I have done a lot of work for a very large medical products company. They have a very talented IT department that was established to provide and maintain hardware, software and network services, as well as mobile and cellular equipment for many thousands of people. They run the Web sites. And the intranet. And extranets. The thing is they are very good at hardware and software and network services, because that’s what they were hired for. The Web happens to be on computers so someone in marketing (or management) thought one geek, or 50, is as good as another.

That’s not fair to the IT professionals, the marketing department, the Web users or anyone else, including us Web geeks. I know computers really well, but I personally could not solve a legacy COBOL integration project. Just because someone knows computers doesn’t mean they know how to design for the Web, market on the Web, even program for the Web. Website design isn’t even the same as print design, though some people can cross over and do both well. (more…)