So I’m trying to put together my thoughts about a rampant problem. I keep running into situations where organizations have more data than they can possibly handle, and systems that are built to handle that data, but not the human capital to build and maintain the systems around them.

This started with my Mother’s day rant, where I asked why I couldn’t opt out of mother’s day mailings. You run into this all the time in airlines and financial institutions where you are forced to dial in your account or itinerary information, only having to read it off to a customer service representative later in the call.

Can anyone give me a good reason why I have to choose “English” every time I insert my ATM card into the machine? WTF? They know my address and account number, why not my chosen language?

I was complaining about United Airlines last week until Christopher Penn made me realize that there are far worse problems in air travel. A delayed flight is one thing, losing a passenger entirely is unconscionable.

For my entire career I had waited for tech to catch up to what I was doing, in the space of less than 10 years it’s gone from non-existant, to available, to being drowned in it.

On another note, I am loving Apple TV - digital photos (also buried under their own sheer volume) have been set free on the wide screen. It’s amazing how pictures that look ok at 4×6 look incredible on a big screen.