Print Close This article was printed from Computerworld Hong Kong on 2008-09-17. 20 IT mistakes to avoid Back in 2004, InfoWorld's then-CTO Chad Dickerson polled the best and brightest to reveal 20 IT mistakes that were surefire recipes for cost overruns, missed deadlines, and in some cases, lost jobs. A lot has changed in the past four years, but one thing hasn't: IT's capacity to fall prey to misguided practices, given the complexity of the responsibilities involved. So in the spirit of "forewarned is forearmed," we bring you 20 brand-new mistakes that today's IT managers would do well to avoid. As before, the names have been changed to protect the guilty, but the lessons learned are plain to see. 1. Overzealous password policies A clear and consistently enforced password policy is essential for any network. What good is a firewall when an attacker only needs to type "password" to get in? But strict pas