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Subject:RE: The one question I hate the most? From:"Rick Bishop" <rickbishop -at- austin -dot- rr -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Sat, 30 Jul 2005 10:20:50 -0500
I'm sure most of us can sympathize with your predicament. Some
are heroes, some are just cowboys!
It pays to make one close friend in the IT dept early on to help
you 'bend' the rules whenever this kind of uninformed policy
interferes with your work. Your alternative at this stage is to
get support from upper mgt to rule that you get local admin
privileges on your machine.
Lobby for admin while daily reminding your boss that you will
not make the deadline unless this happens.
Rick
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Geoff Hart
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 8:01 AM
Subject: The one question I hate the most?
Sarah Stegall reports: <<"What do you need it for?" I usually
get asked this by suspicious managers and IT sysadmins when I
ask to have some software installed. Today I asked to have the
same OS (Linux) installed on my machine that the developers use,
so that I can experiment/test our software product. I've already
backed everything up and partitioned my computer. But when I
asked the Powers That Be to install the same version of Linux on
my computer that the developers are using to compile their
software, I got rolled eyes, blank stares, and The Question.>>
This is par for the course nowadays. If you recall that "IT" is
an acronym for "In Trouble" (tip 'o the hat to Benoit Bisson for
the joke), you'll understand the problem: the modern IT
department, under siege from spyware, viruses, spam, trojans,
and employees who would rather browse photo sites than work, are
perpetually in a state of crisis. In additioned to having been
largely abandoned by Microsoft, they are spat on by management
because they're always asking for more money, accidentally
crashing the network, delaying important work (like
intra-management memos about the upcoming 3-martinii lunch), and
(despite heroic efforts) letting occasional malware slip past
the gates because of some f*ckwit who insists on opening every
attachment.
Oh yeah... and surprisingly many of them are simply incompetent
to do their job, MCSE certification notwithstanding <stitch>.
Like the guy who reformatted my entire hard drive when he
discovered I'd deleted all the unused shortcuts on the Program
menu--and he didn't realize these were just shortcuts and
assumed I'd deleted the actual programs. (The same guy who
reformatted someone else's hard drive without backing up the
data. I could tell you tales... <g>)
I once brought in my home computer so I could do the work I
needed to do while waiting for an incompetent IT guy to get
around to fixing my work computer. I actually left my former
employer when the situation got too frustrating. After the 10th
time asking the development manager (who also ran IT) to unlock
my computer so I could install his software so I could document
it, I asked myself why I was wasting my time. The answer didn't
convince me, so I left. When the IT department forgets that
they've been hired to make your life easier, not theirs, the rot
has reached a terminal stage. And when a manager doesn't
understand that you need to install his software before you can
document it... The mind boggles; the Peter principle remains
unchallenged.
If you're actually still enjoying your job and inspired to stay,
work your way (cautiously) up the political chain until someone
writes you a letter that tells the idjits in IT to smarten up
and do what you ask them to do... or at least unlock your
computer and let you do the installation yourself. There's no
reason to put up with this kind of shit on the job.
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