This magazine is for information technology/systems managers - which, in today's business world, is almost all of us. When you use a PC, you're managing a complex combination of hardware and software information technologies. If you carry a tech™ (pocket notebook), send/receive letters, faxes, and e-mail, and use an answering machine, you're managing and coordinating a variety of diverse information systems.

Being a successful manager - whether for your employer, or of your own personal needs - takes hard work, careful planning, and luck. I won't attempt to suggest innovations that can lead to success (I yield to Tom Peters et al. on that score), but I will enumerate some of the "bad habits" that can pave the road to failure.

To successfully manage information technologies and systems, don't:

Concentrate on the long term. Sure, a long-term vision is essential, but with today's increasingly shorter product cycles and rapidly evolving business environment, things are moving too rapidly to risk predicating next decade's business plans on today's technologies and market conditions. Just as in sending a spaceship to Mars, you don't aim at where the planet is now, but at where it will be by the time you've traveled the distance. Business success is a moving target that, unfortunately, doesn't follow a predictable, elliptical orbit, so you'll need to regularly replot your course.

Follow current trends. If you do, you'll have to be content with the leftovers. Remember that whatever success stories you read in the press today are reports on the systems, processes, and technologies those companies implemented last quarter, or last year. By the time you've implemented your own imitative versions, the successful enterprises you read about will have moved on to something even better.

Underestimate the competition. What, do you think your competitors are too dense to see the opportunity you see? They probably saw it sooner, and now you're going to have to run faster just to stay on their heels.

Stay on the technology leading edge. To stay at the leading edge, you'll have to buy new systems and peripherals every few months (and pay premium prices). It may indulge your vanity, but it's not very cost-effective.

Lag on the technology trailing edge. If you're content to tag along on the trailing edge, your more energetic competitors will be luring away your customers by working smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Don't run too fast, but don't walk too slow.

Wait for a technology solution. Information technology isn't really about technology - it's about people and knowledge empowerment. Just because newer technology could do a job faster or more efficiently doesn't mean it can't be started with current technology. Welcome to the age of incremental upgrades.

Trust in generalizations (such as those above). We're all the same, only different, and it is those differences that spell success (i.e., preventing your product from becoming a commodity). If you trust others (including media pundits and magazine columnists) to do your research and form your opinions for you, don't be surprised if what you get isn't quite what you were expecting.

WM. Auckerman