So the blog / twitter feed has pics of one of many facepalm moments, this happens a lot in IT, hell it happens in all departments, I know, because some of the other managers told me so, actually I’ve seen it happen first hand – want to see how? Sure why not, this is supposed to be informative after all…
Either wait until a managers pc displays the old BSOD or even force one yourself (force a bsod? how? here’s how – http://psacake.com/web/jr.asp) and then pop into their office. Say the following;
It’s ok if your pc has died, not to worry, we can just drop another one in its place. Backup? Oh we’ve not backed up pcs since the 90s, all of the important stuff is on the server, right?
Guaranteed to generate a facepalm every time as they realise what they didn’t backup is toast.
Right then, back to the point!
Yes, I am worried, why? It’s rough out there. I mean if you manage to track down the old blog you’ll find a post or so where I’ll mention change in a company, it’s become such a thing that they even created a process for it (you know it as change control) and it is a constant issue internally.
I also keep harping on about how IT is so special, well it’s not that special really, it’s just another sub-section of the business as a whole, but one of the key points about IT is that it, largely, affects all of the business, in much the same way a payroll or personnel section will do.
Want to grab some leave, problems with your overtime, check out the lottery numbers/personal email/latest celebrity buzz/and so on.
So how can I single out IT? Because generally IT is a proactive department (unless you include our Service Desk that is!) you often see IT staff out and about, I can go months before I see anyone from payroll walking through our buildings, much the same for the personnel, so that’s my best.
With me so far? Various departments whole of business, most of them deep dark cave dwellers (much like the public perception of programmers, unless you’ve seen the facebook movie, then they’re just poor motherless geeks looking for a nice girl to support them) and then you have your IT workforce, the oft chided, rarely included guys that roam around the company fixing stuff not quite fast enough for most of you.
That’s fine and, I mean even those guys get to go to the Christmas party, but the IT Management, different kettle of hand grenades altogether.
We are the architects of misery and despair, we’re the guys that change stuff.
I have been in this game for many years, back before computers were really widespread, and let me tell you two things I know as sure as I know about death and taxes; no-one likes you if you change stuff and people do not like living with change.
There are various methods out there as well as clever studies about people’s attitudes, asking a norm or two will yield the bold claim that they’re happy with new stuff as long as they’re in the loop.
Well you might as well do something more depressing with that loop because they’re telling you lies.
I have not yet found a single workable solution to keep them all happy, which is to be expected I guess, but what is realistic? 50% conversion rate? 25%?
Ok, so I might be being a bit hard, but there are lots of them out there, harbouring ill will;
Group Policies tend to have this effect on people, its pure pleasure to us, generic security, management and deployment helped massively by putting some GPs in place, but the pitchforks come out when the change is sensed out in the business.
Now the point to all of this is not to try to persuade norms that change is good, nor is it to buck up IT guys into realising that we’re all in the same boat, it is in actual fact to tell you to pick a strategy and stick to it – if you want to run with the “I’ve been told to do it by corporate” gambit, stick there, but do not show weakness or even a slight willingness to bend the rules, you’ll be targeted thereafter.
I tend to favour the mid-range approach. This can usually be forestalled by an event, virual outbreak, gross misconduct, etcetera, which usually prompts corporate to a) stick out a notice and b) tell IT to prevent it. People usually react better if they know there’s a consequence.
Is that fair? No. Is that what I want to do? No. I’d prefer to treat everyone like human beings but unfortunately there is this toss-up between doing your job, and wanting to be liked by all, very political indeed.
So why am I scared? Well look at Egypt and points nearby, it’s showing what you can do with a groundswell of support, it may only be time before we have to barricade ourselves in the Server Room, and that place has not got any Windows. (well, not any you can sneak out of in any case)
