And so another day has begun. And it begins with me coming in to work to 
discover that a fairly major change has been made to my network over 
night that isn't logged anywhere, without anybody bothering to consult 
me first. Yay, me. :-/

I am rapidly losing the will to live here... So many unrecorded changes 
happening without me knowing about it... How am I supposed to keep this 
stuff straight?

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Invisible wrote:
> And so another day has begun. And it begins with me coming in to work to 
> discover that a fairly major change has been made to my network over 
> night that isn't logged anywhere, without anybody bothering to consult 
> me first. Yay, me. :-/

If you are the person held responsible for the condition of the network, 
request the authority to undo any such operation conducted without your 
knowledge, and also to bill the offender.

If you are denied this authority, then preface all future estimates of 
time and cost for repairs and upgrades with the phrase, "Because this 
office has not been granted sufficient control over the network, 
estimates of time and cost which follow are theoretical only and cannot 
be guaranteed."

Regards,
John

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John VanSickle wrote:

> If you are the person held responsible for the condition of the network, 
> request the authority to undo any such operation conducted without your 
> knowledge, and also to bill the offender.

Does that work when the offender is your boss?

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Invisible wrote:
> John VanSickle wrote:
> 
>> If you are the person held responsible for the condition of the 
>> network, request the authority to undo any such operation conducted 
>> without your knowledge, and also to bill the offender.
> 
> Does that work when the offender is your boss?

It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)

John

-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

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>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
> 
> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)

Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than believe 
the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...

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Invisible wrote:
>>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
>>
>> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)
> 
> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than believe 
> the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...

Why don't you try? Don't point the finger at your boss; just couch the 
complaint in broad terms and point out that the changes are undocumented 
- that in itself is probably a serious breach of whatever protocols the 
company has in place to maintain network integrity.
Incidentally, I had a problem many years ago (1986 iirc) with a boss who 
consistently opposed everything I tried to do. I did exactly what I 
advised you to do. Result - she walked, I got promotion

John

-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

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>> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than 
>> believe the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...
> 
> Why don't you try? Don't point the finger at your boss; just couch the 
> complaint in broad terms and point out that the changes are undocumented 
> - that in itself is probably a serious breach of whatever protocols the 
> company has in place to maintain network integrity.

Well, it's in breach of the UK's procedures. Apparently the procedures 
they have in the US mean it's perfectly permissible to do this - which 
is why (I suspect) nobody thought to ask first. The guy is talking about 
"harmonising" the procedures at all sites - which I suspect means doing 
away with pesky inconviniences like recording what you did.

Never the less, until such time as the procedures are changed, *I* am 
held responsible for following the procedures as currently written. When 
all this is over, it won't be my boss's head on a platter, it will be 
mine. He'll be many thousand miles away by then.

> Incidentally, I had a problem many years ago (1986 iirc) with a boss who 
> consistently opposed everything I tried to do. I did exactly what I 
> advised you to do. Result - she walked, I got promotion

Heh. I think *I* should walk! But we already know that one... ;-)

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On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:42:18 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> I am rapidly losing the will to live here... So many unrecorded
> changes happening without me knowing about it... How am I supposed
> to keep this stuff straight?

Have you considered doing something besides geek stuff for a living? I'm 
sure you're good at it, but it seems to cause you a lot of stress. There 
are a lot of things I am good at and/or love doing which would make me 
miserable were I to try and do them for a living.

Think about it this way. A person is considered hyper-religious if he 
spends three hours a week in church. A few hours a week in the garage 
make you a hot-rodder. Ten hours a week watching porn or playing video 
games could get you an intervention from your friends. A Nascar fanatic 
might go to three races in an entire year. YOU ARE AT WORK AT LEAST 40 
HOURS A WEEK! Your job, as much as many hate to admit it, is a very big 
part of who you are. Programming, network-administrating, etc. might not 
be enough to sustain you for 40 hours a week.

I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading that you are learning c++ 
because your preferred language won't advance your tech career. There are 
other avenues.

 -Shay

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Shay wrote:

> Have you considered doing something besides geek stuff for a living? I'm 
> sure you're good at it, but it seems to cause you a lot of stress.

Computers don't stress me out. Management politics stress me out. :-/ 
And being considered to be some kind of nobody idiot who doesn't know 
what they're talking about and can't be trusted with anything stresses 
me out. The actual computer-related parts don't really stress me.

> I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading that you are learning c++ 
> because your preferred language won't advance your tech career. There are 
> other avenues.

Yeah. But not when computing is your only commercially important skill.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On 07-Oct-08 20:21, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Shay wrote:
> 
>> Have you considered doing something besides geek stuff for a living? 
>> I'm sure you're good at it, but it seems to cause you a lot of stress.
> 
> Computers don't stress me out. Management politics stress me out. :-/ 
> And being considered to be some kind of nobody idiot who doesn't know 
> what they're talking about and can't be trusted with anything stresses 
> me out. The actual computer-related parts don't really stress me.
> 
>> I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading that you are learning c++ 
>> because your preferred language won't advance your tech career. There 
>> are other avenues.
> 
> Yeah. But not when computing is your only commercially important skill.
> 
1) I don't think that is true. If it were you would not have started 
this thread.
2) There is more than commercial work
3) even that sort of work comes in many flavors

And to come back to your original question: I am afraid that you have to 
write that letter. Your boss has probably broken the law and you are 
responsible for it. If you can 'proof' that it was done without your 
knowledge and that you immediately reacted you may be able to defend 
yourself when your company faces a big fine when the authorities notice.

As doctor john said you don't have to point to your boss. Simply write a 
letter that you noticed something changed, that is was not documented, 
that you therefore can not know if more things have changed than you 
know now and point to the laws that mandate that such things are 
documented. mail to boss, cc his boss and the head IT in the US

If in doubt about the tone of the letter contact e.g. one of the guys 
you met personally and whose opinion you trust by regular mail and from 
home.

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On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:48:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
>> 
>> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)
> 
> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than believe
> the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...

Hey, the worst that can happen is they fire you - which frees you up to 
find other employment.

Jim

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Grunts of agreement here....

Jim

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On 07-Oct-08 22:56, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:48:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:
> 
>>>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
>>> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)
>> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than believe
>> the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...
> 
> Hey, the worst that can happen is they fire you -
I think our Andy is mortally afraid of fire.

> which frees you up to find other employment.

Interesting concept, I am not sure if he already tried that. ;)

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On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:12:52 +0200, andrel wrote:

> On 07-Oct-08 22:56, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:48:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>> 
>>>>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
>>>> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)
>>> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than
>>> believe the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...
>> 
>> Hey, the worst that can happen is they fire you -
> I think our Andy is mortally afraid of fire.
> 
>> which frees you up to find other employment.
> 
> Interesting concept, I am not sure if he already tried that. ;)

Maybe, but also as I have said before, document, document, document.  If 
it ain't written down, it didn't happen.

Andy, you listening?

Jim

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> Computers don't stress me out. Management politics stress me out. :-/ And 
> being considered to be some kind of nobody idiot who doesn't know what 
> they're talking about and can't be trusted with anything stresses me out. 
> The actual computer-related parts don't really stress me.

Hehe, you should read more BOFH :-)  Seriously though, a few incidents that 
you manage well (ie informing management continuously what is happening) 
will put you in better light.  Speak to your boss about what he did and why 
he didn't ask you first, if you don't get a satisfactory answer then *tell 
him* that, that it's not acceptable, explain why, and speak to someone else 
if necessary.  Tell him why it's important that nobody can modify the IT 
systems without your knowledge, you should fix things so that it's 
*impossible* for him to make any changes like that again without you 
knowing.  If you don't have a good talk with him he will do it again and 
annoy you more.

> Yeah. But not when computing is your only commercially important skill.

Well (from what I remember) your company is certainly not paying you as 
someone with a commercially important skill.

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:12:52 +0200, andrel wrote:
> 
>> On 07-Oct-08 22:56, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:48:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>>
>>>>>> Does that work when the offender is your boss?
>>>>> It does if you copy in his/her boss :-)
>>>> Yes, because upper management are more likely to believe me than
>>>> believe the Senior Director of IT. Oh, wait...
>>> Hey, the worst that can happen is they fire you -
>> I think our Andy is mortally afraid of fire.
>>
>>> which frees you up to find other employment.
>> Interesting concept, I am not sure if he already tried that. ;)
> 
> Maybe, but also as I have said before, document, document, document.  If 
> it ain't written down, it didn't happen.
> 
> Andy, you listening?
> 


so - he should write down the bad stuff his boss does and the good stuff 
he does...

but the bad stuff that he does he should let fall under the table ;-)

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Tom Austin wrote:
> 
> 
> so - he should write down the bad stuff his boss does and the good stuff 
> he does...
> 
> but the bad stuff that he does he should let fall under the table ;-)
> 

Well, naturally; unless, that is, he's feeling suicidal. Oh, wait ...

John

-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

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On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:21:40 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Computers don't stress me out. Management politics stress me out.
> :-/ And being considered to be some kind of nobody idiot who
> doesn't know what they're talking about and can't be trusted with
> anything stresses me out. The actual computer-related parts don't
> really stress me.

Sure, but the "pointy haired boss" type stuff is part of it.

My brother will soon finish his masters and then pursue a doctorate in 
Electrical Engineering. He will make a very comfortable living. However, 
he could make an even more comfortable living practicing EE law. He's got 
the mental horsepower, but EE law doesn't fit his personality.

A new "skill set" can be acquired, but personality is nearly impossible 
to change. 

> Yeah. But not when computing is your only commercially important
> skill.

How important is it? Aptitude isn't so important. You learn a job in two 
weeks, the guy next to you learns it in two months, and a year later no 
one remembers the difference. That's what aptitude will do for you. 
Motivation, on the other hand, is very important. If you're happy and 
motivated, you are very likely to experience commercial success (along 
with not suffering at work).

 -Shay

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On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:19:10 -0400, Tom Austin wrote:

> so - he should write down the bad stuff his boss does and the good stuff
> he does...
> 
> but the bad stuff that he does he should let fall under the table ;-)

Well, of course, that's the idea. :-)

I learned the lesson that "if it's not written, it didn't happen" about 
10 years ago, but I've been over that story here before, so I won't 
rehash it. :-)

Jim

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On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:16:41 -0400, Shay wrote:

> A new "skill set" can be acquired, but personality is nearly impossible
> to change.

Agree 100%.  I started as a pure tech, moved into teaching, and then by 
way of doing online support and community building into a program 
management position.  What do program management and IT have in common?  
Very little, it turns out - the ability to think logically and (to an 
extent) the ability to take complex problems and design solutions that 
are hopefully not more complex than the problem was to start with.

Jim

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On 8 Oct 2008 11:24:55 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>What do program management and IT have in common? 

They are natural enemies IMO.
I've just come off a project that is being program managed to death, More time
is spent in meetings, deciding how to catch up than doing the work to catch up.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:59:54 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 8 Oct 2008 11:24:55 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> 
>>What do program management and IT have in common?
> 
> They are natural enemies IMO.

I am my own enemy? ;-)

> I've just come off a project that is being program managed to death,
> More time is spent in meetings, deciding how to catch up than doing the
> work to catch up.

I'm using "Program Management" not in the PMP sense of the term - but 
running a program (like a partner program, for example).  I understand 
that PMP defines "Program Management" as essentially "managing a bunch of 
little interrelated projects".  In the sense of program management that 
I'm using, there's actually very little project management.

Jim

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On 9 Oct 2008 12:13:51 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>On Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:59:54 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 8 Oct 2008 11:24:55 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> 
>>>What do program management and IT have in common?
>> 
>> They are natural enemies IMO.
>
>I am my own enemy? ;-)
>

Aren't we all to some extent? :)


>> I've just come off a project that is being program managed to death,
>> More time is spent in meetings, deciding how to catch up than doing the
>> work to catch up.
>
>I'm using "Program Management" not in the PMP sense of the term - but 
>running a program (like a partner program, for example).  I understand 
>that PMP defines "Program Management" as essentially "managing a bunch of 
>little interrelated projects".  In the sense of program management that 
>I'm using, there's actually very little project management.
>

I think that I need a lexicon. Maybe we can use the British spelling of
programme/project management for those eedgits and program for computer stuff.

You might be able to tell that I'm a bit tee'd off with my last project but not
as much as they will be when one of the other configures hands in his notice
next week :D
I just didn't renew my contract.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:06:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:

>>> They are natural enemies IMO.
>>
>>I am my own enemy? ;-)
>>
> Aren't we all to some extent? :)

Hmmm, that's a fair point. :-)

>>> I've just come off a project that is being program managed to death,
>>> More time is spent in meetings, deciding how to catch up than doing
>>> the work to catch up.
>>
>>I'm using "Program Management" not in the PMP sense of the term - but
>>running a program (like a partner program, for example).  I understand
>>that PMP defines "Program Management" as essentially "managing a bunch
>>of little interrelated projects".  In the sense of program management
>>that I'm using, there's actually very little project management.
>>
>>
> I think that I need a lexicon. Maybe we can use the British spelling of
> programme/project management for those eedgits and program for computer
> stuff.

I haven't found anything that defines a difference between the two 
usages.  That's one of the problems with overloaded words.

> You might be able to tell that I'm a bit tee'd off with my last project
> but not as much as they will be when one of the other configures hands
> in his notice next week :D

Just a touch, yeah, I'd noticed.  I've had a few like that myself.

> I just didn't renew my contract.

That'd be one way of dealing with it. :-)

Jim

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