Bob Cringely in his latest column entitled "Reality Check: What does Gartner really DO?" takes a good whack at the hornet's nest that is the IT industry. Drawing a distinction between "Real engineers" and "IT workers", Cringely argues that the "lack of professionalism in IT" has spawned a symbiotic/parasitic relationship between the advice givers and their customers.

Into this knowledge vacuum come the vendors, who want to sell stuff, and the consultants like Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and the Yankee Group, who need IT managers to feel uncertain about every decision except the decision to buy something, anything. Then look at the number of "research reports" that are commissioned by vendors. Uh-oh.

The five P's of IT are Pride, Prejudice, Politics, Price, and Performance, with the last two being by far the least important. Consultants like Gartner are very useful for minding the pride and politics, their real function being to provide $2 billion worth of IT management CYA per year.

So the saying "the best advice is free" may just be true. If you ever need to make the case for hiring "real" IT professionals into decision making positions as opposed to listening blindly to what "the industry" says, just point folks to this column. Then call me - I know people .