The role of the professional is changing. For a long time, we turned to the professional because we faced a problem which we recognized belonged in the professional’s domain. We had a medical problem and we turned to a doctor. We had a legal problem and we turned to a lawyer. Or we had an engineering problem and we turned to an engineer. They had the recognized knowledge and skill to solve problems in their respective domains.

It’s not that simple any more. Our world is in an almost constant state of flux. The neat compartmentalization of problems into clear and distinct professional buckets is disappearing. As one of the best lawyers I know says, “There are no more legal problems, only human and organizational problems with legal dimensions.” The real need is to solve the human or organizational problem, but in such a way as to avoid potential legal land mines.

And the Internet has dramatically changed the value of specialized knowledge. When I face a medical, legal, or engineering issue, I can find detailed, technical information just a click away. The information available on the Internet is vastly greater than what any individual professional could possess. The professional is still important, but not as the source of detailed, technical knowledge. The professional is no longer the fount of all wisdom, knowledge, and information.

The professional can help me put the information I have in a useful context. I don’t spend enough time with medical, legal, or engineering concerns to have a current context within which to place the snippets of information that I find on the Internet. I may find the correct phrase, but not recognize that one little comma can radically change the meaning of a clause, … as Rogers discovered when an extra comma recently cost them over $2 million.

In some important ways, the plight of the modern day professor neatly summarizes the change. Professing in a university setting began before books were widely available. The professor, by diligent study, discourse, and thought, was the only source of knowledge and information in his domain. Today, students expect to find lecture notes on the Internet. MIT has even made a commitment to publish all course notes on the Internet.

What should be the role of the professor in our information rich world? Lecturing from personal course notes doesn’t cut it. It’s more efficient (and convenient) for the students to just read the notes. But the professor can help students discover information and insight that may not be obvious from even the best Google search. The professor can also help students understand the important context for a specific problem they have been assigned to solve.

It’s almost a case of figure/ground reversal - a classic fugure/ground example being an outline of two faces that can become the outline of a vase (illustrated on the left). Viewed one way, its two facing people. Viewed with a figure/ground reversal, it’s a vase. The professional was seen as critical because of his or her knowledge of the figure - a specific medical, legal, or engineering issue. But, increasingly, the professional is valuable because of his or her knowledge and understand of the context.

Put another way, the professional has the breadth of knowledge and experience to protect you from “solutions” that can have serious and unexpected side effects. The magic pill may cure the rash, but cause someone like you to lose all their hair. The professional earns his or her keep by protecting patients, clients, or students from risks that are not obvious to those without the professional’s extensive experience. And it helps if the professional is a good problem solver, at least in his or her domain.

It’s not enough for the professional to solve problems. He or she must also understand the risks that attach to solutions, and what can best be done to manage those risks. Deliver the positive, but also protect against the negative. Risk assessment and risk management have become critical for today’s professionals. This is some of the background thinking which led me to recommend to CIPS that risk assessment and risk management be accepted as important for all IT professionals.

CIPS has accepted, in principle, that risk assessment should be undertaken at the beginning of every IT assignment and risk management practiced during every IT assignment. In principle it all makes sense. Translating the principle into practice that can be used on the job will be a continuing challenge for CIPS and Canadian IT professionals.