I saw this article today and it reminded me of my early years in IT. Users and developers banging heads over and over again 24/7.
Here's some excerpts taken from the article:
There is little hope that IT will ever truly be aligned with the business--at least if you judge by this sometimes hilarious, sometimes maddening conversation thread on Slashdot a couple of weeks ago. It displays all the worst behaviors of business and IT people—and by accident reveals some good lessons.
The thread starts off with a bang: "The IT department at my company (approximately some 500 people) is showing signs of incompetence, and has been ignoring knowledgeable user input for about a year. Additionally, they haven't been able to sell needed changes to senior management. Unacceptable server down time, maxed network storage, and no backups systems have hit the bottom line, and those on top are starting to notice. We users are staging a revolt to make IT more responsive to users by creating a group from the company divisions and IT to discuss needs and solutions. What would you put in our charter? What services and responsibilities would you demand out of your IT department?"
Definetely a must read for any developer.
Check it out here: http://blogs.cio.com/node/228