Full-Private Number-One in the Awkward Squad of the rank and file of life was Sloppy, and yet had his glimmering notions of standing true to the Colours.

Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

I am a sceptic, part of the awkward squad of troublemakers.

• The awkward squad consists of people who ask questions and who won’t stop asking until they arrive at the crux of the matter.
• The awkward squad won’t take bullshit for an answer.
• The awkward squad are unquestioningly not pre-programmed to follow specific paths.
• The awkward squad will speak truth to power.
• The awkward squad will question everything.

Such as, “What the hell is that all about?”

I’m in good company. Many people who have made a difference have been fully paid-up members of the awkward squad.

The awkward squad consists of people who understand what ethics means and have the brass neck to apply that knowledge as a facet of professional integrity.

People in the awkward squad might sell dog food, but we know that we shouldn’t eat it ourselves.

I used to tell people.

“If you must exaggerate, try and remember this one thing.”

“What’s that then, Marty?”

“Never, ever, believe your bullshit or you’ll ending up having to eat it.”

I remember when Cloud first appeared on the horison, a marketing idea that was to popularise the expression “put it on the cloud”.

I vaguely remember Larry Ellison getting asked about the Cloud.

If I recall rightly, his reply was along the lines of “Cloud? Oh, you mean connected mainframes and datacentres?”

He saw it, others saw it, and I saw it. This model was how we did it many times before. It even had a name, Time-share Computer Bureaus, and was very popular in Scandinavian countries at one time.

But the Cloud was new, exciting, vibrant and well, vague enough for the market; only that it wasn’t and isn’t new.

The only thing is, a handful of stylists and hacks were let loose on what already existed, and they came up with a new idea, that wasn’t new, creative or innovative.

The concept of a computer bureau existed. It was just repackaged and made more sophisticated. It’s old wine in new bottles – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I have the same issues with marketing terms such as business intelligence, virtualisation and data.

Can you imagine Steve Jobs peddling such rebranded and rebadged crap?

I can’t.

Data brings all the promise of being better informed by having access to far more data.

But for most things in the commercial world, the quantity of data has never been the issue.

If anything, we’ve had too much of it and for far too long.

We’ve been doing data for years.

Previously we called it Very Large Data Bases (aka VLDB).

We have been handling some forms of highly structured data for years.

We used to call it things like text management, document management and knowledge management.

Not that it matters too much.

We are still looking for real insight, but most of us are overwhelmed by countless gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes of data, and much of what we get is recycled, repackaged, and ultimately repetitive.

More than 35 years since I first heard it, we are still getting drowned in data and starved of information. We’re still stuck with low-utility information and weapons-grade marketing hype.

For all the good that the information we receive does us, we may as well be more dog.

As ad-land superman, Dave Trott asked, what the feck does “be more dog” mean?

Exactly!

It doesn’t mean anything.

We could write a whole litany of the endless succession of IT snake-oil merchants that have passed through techy-tinsel-town flogging yet another dead-horse as if it were the latest and greatest Kentucky Derby favourite.

But that’s just hokie. Even the media and the presses are in on it, up-close and intimate collaborators in keeping reality from us, by burying us in shit.

Remember the joke about the mushrooms?

That’s right.

“Keep them in the dark, feed them bullshit, and watch them grow.”

Well, it came true, like life reflecting comic art.

If we dare to admit it, most of us remain starved of knowledge and insight.

And, as for wisdom?

What’s that then?

Be more dog, mate!