of affairs. Every company has to think about its profits, and make a decision about what serves them best. If that’s chasing clicks, I get it, but I’m also convinced that the click-dominated mindset we see today is pushing us toward tech stories as entertainment rather than enlightenment, and it’s enlightened people who can make business cases. I think that short-term sales focus and riding hype waves is a bad profit strategy, but the decision has to be made at the individual level, by a business and by decision-makers.
And so, I’ve made my own decision. I’ve had a long and successful career as an analyst, keeping true to my own values, but the industry doesn’t seem to share them. Change is inevitable, but I’m not going to change my way of working to support something I don’t believe in, and that I think will be bad for everyone who loves tech as much as I do.
For the enterprises who have shared stories with me, I’ll keep your email link up until early 2027. Don’t worry about the privacy of the information you shared under my promise of complete confidentiality. I will destroy all the data next year, and under no circumstances will it be passed in any form to others. If you like the idea of having all that good enterprise data, don’t bother to contact me with an offer to get access to it; I refuse no matter what terms you offer. For those who contributed, I thank you all for your help in understanding tech reality.
I plan on keeping my hand, though a light touch and a weekly-only blog, through early 2027, and if some consulting or writing comes along that fits my profile, I’ll look at it. Beyond that, I leave tech, with a combination of sadness and gratitude, to others.
