Forgetting to ask why?

I keep bumping my head gently against the belly of "architectural wisdom" at work of late. I think a stochastic analysis of the words used by my manager over the last few weeks would be quiet telling; "SharePoint", "integration", "services", "portal technology", ".NET webparts", "team expertise", "organic technology".

I love the phrase "organic technology". Something in me wants to embrace and work with "organic technology" to such an extent that I find myself somewhat persuaded to the cause simply because I love the idea so much, until I start to question the basis for such a statement anyway. SharePoint is an organic technology? What does "organic" mean in the context of technology, especially SharePoint? The more I think about it the more I feel "virulent" would be a more appropriate description for the way SharePoint has taken hold in our organisation.

Regardless, this is the cerebral flotsam which flows through the collective consciousness of my team at work and it's starting to have an effect. People are starting to conform. It's scary. I keep asking "Why .NET?", "What are the reasons for choosing this technology and mandating that we work with it?", "Can we use Ruby?", "Imagine writing this in Lisp!", "Have you checked out document management product xyz" etc. So far I'm just getting looks of mild discomfort and a determined change of subject - a subtle message to not challenge the status quo.

I really shouldn't be suprised, but isn't this is a perfect example of big business making some really important technological decisions and seemingly not being able to back them up, or at least not being willing to discuss the rationale behind those decisions? I'm seeing a leadership model where as a team we are exposed to a barrage of value judgements that are never substantiated and are actively maintained as fact with out any kind of supportive reasoning. SharePoint is an "organic" technology. Intranet requirements mean we need to use a "portal-like technology". We are going to build all these applications in .NET... the list goes on. The right response to all these statements is a simple question in my mind - "Why?".

Noone is asking this question at work anymore. I wonder why?