The Politics of Secrecy: “I know something you don't.”
So it's past time to change jobs, and I'm leaving the financial industry to return to non-profits. This is where I started, and should never have left: the only stakeholders should be the producers and the customers.
Upon giving notice, the old-fashioned and now-meaningless 2 weeks, my boss told me not to tell anyone. And I've not, though one person figured it out due to a slip. But it's a testament to the underlying lack-of-collaboration that the trend here is to undershare.
My experience with network geeks is they all aspire to the mislabeled position of “Network Architect” whereupon they dispense their opinions unchallenged. That's not great for a work-together attitude, but the really scary ones are the aspirers. Those who want to be are worse than those who are. The result is a floor full of cats, who might coincidentally line up in the same direction, but not due to their coordinated will or the management from above.
One of the principal mechanisms by which one of these cats establishes its territory is by hoarding whatever knowledge it has. Some of this is hard-won experience, and some is artificially created by hiding. Funny thing is, no one's figured out advertising yet. Wiki's are regarded with suspicion (they're just a fad anyway) though maybe they all get a buzz off the initial ask. I guess it must be fun having supplicants. Me, I prefer a fast-and-fluid continual conversation of the trivial and the significant. The routine exchange of ideas, especially challenging ones offered with understanding that the listener may differ, that's the stuff of life.
My part of the problem? Maybe I expect people to try harder. To share more (communism!), to recognize that ideas are free: give 'em away, you'll have more (Tim Housel's advice) But as I move on, I shall try to remember the advice of my good friend Mr. Booble-arski who said that the one constant at every job is you.