View Full Version : IT Geeks. Gotta love 'em.
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 08:38
My wife has been trying to arrange remote access to her work PC so she can work while recuperating from a small op.
When she spoke to their IT dept, there was much mumbling, tsking and collective shaking of heads about the impossibility of doing this.
Things were looking bleak until the CFO went to IT and asked them what they thought the consequences for them would be if he had to tell head office that the most omiportant financial report of the year would be late because they can't work this problem out.
BingO! Remote access by days end yesterday.
Lets say it was one of your sales team that needed to be laid up for a while. You get asked by this co-worker "can you set me up to sell from home?". Well, yes, it could be done, we can get telecom to patch your extention to your home phone, we can redirect a certain percentage of customers to your home, then we can get all our surplus stock and display cabinets and ship them out to your house, and set it all up there. This of course, all to be done on top of your normal workload, while you still man the shop and take care of the customers that wander in off the street.
Yes, sure it can be done, but your not gonna be too keen to do it unless the big boss comes down and says do it now or your arse is on the line.
Maybe this is over dramatising it all a bit, but I can sympathise with your IT dept. These things are possible, but its not as simple as "flicking a switch" to make it so. And there's not just the aspect of doing the work, there's also security risks involved.
Consider my button severely pushed.
I hope she dies slowly of an incrediably painful wasting disease after watching everyone she knows and cares about being killed in front of her eyes. Okay maybe I exaggerate but users like her who throw their weight around and go to senior managers because they dont like the answer they get from the IT department piss me right off.
If your wife was sitting in queue for something, and someone jumped in front of her would she be annoyed? I bet she would, most peopel woudl be. Yet this is exactly what she's done. I'd damn near guarantee that to provision this for your wife, the IT department has had to drop what they are doing and pander to her needs on threat of loosing their jobs. Fuck her and all users like her.
*FUME*
Calm down Lias, as you well know, we IT staff do nothing but sit aropund all day picking our noses waiting for "that particular" end luser to ring and make their request so we can instantly gratify them. Remember, we don't really have over a thousand other lusers and a shit-load of routine tasks. It's perfectly reasonable that we should have to drop everything and totally reconfigure the system to allow people access from home at a moment's notice.
Security? Meh! Every work-place should have a direct dial into the main system. Pays not to put a password on it either lest it inconvenience the lusers...
sAsLEX
4th May 2006, 09:38
Consider my button severely pushed.
I hope she dies slowly of an incrediably painful wasting disease after watching everyone she knows and cares about being killed in front of her eyes. Okay maybe I exaggerate but users like her who throw their weight around and go to senior managers because they dont like the answer they get from the IT department piss me right off.
If your wife was sitting in queue for something, and someone jumped in front of her would she be annoyed? I bet she would, most peopel woudl be. Yet this is exactly what she's done. I'd damn near guarantee that to provision this for your wife, the IT department has had to drop what they are doing and pander to her needs on threat of loosing their jobs. Fuck her and all users like her.
*FUME*
Typical dumb IT response hence why you are earning IT dollars instead of management dollars, maybe just maybe your precious little que of password changes and other things menial is actually LESS important than something which will affect the companies profit like a omiportant financial report of the year
. Maybe next time ignore request like this and when the company goes broke at least you would of won!
retard
Interesting how well the CFO has made provision for backup. So if Mrs Giradin had not been able to produce this vital report - had her op been more serious f'instance - the "most important financial report of the year" would presumably not have been available at all.
I hope they got in writing the CFO's acceptance of responsibility for all the Head Office security edicts that were ignored to make it happen .Bet it'll still be their heads that roll if the auditors find out though.
RantyDave
4th May 2006, 09:42
When she spoke to their IT dept, there was much mumbling, tsking and collective shaking of heads about the impossibility of doing this.
The mumbling, tsking and collective shaking of heads would almost certainly not have been regarding the impossibility, more likely it would have been about how this was going to affect various management and security policies.
OK. I'll try and do it in English. Big Microsoft rigs are notoriously delicate. To make one work you have to do *exactly* what Mr Microsoft says and absolutely nothing else. If it is working, you don't fuck with it because the chances of nuking the entire company are huge. The other thing you do is put a firewall between it and the Internet configured to let pretty well nothing come in. Popping a hole in the firewall is a big deal because it's another "vector" for viruses and Korean teenagers to amble around inside your company network and fuck things over. Popping a hole over to one particular PC is made harder because from a networking perspective they can amble from one place to another, although this can be infrequent.
Anyway, so this call comes in and someone wants to work from home. What it means is "should we risk the entire fucking house of cards so that one person can work from home" and the answer is no. Under these circumstances it clearly takes someone high up in the company to enter the risk, and once the decision has been taken it'll be somewhere between half and hour and an afternoon to make it go. As you saw.
Not that I'm defending the geeks, and not that I'm defending Microsoft who are responsible for the situation in the first place. I'm just saying that this is the way it is - sad, and rather pathetic.
Aside: I work writing software for people that make movies, TV etc. Many of them are so concerned about what would happen if they caught crabs off the Internet that they don't connect their "work" rigs to the Internet at all.
Dave
,, actually LESS important than something which will affect the companies profit like a omiportant financial report of the year
. Maybe next time ignore request like this and when the company goes broke at least you would of won!
retard
How is any financial report going to affect profit in the slightest? Let alone send the company broke. A financial report, if it has anything to do with profit at all, reports the profit that has (or has not) already occured. Bean counters don't contribute to profit in any way (and spare me the flames, I'm one of them) ; they just keep score.
Interesting how well the CFO has made provision for backup. So if Mrs Giradin had not been able to produce this vital report - had her op been more serious f'instance - the "most important financial report of the year" would presumably not have been available at all.
I hope they got in writing the CFO's acceptance of responsibility for all the Head Office security edicts that were ignored to make it happen .Bet it'll still be their heads that roll if the auditors find out though.
Security is not an issue, remember, all we do is a "cue [sic] of password changes" and it is a trivial task to allow an external machine to have access to the system. As IT professionals we need not concern ourselves with important matters such as the security infrastructure of the whole company because it's not like the company would haemorhage money if the security were to be compromised, is it?
I mean, what matter if the wrong person were to get access, who cares if the servers go down due to some malware introduced, and who cares about the other staff at work who're waiting on repairs to their machines etc.
Typical dumb IT response hence why you are earning IT dollars instead of management dollars, maybe just maybe your precious little que of password changes and other things menial is actually LESS important than something which will affect the companies profit like a omiportant financial report of the year
. Maybe next time ignore request like this and when the company goes broke at least you would of won!
retard
I'm afraid my IQ is entirely too high, and my work ethic too good to work as a manager.
If the report was so goddamn important, then the CFO should be fired for incompetency for not having contingencies in place for lou's wife to be off work sick.
Just remember that piss poor planning on managements part does not constitute an emergency on the IT departments part. Also remember that pissing off your IT department is about as stupid as pissing off your payroll department. Pissed off geeks can do all sorts of nasty things to make your working life miserable, corrupt files, delete files, change passwords, randomly remove internet access, and thats without getting really vindictive.
The_Dover
4th May 2006, 10:00
If all you IT goons are so snowed under with password changes and shit then what the fuck are you doing on here?
RantyDave
4th May 2006, 10:03
Just remember that piss poor planning on managements part does not constitute an emergency on the IT departments part.
Yes, yes it does. IT departments, and the industry in general need to remember that we exist to serve the remainder of the business and not the other way round. For their part the remainder of the business could do well to remember that we'd be much more effective (read: cheaper) if they could plan, just a bit, for a change.
Dave
thatHurt
4th May 2006, 10:04
How is any financial report going to affect profit in the slightest? Bean counters don't contribute to profit in any way (and spare me the flames, I'm one of them) ; they just keep score.
Ixion you surprise me with you occupation. From previous posts I thought you were a revolutionary! Bringin it down from the inside hey?
Oh, that's easy. I've reset all the user passwords to random non ascii values so none of them can log in. And since our help desk is web based, they can't log in, to access a browser, to raise a help desk call to say that they can't log in.And as they can't log in they can't acess email to email me either. And our phone system is VoIP and ties into their net login. Wonderful thing technology.
And if any of them do manage to access another browser to do the automated "I've forgotten my password, please email it to me when I answer the secret question" thing, they won't be able to read, let alone enter, the password, being in non-ascii. So , peace, perfect peace.
And since everyone's affected I shall blame it on a network spike, caused by Telecom, who are to blame for everything. Must be, cos that's the only thing that's common to everyone.
Consider my button severely pushed.
I hope she dies slowly of an incrediably painful wasting disease after watching everyone she knows and cares about being killed in front of her eyes. Okay maybe I exaggerate but users like her who throw their weight around and go to senior managers because they dont like the answer they get from the IT department piss me right off.
If your wife was sitting in queue for something, and someone jumped in front of her would she be annoyed? I bet she would, most peopel woudl be. Yet this is exactly what she's done. I'd damn near guarantee that to provision this for your wife, the IT department has had to drop what they are doing and pander to her needs on threat of loosing their jobs. Fuck her and all users like her.
*FUME*
You're a space saver:mad:
Drunken Monkey
4th May 2006, 10:08
Ixion you surprise me with you occupation. From previous posts I thought you were a revolutionary! Bringin it down from the inside hey?
Armchair communist exposed!
But you are right Ixion, would've green blinged ya as well, but I've been doing that too much recently (apparently).
Also remember that pissing off your IT department is about as stupid as pissing off your payroll department. Pissed off geeks can do all sorts of nasty things to make your working life miserable, corrupt files, delete files, change passwords, randomly remove internet access, and thats without getting really vindictive.
Great work ethics
How is any financial report going to affect profit in the slightest? Let alone send the company broke. A financial report, if it has anything to do with profit at all, reports the profit that has (or has not) already occured. Bean counters don't contribute to profit in any way (and spare me the flames, I'm one of them) ; they just keep score.
Won't affect profit, but may bugger the share price
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 10:18
How interesting are the replies and assumptions from the, obviously, IT dweebs on this site.
A/ She never throws her weight around. She made what would be to most of us mere mortals, a simple request.
B/ She had to tell the CFO that it was supposedly impossible. Is she supposed to keep it a secret?
C/ CFO's outrank IT dorks by a magnitude of thousands. That's why there are more IT dorks around.
D/ Security issues had been addressed.
Lias, you deserve all the ill-fortune you seem to enjoy wishing on others.
Try psychotherapy.
Ixion, she just happened to produce more pure profit from her other role last year than anyone has ever in the company. 7 figures.
Sniper
4th May 2006, 10:45
Ooopps, account deleted, sorry I can't help then.
VNC is a wonderful thing :)
How interesting are the replies and assumptions from the, obviously, IT dweebs on this site.
A/ She never throws her weight around. She made what would be to most of us mere mortals, a simple request.
B/ She had to tell the CFO that it was supposedly impossible. Is she supposed to keep it a secret?
C/ CFO's outrank IT dorks by a magnitude of thousands. That's why there are more IT dorks around.
D/ Security issues had been addressed.
Lias, you deserve all the ill-fortune you seem to enjoy wishing on others.
Try psychotherapy.
Ixion, she just happened to produce more pure profit from her other role last year than anyone has ever in the company. 7 figures.
You're quite right, we're totally worthless, all IT people should just quit their jobs and go off and create their own company somewhere to create software for consumers. Then the CEOs, CFOs and all other room-temperature-IQ TLAs can get on with their important "high ranking" work unhindered by us useless geeks.
Sniper
4th May 2006, 11:02
Great work ethics
Its true. You never worked with a pissed off IT? We only do as we are told when there are consequences. Often we have the upper hand. For example, I can quite happily get half a day off by suspending all network activity to the CSR's left computer which seems to house most the porn.
Armchair communist exposed!
But you are right Ixion, would've green blinged ya as well, but I've been doing that too much recently (apparently).
Nope. Shop floor communist. Served m'time as a job delegate. Before Mr Douglas destroyed the NZ manufacturing sector so that I had to change horses.
No reason for a Communist not to be an account, but. Communists have as much need to watch the money as anyone, just believe it should be more fairly distributed.
Won't affect profit, but may bugger the share price
Possible, though unlikely. Given that there is a CFO AND a head Office, it's likely that the NZ operation is a subsidiary. And the results of a piddly NZ subsidiary are unlikley to swing the share price of a multinational no matter what.
..Ixion, she just happened to produce more pure profit from her other role last year than anyone has ever in the company. 7 figures.
.. her other role..
..corrupt files, delete files, change passwords, randomly remove internet access,
Pussy stuff. All you need are the proxy logs. And a copy of your compnay's web access policy. Done .
Remember chaps, when someone wants something like this, you don't tell them you can't do it. You just point out that it violates corporate policy , and suggest that the user raise a Business Case paper for an exemption. And if you are a subsidiary of a multinational, all those policies will be set overseas. Like they care. And if the user says "What policy ?" - no worry there's bound to be one, corporates have policies to make EVERYTHING impossible. Just express surprise that the user appears unfamiliar with the company Policy Manual ("You do HAVE a manual ?") , and advise that it would against policy for you to advise them on policy ("More than my job's worth, I'm afraid")
. Refer them to the HR department. Which also gets you a brownie point from the latter who will be overjoyed (a) that someone took notice of them ; and (b) to actually have something to do.
Unless of course the requester is a mate, or a hot chick. In which case, of course you just do it there and then, after all it only takes 10 minutes.
Ooooo They are touchy aren't they?
All these false stereotypes.
Just like taxi drivers,used car salesmen,politicians,real estate sales people,no basis in fact at all.
And verily the lusers read the word of the apostle Simon and they did tremble and speak thusly "There is no god but the BOFH"
Another user rings.
"I need more space" he says
"Well, why not move to Texas?" I ask
"No, on my account, stupid."
Stupid? Uh-Oh..
"I'm terribly sorry" I say, in a polite manner equal to that of Jimmy Stewart in a Weekend Family Matine Feature "I didn't quite catch that. What was it that you said?"
I smell the fear coming down the line at me, but it's too late, he's a goner and he knows it.
"Um, I said what I wanted was more space on my account, *please*"
"Sure, hang on"
I hear him gasp his relief even though he'd covered the mouthpeice.
"There, you've got *plenty* of space now!"
"How much have I got?" he simps
Now this *REALLY* *PISSES* *ME* *OFF*! Not only do they want me to give them extra space, they want to check it, then correct me if I don't give them enough! They should be happy with what I give them *and that's it*!
Back into Jimmy Stewart mode.
"Well, let's see, you have 4 Meg available"
"Wow! Eight Meg in total, thanks!" he says, pleased with his bargaining power
"No" I interrupt, savouring this like a fine red at room temperature, with steak, extra rare, to follow; "4 Meg in total.."
"Huh? I'd used 4 Meg already, How could I have 4 Meg Available?"
I say nothing. It'll come to him.
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghh hhhH!"
SwanTiger
4th May 2006, 11:10
If all you IT goons are so snowed under with password changes and shit then what the fuck are you doing on here?
You'll find 99.9% of the time the dickheads in the I.T. industry are the ones with formal qualifications. My opinion may be biased, however I speak truth.
Qualified Persons Attitude: "I'm qualified, I have an ego to boot, I can get any job with my Qualifications"
Un-qualified Persons Attitude: "Fuck, need to prove myself or be fired, took ages to get this job with no qualifications"
RantyDave
4th May 2006, 11:11
Ohhhh! Buttons! Buttons! Buttons! Press! Press! Press!
What an astounding piece of trolling. Let me go first!
C/ CFO's outrank IT dorks by a magnitude of thousands.
Au contraire, Rodney. CTO's outrank beancounters by a magnitude of thousands, and for a good reason.
As (ixion?) pointed out all the beancounters really do is keep score. Sure, there's room for improvement and beancounters in large organisations can save several million dollars by shuffling in a more efficient fashion, reorganising debt, arguing with the IRD about classifications of certain activities etc. etc. There is a profession in this, they're called accountants, and the ROI on a good one is exceptional. But they're never going to create anything and in many cases an improvement in one area is basically created by correcting some previous $150k/year dumbass's foulups.
IT dorks on the other hand create stuff. The best thing about the creations of IT dorks is that the manufacturing cost is nil meaning that a single stroke of brilliance, a few weeks of inspired work and several months of hard graft can be turned into millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars and in some cases billions. This is money that is *literally* created out of thin air.
I guess it's a question of perspective as much as anything. The CFO of a large company outranks the "broken coffee holder" guy significantly. But Larry Page owns my sorry arse and yours as well. Quite possibly literally.
That's why there are more IT dorks around.
There are more IT dorks than lowly beancounters? Yeah, I suppose there are. This is (again) a Microsoft world problem.
D/ Security issues had been addressed.
According to the same dorks you were abusing in the previous paragraph? I hate to rain on your parade, but the collective knowledge of a hundred thousand hackers, crackers, phreaks, script kiddies and blackhats blows the knowledge base of the average MCSE certified IT dork into small, dark and misinformed corner. Their only defence is to do what Mr Microsoft says, and to take every opportunity to not invite trouble. Sadly this usually/always intrudes into actually getting work done.
Yes, it sucks.
Dave
Pussy stuff. All you need are the proxy logs. And a copy of your compnay's web access policy. Done .
Oh I know.. one of my key reponsabilities is internet usage monitoring :-) Its one part of my job I absolutely love lol.
Remember chaps, when someone wants something like this, you don't tell them you can't do it. You just point out that it violates corporate policy , and suggest that the user raise a Business Case paper for an exemption. And if you are a subsidiary of a multinational, all those policies will be set overseas. Like they care. And if the user says "What policy ?" - no worry there's bound to be one, corporates have policies to make EVERYTHING impossible. Just express surprise that the user appears unfamiliar with the company Policy Manual ("You do HAVE a manual ?") , and advise that it would against policy for you to advise them on policy ("More than my job's worth, I'm afraid")
. Refer them to the HR department. Which also gets you a brownie point from the latter who will be overjoyed (a) that someone took notice of them ; and (b) to actually have something to do.
Brother Ixion has been hard at work studying the words of the prophet Simon I see.
Unless of course the requester is a mate, or a hot chick. In which case, of course you just do it there and then, after all it only takes 10 minutes. Thats a total given.
..corrupt files, delete files, change passwords, randomly remove internet access,
Pussy stuff. All you need are the proxy logs. And a copy of your compnay's web access policy. Done .
He said "Without getting vindictive" it's only when the luser is a total prick that we break out the proxy logs.
Or when we're just feeling mean.
Or bored with changing passwords.
You'll find 99.9% of the time the dickheads in the I.T. industry are the ones with formal qualifications. My opinion may be biased, however I speak truth.
Qualified Persons Attitude: "I'm qualified, I have an ego to boot, I can get any job with my Qualifications"
Un-qualified Persons Attitude: "Fuck, need to prove myself or be fired, took ages to get this job with no qualifications"
Totally wrong, I'm a total dickhead and I've got fuck all qualifications.
I just know I'm brilliant, hence the ego...
You'll find 99.9% of the time the dickheads in the I.T. industry are the ones with formal qualifications. My opinion may be biased, however I speak truth.
Qualified Persons Attitude: "I'm qualified, I have an ego to boot, I can get any job with my Qualifications"
Un-qualified Persons Attitude: "Fuck, need to prove myself or be fired, took ages to get this job with no qualifications"
Agree that many qualified guys are clueless, especially those with quals and limited real world experience.
Those that can, do, those that cant get certifications.
SwanTiger
4th May 2006, 11:14
And verily the lusers read the word of the apostle Simon and they did tremble and speak thusly "There is no god but the BOFH"
That was fucken beautiful.
Cookie
4th May 2006, 11:18
As is commonly the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle in my opinion.
Ideally, IT (just like Finance, Payroll, HR etc) works in partnership with "the business" to produce business outcomes.
If the IT department you work for has deteriorated to the point you are at open war with the business and users, then it might be time to find a new company to work for (or maybe even a new profession).
SwanTiger
4th May 2006, 11:20
Totally wrong, I'm a total dickhead and I've got fuck all qualifications.
I just know I'm brilliant, hence the ego...
No need to be an attention whore about it, go and be brilliant in a quiet corner please.
Judging from your profile picture, you look like a Linux whore too.
If true, this explains the lack of qualifications and ego.
Sniper
4th May 2006, 11:21
Un-qualified Persons Attitude: "Fuck, need to prove myself or be fired, took ages to get this job with no qualifications"
I have no qualifications and Im in charge of people who have.......
Judging from your profile picture, you look like a Linux whore too. If true, this explains the lack of qualifications and ego.
Even worse hes a Novell whore.
No need to be an attention whore about it, go and be brilliant in a quiet corner please.
Judging from your profile picture, you look like a Linux whore too.
If true, this explains the lack of qualifications and ego.
I admit to dabbling in Linux but I can give it up at any time :yes:
I'm feeling much happier with the world now.
I just went through the proxy logs, found every single non work related site a luser I dont like visited in the last month and added them all to the blacklist. Sadly we permit "limited non work related internet usage provided it doesnt interfere with wank wank wank" so I cant just have him fired. Sent 4 other users to the wall this month thou for surfing porn. Silly bastards should know better than to not share with me.
As is commonly the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle in my opinion.
I reckon I was pretty close with my post. You know, the one before all the shit slinging started.
SwanTiger
4th May 2006, 11:35
I have no qualifications and Im in charge of people who have.......
You are uniquely special, Sniper.
This explains why you still have a job and yet have managed to post an incredible amount of worthless shite. However I will admit that I hold some admiration for your lack of self control where this forum is concerned.
It really shows the grasp KiwiBiker has on peoples lives.
Anyway, I did have a point but I've lost it.
Sniper, if you give me a job can I sit on KB all day stirring shit? :innocent:
You know, the one before all the shit slinging started.You missed out on the fun part! :nono:
Watching people stroking their own ego doesnt really count as the "fun part" for me I'm afraid.
The_Dover
4th May 2006, 11:40
Not a voyeur then WRT?
SwanTiger
4th May 2006, 11:43
Watching people stroking their own ego doesnt really count as the "fun part" for me I'm afraid.
I'll stroke yours if you like :blip:
You are right though. Bit of ego crap going on. That is why I am here. To make sure this thread turns to shit and sent to PD. Louy should of known better to post such a thing on a website full of nerds.
Before you know it people are going to start comparing their system specifications. Then the RPG/FPS game gloating will start.
Anyway.
Not a voyeur then WRT?
I am if what I am watching is attractive.
Blackbird
4th May 2006, 11:56
Hahahaha - I love all the cut and thrust.
Our corporate IT function is full of spotties with mickey mouse watches and totally incapable of holding conversations about the wider world. They are quite properly locked away from public gaze.
Our IT project managers are a bit better, at least they make eye contact. The best one is an ex-forklift truck driver from one of our manufacturing sites who has a natural bent for IT work. I'm sorry to say that he exercises poor judgement by owning a GSX-R 1000, but I guess that's ok.
IMHO, Lou's wife's boss did absolutely the right thing:nya:
Right, having offended 90% of the KB website, I'll now go to lunch:yes:
..
Brother Ixion has been hard at work studying the words of the prophet Simon I see.
...
Chap I work with was actually at Waikato Uni with him! Closest I've ever come to knowing someone who knows someone REALLY REALLY REALLY important.
Louy should of known better to post such a thing on a website full of nerds.
Considering that nerd, geek and hacker personalities have a predisposition towards motorcycles, it is not too unusual that there should be so many on this site - and there's also a predisposition for those types to be vehement in the defence of their roles - and in defence of biking, too.
Cookie
4th May 2006, 12:25
I reckon I was pretty close with my post. You know, the one before all the shit slinging started.
Yep
[...]Yes, sure it can be done, but your not gonna be too keen to do it unless the big boss comes down and says do it now [...]
That's how I work. I don't have a problem with this method of prioritisation. :)
IT work can be bloody busy and stressful at times (I am sure others will agree). In a lot of jobs, you can point at a physical problem and discuss it. In IT, the pointy head's eyes glaze over pretty quickly in most cases. That makes it tough to explain why something is difficult or risky sometimes. :yes:
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 12:47
.. her other role..
Company Treasurer.
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 12:53
The rabid response to a simple thread by some of the IT types on this site has merely served to confirm normal people's perception of them.
To suggest that someone you have never met should die horribly because they've dared to ask an IT God for a simple favour is the mark of a truly sick individual.
It's like hoping he falls off his bike and dies. But none of us would contemplate that, would we?
What kind of person would sabotage their workplace because someone's upset them?
Grow up, get a life, join humanity.
Sniper
4th May 2006, 13:21
Sniper, if you give me a job can I sit on KB all day stirring shit? :innocent:
Sure thing cuzzie bro..
The rabid response to a simple thread by some of the IT types on this site has merely served to confirm normal people's perception of them.
To suggest that someone you have never met should die horribly because they've dared to ask an IT God for a simple favour is the mark of a truly sick individual.
It's like hoping he falls off his bike and dies. But none of us would contemplate that, would we?
What kind of person would sabotage their workplace because someone's upset them?
Grow up, get a life, join humanity.
While I agree that wishing someone dead is an extreme response, your assumption that the request is a trivial thing and that the IT bods were wrong for being reluctant to do it is not without fault.
I will not bother reiterating the many wonderful posts about the security ramifications and what it takes to ensure that such remote access is secure but I will say that it does take time an effort which may also not be available unless a "higher up" says "this has priority".
Consider, the typical IT dept usually has various Mission Critical - read, "money making" - projects under way plus is responsible for ensuring that all employees can do their work - computers going down, network issues that need resolvong, ensuring the people can print and communicate. In short, they would have a number of current jobs on, many of which are high priority and directly or indirectly related to the ability of staff to make money for said company.
Along comes someone with a non-standard request that will involve - owing to the required time-frame - dropping everything and working on it. It is not, despite how simply it can be phrased, a trivial task - we do not just wave wands and make things happen.
So, yes, given the time-frame, the complexity of the task and the current work load it is "impossible."
Until the head honcho says "This is more important than the other jobs you have on."
While we have a certain latitude in assigning and determining priority as IT professionals, it is not our place to say "this person's mission critical request is more important than that person's mission critical request." Ergo, we execute the requests on a first in, first served basis. In geek-speak: a FIFO stack.
Or would people prefer that we just dropped everything for everyone who turns up and to hell with the person who put in their request last month because "we've been busy dealing with people who have just phoned up".
If a person expects IT to drop everything for them, then they can also expect IT to drop what they're doing for them in favour of anyone else who turns up. Fair?
Of, course not. The priority goes to existing mission critical tasks until such time as a person who has authority to reprioritise does so. It is not the place of IT to turn around and say to the Sales Manager "sorry we just had to stop doing what you wanted because someone came in and said "drop everything and do this, it's important", I hope the loss in sales won't inconvenience you too much."
End lusers whinge and whine that IT doesn't jump to attention when they make requests but few have the knowledge of what those requests actually entail and I would say none have a clue (not having access to the IT Dept's job tracking software) what other mission critical works are underway. I find the end-luser assumption that we sit around waiting for that one person to phone up, and we have nothing else to do, particularly annoying.
And by we, I do not just mean those of us who sit on the Help Desk trying to get a better error report than "It don't go", I mean the site support techs and server/infrastructure teams that usually are hidden behind the Help Desk - the ones that the Help Desk assign the tasks to if they cannot be resolved over the phone and the ones that are also usually involved in the implementation of any forward planning and future-proofing the company requires - e.g. building the new servers and setting them up.
"Sorry, sir, our planned expansion won't be going ahead on schedule, someone wants us to drop everything and give them a secure line so they can telecommute."
Edit: Tell us the full story, Lou. Who went without so that your wife could get the remote access. In fairness you should acknowledge the poor saps who had requests in that did not get resolved in a "timely fashion".
Pathos
4th May 2006, 13:45
It sounds to me that the IT geeks did the right thing. They said no because it was a risky and complex operation security wise and probably goes outside normal security recommendations.
They implemented it once they got the go ahead by one of the big wigs that such a risk was necessary for the business.
Its easier to tell someone its impossible than to argue with them why you are not going to do it. But I don't why they just said at the start that they would require authorization from someone higher up...
ManDownUnder
4th May 2006, 13:46
Sounds liek a little perspective was needed... i.e. the consequences of that particular task not being done at short notice.
I've been on both sides of the argument, the IT geek and the luser, and I prefer being the luser...
IT have their own priorities, and a request for anything often gets assigned to the bottom of that list. No big deal - it makes sense.
If that person's request is going to impact cashflow (read "lifeblood of the business" - directly or indirectly) then it should get more priority.
It's not a complex thing - but the whole thread has indicated to me that each side simply needs to understand the other (now THERE's a novelty). Those with the big picture generally understand best and if those in IT aren't willing to accept that maybe they can go play somewhere else.
Lias - bad call dude.
ManDownUnder
4th May 2006, 13:48
It sounds to me that the IT geeks did the right thing. They said no because it was a risky and complex operation security wise and probably goes outside normal security recommendations.
They implemented it once they got the go ahead by one of the big wigs that such a risk was necessary for the business.
Its easier to tell someone its impossible than to argue with them why you are not going to do it. But I don't why they just said at the start that they would require authorization from someone higher up...
No - the it dudes looked at why it shouldn't be done instead of looking for a way it can be done.
You and I both know a VPN could be laid down, firewalls and necessary Virus protection put on possible points of entry, and the issue is a non issue.
It might cost money - no worries... let them know that and ask for budget.
What's the problem again?
Technically, not hard. BUT - odds are if it's a large organisation that there are POLICIES. That say "you can't do that". CFO is willing to take the risk of ignoring them - fair enough. Not fair to ask some IS geek to put his job on the block.
You and I both know a VPN could be laid down, firewalls and necessary Virus protection put on possible points of entry, and the issue is a non issue.
It might cost money - no worries... let them know that and ask for budget.
What's the problem again?
A) VPNs don't materialise at the wave of a hand, they take time - usually take time away from other requests. IT Depts do not have a spare technician sitting around doing nothing and praying someone is going to request a VPN at short notice. One (or more if you want it done faster) of the technicians has to stop doing something else and do the task.
B) From my experience of IT Depts they don't have money sitting around and the higher ups actually have to approve expenditure - in some cases the higher ups are reluctant to part with money.
In this case, the higher-ups sanctioned the reprioritising and whatever expenditure was required - but that is their job, not the IT Dept's job.
If Mrs G had insufficient clout to get the IT Dept to do the work on her say so, then she wasn't going through the right channels.
If we get a call saying "create this account" or "give that person access to this shared folder" from anyone but certain authorised persons, we tell them to get in contact with their manager for authorisation to do so. If the request entails expenditure then it has to pass through both their manager and the Purchasing dept.
Instead of bitching that the IT dept won't do whatever, perhaps people should approach those in a position to authorise whatever access, priority and expenditure is required and get them to request the work be done.
In the case of Lou's wife, the IT Dept should possibly have said "we cannot do this without authorisation/expenditure/whatever, you will need to get it approved by So-and-so" rather than flat out saying "it's impossible", if that is precisely what they did say and not just a vague summary of their response.
You lot should have a look on the "internet" for a British TV program called
"The IT Crowd"
If you look you can find a downloadable copy of the fiorst 5 episodes.
Very similar to "The Office" in its approach and very similar to all the comments posted about IT.
Dai.
All good points Wolf and MDU. Not sure if Mrs G has a company laptop or not (presumably if she did then it would already have been set up for remote access), but if we are talking about her using her own home computer then that opens up a whole other raft of issues too. Can the IT dept trust that computer to be safe for use on the company network? I'm sure she will say yes, call me jaded but they always say "yes, its got up to date virus scanners/antispyware/applicable patches".
Quite often a VPN will require software to be set up on the remote PC as well, or at least the connection configured using the built in VPN client with Windows. Who's going to do that? Do you send one of your techs out there without managements authorisation? Is there a company car for him to use, or a way for him to get payment for mileage covered? He'll probably find out when he gets there that the CD-ROM doesnt work properly, or that the administrator password has been forgotten.
However, all of this is conjecture. We are merely stabbing in the dark at a scenario outlined in one short post from Lou.
Technically, not hard. BUT - odds are if it's a large organisation that there are POLICIES. That say "you can't do that". CFO is willing to take the risk of ignoring them - fair enough. Not fair to ask some IS geek to put his job on the block.
True.
And while there are those who may argue that the policies are just arbitrary, it is not the place of the IT dept to countermand them. We have policies on network/computer/internet use that many of our staff seem to think are arbitrary and perhaps we could just ignore them - I know of one that came to us direct from the CEO after someone had phoned him at home and whined that his girlfriend was spending all day on our internet link chatting with blokes in the USA. Now the CEO might not care about the paranoid jealousy of some bloke whose girlfriend is merely chatting with people she's never likely to meet but he certainly cared about his home life being restful and uninterrupted so the edict came from on high: "There Shalt be NO Chat Access Through the Internet".
All because of one (reported) person wasting some of our bandwidth and her boyfriend, all chat sites are blocked and it is part of our duties to regularly check the logs to locate new ones.
IT is governed by company policy as well. And if Head Office says "there shalt be no VPNs" then that is it - unless someone with the authority to countermand the policy says otherwise.
But people here are free to believe we can do what we please with no effort whatsoever and no matter what the expense, and that our refusal is just because we're a pack of pricks who like nothing better than refusing reasonable requests and never look at how it can be done.
Lou gave extremely sketchy details that amounted to "IT said they couldn't do it but they jumped when the CFO said to do it" and later said that the "geeks" were "rabid" in their response. And as extreme as some of the geek responses were, the other camp was just as quick in condemning the IT team as slackers and "only looking at how things cannot be done rather than how they can be done".
Just as a point of referrence further to Wolf's comment that people percieve the IT team as slackers . . .
Have you guys read the "To-do" list that SpankMe has created in another thread? From our perspective as users, KB runs pretty damn smoothly, and when a change is requested to the site (such as BD asking for his Flame Warrior nomination to be removed) its normally assumed that he just needs to flick a switch and it shall be done. Sorry Big Dave, not singling you out here, just using that as an example.
But then if you go and read that To Do list, it gives quite a good insight into how much work goes on behind the scenes just so that we can have this smooth-running website. Even for someone who works in the IT industry and has managed many websites in the past, its a real eye opener. Just because SpankMe doesnt appear to be running around screaming "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" doesnt mean that he's short on work to do. No siree . . .
Now imagine if you were to go to him and ask him to allow access from home to someone who doesnt even have an internet connection, what do you reckon his answer is going to be?
oldrider
4th May 2006, 15:14
Interesting thread!
Contributions on here come from a very wide spectrum of the countries commercial operations.
Interesting reading indeed.
I wonder who else reads this forum? :blip: Cheers John.
Big Dave
4th May 2006, 15:18
How is any financial report going to affect profit in the slightest? Let alone send the company broke. A financial report, if it has anything to do with profit at all, reports the profit that has (or has not) already occured. Bean counters don't contribute to profit in any way (and spare me the flames, I'm one of them) ; they just keep score.
In a perfect world maybe.
The top layers of every corporation I've worked for are clogged with them - and a retrospective, invasive and generally lacking in 'people skill' management style.
Tell that to your effect on profit.
All good points Wolf and MDU. Not sure if Mrs G has a company laptop or not (presumably if she did then it would already have been set up for remote access), but if we are talking about her using her own home computer then that opens up a whole other raft of issues too. Can the IT dept trust that computer to be safe for use on the company network? I'm sure she will say yes, call me jaded but they always say "yes, its got up to date virus scanners/antispyware/applicable patches".
Quite often a VPN will require software to be set up on the remote PC as well, or at least the connection configured using the built in VPN client with Windows. Who's going to do that? Do you send one of your techs out there without managements authorisation? Is there a company car for him to use, or a way for him to get payment for mileage covered? He'll probably find out when he gets there that the CD-ROM doesnt work properly, or that the administrator password has been forgotten.
From the point of view of our work:
Company laptop: No prob, the person can bring/send it in and we can work on it, they all have modems built in and it's a matter of taking the time to configure it.
Home PC: No way. Policy prohibits the attaching of personal PCs to the company network.
Work PC: Software and connection to the network no issue, however a modem would have to be purchased and installed - purchasing requires Finance Dept and managerial authorisation (submitted business case blah, blah) and takes ages from our approved suppliers... popping down to DSE or PB Tech is not permitted. Machine would have to be configured at our workshop and sent out.
Going to the person's home: Forbidden by policy. We have a large number of dial-in staff and we are not permitted to go to their homes - not even if the caller is on the Board of Directors (as at least one is). If their work PC is knaffed, they have to bring it to us, if we can dial in using their kit, it's Telescum's problem.
Transport: Getting a work car requires the sacrifice of three virgins and we're running out! Getting authorisation to use your own vehicle and reimbursement of costs requires managerial and finance dept approval in advance. Wasn't always like that - I had great fun riding my LS400 down to our Palmerston North site (and severe arse-pains riding it back). Now, they'd rather fly you down (I suspect because the price is fixed and they can guarantee it is going on transport costs.)
However, all of this is conjecture. We are merely stabbing in the dark at a scenario outlined in one short post from Lou.
So right. We have no idea of the workload, policies, constraints, authorisation requirements etc of that work place. I suspect that if Lou looked into the situation he would not have been so hasty in blaming the IT team.
Most of our own staff have no idea what is required for what they ask. We are frequently taking calls and saying "That needs to be in writing from a manager", "that requires and Equipment Request Form to be filled out and passed by Finance", "that is prohibited by company policy" etc.
Some of the staff - those whose job it is to make such requests frequently - know the drum and don't submit their requests until they have chased up the relevant authorisation and give sufficient notice so that we can slot it in amongst the other jobs, others phone up and ask for shit-loads of stuff that require authorisation that they wanted yesterday and wonder why it's not being done instantly.
Big Dave
4th May 2006, 15:35
(such as BD asking for his Flame Warrior nomination to be removed) its normally assumed that he just needs to flick a switch and it shall be done. Sorry Big Dave, not singling you out here, just using that as an example.
Always happy to be used as a bad example - I work on it.
KB is also a community rather than an enterprize.
and furthermore - I'm scared shitless of spankme - anyone who has a mass murder site.....
LOL - Yeah, sorry about that BD, you were the only example I could think off from the top of my head!
And Wolf - I'll loan you my car for the measly sum of 2 Virgins, and I will give my personal guarantee that the only thing getting scacrificed will be their virginity.
I wanna be able to pick which virgins tho . . .
LOL - Yeah, sorry about that BD, you were the only example I could think off from the top of my head!
And Wolf - I'll loan you my car for the measly sum of 2 Virgins, and I will give my personal guarantee that the only thing getting scacrificed will be their virginity.
I wanna be able to pick which virgins tho . . .
Sorry, the only one we had was male and in his late thirties and we suspect he no longer qualifies for "catching unicorns" these days...
Let me guess - he's the IT manager? Or an accountant . . .
Haven't read all of this thread but I will add this...
IT people have pulled the wool over so many companies and held them to ransom with their bullshit. But this is only because so many NZ companies have very poor or no corporate governance. IT is just a tool and should be used to create portability and transparency to make doing business easier and improving customer support.
This is one reason service in NZ sucks big time. Try ringing a large company and get any meaningful information out of them. You can't. Most of the blame can be proportioned to companies that are driven by IT and not the Business. Too many disparate IT systems built without any vision. I see this every day, it's what I do.
Let the business decide what they need and IT should facilitate this.
Cookie
4th May 2006, 15:53
[...]I'm scared shitless of spankme - anyone who has a mass murder site.....
Excellent! Can you post the URL for that?
Big Dave
4th May 2006, 15:57
Excellent! Can you post the URL for that?
Don't remember - I think I got there from his profile page.
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 16:00
Haven't read all of this thread but I will add this...
IT people have pulled the wool over so many companies and held them to ransom with their bullshit. But this is only because so many NZ companies have very poor or no corporate governance. IT is just a tool and should be used to create portability and transparency to make doing business easier and improving customer support.
Careful there Finn, you'll upset them and they'll band together in their musty little rooms and think up ways of getting even.
Meanwhile the rest of us will keep enjoying life.
Let me guess - he's the IT manager? Or an accountant . . .
Server team geek - think of a chubbier version of AJ in UserFriendly.org.
I was just thinking, if Mrs G had come to us and said "I need my work machine set up to dial in from home so I can access the network and complete a report needed by the end of the week", the deadline would have come and gone by the time our approved supplier got the modem to us.
The only machine we have that has a modem (other than those physically located at remote sites) is used daily by our finance dept so "borrowing one" would not be possible, either.
We have spare modems, but none that are set up to accept dial in calls. Hell, we dont even have a phone line in the server room. We can do remote access over VPN, but it requires setting up a program on the client PC - and its definately not an end-user installable app. I could give the lady a blank floppy disk - would that help? Actually, might have to make that a blank CD, we are getting less and less PC's here with FDD's in them (thank fk).
Haven't read all of this thread but I will add this...
IT people have pulled the wool over so many companies and held them to ransom with their bullshit. But this is only because so many NZ companies have very poor or no corporate governance. IT is just a tool and should be used to create portability and transparency to make doing business easier and improving customer support.
This is one reason service in NZ sucks big time. Try ringing a large company and get any meaningful information out of them. You can't. Most of the blame can be proportioned to companies that are driven by IT and not the Business. Too many disparate IT systems built without any vision. I see this every day, it's what I do.
Let the business decide what they need and IT should facilitate this.
Can you please post examples of some of these companies that are driven by IT and not Business, I should very much like to work for one.
But yeah, it's all them IT bastidges fault, eh, they should "proactively" just do what every Tom, Dick and Harry says when they're told to, irrespective of company policy, funding, security and whatever other tasks might be on the job list - that way you can blame them again when sales drop because this wasn't done on time and for the budget over-runs for IT equipment etc etc. Silly IT people, should know when to go over the manager's head and authorise expenditure and reprioritising, eh.
Careful there Finn, you'll upset them and they'll band together in their musty little rooms and think up ways of getting even.
Meanwhile the rest of us will keep enjoying life.
Actually, he does have a point. Its not just NZ tho, and its not just companies. Nor is it just IT. Some dude has just been in the news because he was trying to tell his customers that they needed to replace perfectly good parts in their washing machines. Where ever you go, some one in business will be trying to "pull the wool". You cant group all washing machine repair men under the same label tho, neither can you do that with IT guys. I'm nothing like the BOFH or whatever the hell he's called.
And despite what most people say about mechanics, you just try asking Motu when the last time he "pulled the wool" some dude who's car he fixed. See what sort of response you get!
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 16:38
And despite what most people say about mechanics, you just try asking Motu when the last time he "pulled the wool" some dude who's car he fixed. See what sort of response you get!
This didn't start with accusations of wool pulling, probably it was more laziness. As evidenced by the fact that fear got the job done.
It's more that IT people have achieved an importance beyond reality, but deep down they still have that fear of being accused of nerdiness.
So you get a rabid reaction when that fear is triggered by any criticism.
It didnt start with the term "pulling the wool" in your original post, but you will note that we have moved on from that now and both you and I referred to Finn's post, where he did use the term "pulling the wool".
And you can call me what ever you like. I dont consider myself a nerd (nor am I one to normally go by other peoples labels), but I have worked with IT "Professionals" who have been proud to wear the label "nerd" or "geek" - each unto their own I guess.
I dont actually think that any of my posts have been "rabid" either. Any rabies involved with them would have to have been on the part of the reader, not the writer. As for laziness - sure, if you want to jump to conclusions with out checking facts first, then you can think the IT team were being lazy, so long as you are prepared to let them think your wife lazy for not just coming into the office to do her report.
Drunken Monkey
4th May 2006, 16:51
Fair enough Lou, you got "us" there.
Well, you've got give the IT Geeks at least one slag-off thread, because I lost count of how many threads there were complaining about crap service from bike shops...
Lou Girardin
4th May 2006, 16:58
I dont actually think that any of my posts have been "rabid" either. Any rabies involved with them would have to have been on the part of the reader, not the writer. , so long as you are prepared to let them think your wife lazy for not just coming into the office to do her report.
Actually, it wasn't your posts I thought rabid. Those were obvious.
As for her being lazy, well I think she's bloody lazy too. Having an operation on both feet is no excuse for not crawling to the nearest bus stop or taxi and then crawling into work so that she can sit at her desk.
But what the hell. She should've just said I'm on sick leave, fuck you all, do without me. That seems the acceptable attitude these days.
LOL, yeah fair enough. But I know how she feels, there are still a few of us prepared to go a little bit further for the sake of getting the job done, whatever the industry (IT included, believe it or not).
If we added up everyone's 2 cents worth we would have $1.66. Of course that has to be rounded down to $1.65. But it costs approx $120.00 for the average finance dept to raise a cheque so we'll make it $121.65. Of course the govt wants at least 1/3rd of that in tax so you'll end up with $80.00. At the current cost of petrol $1.70.9 I would get just under 47 litres (91 grade fuel). That would take me 890km away from work (which sounds as though it isn't a very happy place for some people)!
I stood before a crowd of middle aged men recently, talking about IP networks, and I said the word 'router'. Now being as I'm Welsh, and as Wales is closer to England than NZ, we tend to pronounce the word properly. Not like the Kiwis who pronounce it 'rowter'.
Anyway - a couple of guys giggled when I said 'router', I asked what was funny? Thay said the way I pronounced 'router' sounded funny, like "root her".
So I called them childish twats. They asked me what a twat was. I gave up.
I stood before a crowd of middle aged men recently, talking about IP networks, and I said the word 'router'. Now being as I'm Welsh, and as Wales is closer to England than NZ, we tend to pronounce the word properly. Not like the Kiwis who pronounce it 'rowter'.
Anyway - a couple of guys giggled when I said 'router', I asked what was funny? Thay said the way I pronounced 'router' sounded funny, like "root her".
So I called them childish twats. They asked me what a twat was. I gave up.
It's only pronounced "rowter" here to prevent us from being giggled at by childish twats. We know the correct way to pronounce it but the Umerkin version is used deliberately to avoid confusion with "root 'er" or "someone who roots".
We also know that the correct device spelled "router" and pronounced "rowter" is a power tool with a fast-spinning cutting blade that routs channels into wood.
Big Dave
5th May 2006, 00:25
They asked me what a twat was.
A: See 'Beckham, David.'
Quote:
Another user rings.
"I need more space" he says
"Well, why not move to Texas?" I ask
"No, on my account, stupid."
Stupid? Uh-Oh..
ROFLMAO :rockon:
MOTOXXX
5th May 2006, 21:17
i can see this being a typical IT vs User shit fight.
One thing ive learnt is that politics around setting up remote connections. one of my clients wants his accountant to get remote access so he can use quick books etc. Hes running a 2k3 sbs server, runs a "ISA" firewall and has had no backups since october last year.
when i ask the accountants IT people how he connects to other sites they tell me he uses a PPTP connection and makes the accountants client sign a form saying any damage to the sight from hacking etc is not his fault.
dang
Edbear
5th May 2006, 22:15
I'd like to thank most of you on this thread for helping me learn a lot more about IT than I knew. It has been very entertaining and informative. Now if we could all take a moment to consider how we could avoid misjudging one another quite so much we could all have a group hug.:hug:
Insanity_rules
5th May 2006, 23:56
I'd like to thank most of you on this thread for helping me learn a lot more about IT than I knew. It has been very entertaining and informative. Now if we could all take a moment to consider how we could avoid misjudging one another quite so much we could all have a group hug.:hug:
IT people need to stop treating the user like twats and users need to understand that even though the technology exists it cant be implimented by simply pressing a button. Thats that.
Before I get totally panned, I'm self employed in the IT industry and generally when a client wants something done I try to explain in simple terms the good points, the bad points and roughly how long it wil take to impliment and when it can be done. Then I leave the decision up to them. I provide a reasonably proactive service to my small but loyal clientelle and try to shape their IT requirements into a responsible model with the user having a basic understanding of whats going on.
I for one think both sides need to stop and think!
Now shake hands.
MOTOXXX
6th May 2006, 10:34
IT people need to stop treating the user like twats and users need to understand that even though the technology exists it cant be implimented by simply pressing a button. Thats that.
Before I get totally panned, I'm self employed in the IT industry and generally when a client wants something done I try to explain in simple terms the good points, the bad points and roughly how long it wil take to impliment and when it can be done. Then I leave the decision up to them. I provide a reasonably proactive service to my small but loyal clientelle and try to shape their IT requirements into a responsible model with the user having a basic understanding of whats going on.
I for one think both sides need to stop and think!
Now shake hands.
Yes its a good way to communicate with the client. At the end of the day its how much risk they want to take and how much they want to spend.
well said :yes:
'Tis not so easy in corporate world, but. Self employed contractor, you are probably dealing direct with the guy that owns the busines, or nearly so, someone who actually cares what things cost, and what they cost if things go wrong, anyway.
So when you lay out "Here are your options, here's what they cost, here are the pros and cons" they consider them sensibly.(I've been there, done that, on both sides of the desk) .
Corporate wallies don't give a stuff about that, they're not paying anything for what IS provide, they won't be the ones who are stuffed up if it turns to shit. All they care about is "I WANT. I WANT RIGHT NOW!. STUFF EVERYBODY ELSE. I WANT. I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT CRAP. I WANT. GIMME NOW GIMME !GIMME!GIMME!"
Not all like that. But enough are. And it only takes a couple of dozen like that. While everyone in IS is trying to shut up their whining, screeching and demanding, the several hundred folk who ask nicely, who follow the rules, who are polite and reasonable, who DESERVE to have their requirements attended to get ignored, lost in the noise of the GIMME brigade.
Ah well, that's human beings for y'. No wonder I prefer animals. And machines.
Business is war, is it not?. If Seargent Jones won't issue the lads with rifles, do the troops go off to battle with a fork they stole from the mess tent?, no they inform the next in charge.
Some of you have a severely twisted grasp on corporate protocols sorry. Lou's partner did what was needed to get the job done, end of story.
If it fucks the IT dept off, then the IT dept need to deal, and deal big time, and perhaps look at what value they add to the business if they think a remote setup is anything major. I have no IT training whatsoever, and I have set one up with a list of instructions emailed to me from the IT troops in my company, who are the friendliest, and most helpful bunch you ever met.
Good work Lous wife !!
Remote access, with windows boxes its a pice of cake (so is mac), dont know what all the fuss is about, would setup about 2 of these a week. Click click on the client machine, pinhole the firewall/router and send the user a RDP shortcut to their home email addy, even a moron could do that in under 30 mins! And if ya really OVER PARINOID about security then setup a vpn to run the RDP over.
All of my clients have remote access from home, infact 90% of them have T3G (mobile internet) cards in their laptops so they can take 3 day weekends and still hook into the system when fishing in the gulf, surfing in ragland, or on a conference in sydney!
I feel sorry for you people with useless IT depts, :Oi: they need to remember that IT is there to empower users, make them more productive, not less!
After re-reading the thread, sounds like most of you are caught up in the bullshit of corporate bureaucracies, rules regulations etc. I work for some large corporations too, who have internal it support, while being treated like gods a bit , (wearing Armani suits and driving Mercedes sports cars), they are the most approachable people in the company and have a very can do attitude, nothing reasonable that would benefit the bottom line is too much trouble. They generally don’t run up long lists of things to because they plan ahead! Infact they anticipate user demand for things like VPN's and remote accesses and implement them in advanced, so it is as simple as flicking a switch when a user asks, (fail to plan and you plan to fail). We even train some of our users / managers on how to operate some less critical servers, so it a problem arises they can often fix it themselves.
Their use of outsourced it support also helps a lot, if the problem doesn’t get fixed then the contractor doesn’t get paid, makes for a very 'can-do' attitude on the part of the contractor, (of which I am one).
Sniper
7th May 2006, 10:47
I feel sorry for you people with useless IT depts, :Oi: they need to remember that IT is there to empower users, make them more productive, not less!
Wanna comw work with me. I bet I can change that outlook. I agree that we are here to make users work harder and more productivly, but I'll be fucked if I empower them with anything. They work by fear and its fear that makes them work hard.......
Wanna comw work with me. I bet I can change that outlook. I agree that we are here to make users work harder and more productivly, but I'll be fucked if I empower them with anything. They work by fear and its fear that makes them work hard.......
Nothing personal, but as a ex GM of a sales & service orientated business I find that my employees work harder and go that extra mile if you are supportive of them (motivating, kind, caring, understanding etc, but still firm, after all the reason you employ them is to make money off their labours at the end of the day), rather than being abusive (managing by fear & secrets etc). Unless of course they’re total disrespective jerks, if they don’t want to work for the company then they’re no longer an employee; on ya bike and down the road mate!
Get your boss to send you on some management courses and give you some share options…. It helps with the attitude and general outlook on things, (or find a new boss) ;) (Again don’t take this the wrong way)
Sniper
7th May 2006, 11:03
No offense taken mate. I know what you mean. I just have a different outlook on work ethics
No offense taken mate. I know what you mean. I just have a different outlook on work ethics
Fair enough, it wouldent be fair if the world was full of "nz_liam" clones :blah:
Speaking of remote access, I think im going to be using it a bit over the next few weeks ;)
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31542&d=1146956804 :2thumbsup
Sniper
7th May 2006, 11:51
Yummy, that looks identical to my phone at work..... Hmmmm.
Yummy, that looks identical to my phone at work..... Hmmmm.
Clearcoat anyone :shifty:
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