Architecture and Patterns for IT Service Management, Resource Planning, and Governance: Making Shoes for the Cobbler's Children

Chapter 1 Introduction: Shoes for the Cobbler's Child

1.1 The Achievements of IT

In my more than eighteen years at the Federal Reserve, much has surprised me, but nothing more than the remarkable ability of our economy to absorb and recover from the shocks of stock market crashes, credit crunches, terrorism, and hurricanes—blows that would have almost certainly precipitated deep recessions in decades past. This resilience, not evident except in retrospect, owes to a remarkable increase in economic flexibility, partly the consequence of deliberate economic policy and partly the consequence of innovations in information technology.

—Alan Greenspan¹⁰

BECAUSE THE FIRST PART OF THIS BOOK is going to focus on the problems of IT to a great degree, ...