[windows2000] Re: Proactivity (now long winded)
- From: "Andrew Shriner" <aShriner@xxxxxxxx>
- To: <windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:11:13 -0500
We've been doing this... the problem with this organization is that we
have an unusually high rate of turnover among administration and those
"in power"... so it's rather pointless to say "I told you so". New
administration (which happens ALL too frequently) wants us to be
proactive, while they insist on only being reactive with the money they
give us. :-\
Andrew
>>> chris_berry-list-windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 12/15/04 01:49PM
>>>
Your best bet in this situation is to start keeping a paper trail with
dates and times so that when something happens you can say "Look I told
you about this seven times in the last year and a half, if you'd just
listened to me". After they see that a couple of times they'll start
listening, however it's a long uphill battle as most non-tech people
assume everything is fine until the sky is falling.
Chris Berry
chris_berry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Systems Administrator
JM Associates & Coast Business Service
"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal
with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year. -John
Foster
Dulles"
Andrew Shriner wrote:
> .. And now, a couple of weeks later, I'll respond.
>
> We're already very proactive in regards to software. We use a common
> Anti-Virus package across the entire WAN, that does a good job of
taking
> care of viruses. We check patches, and either let SUS deploy them,
or
> manually deploy them. There's not much more we can do to improve, in
> regards to software proactivity. There's always *something* you can
do
> to improve, but we're pretty well taken care of in that respect.
>
> What my boss was talking about is hardware proactivity - he wants us
to
> know when hardware will fail... and a list of other stuff. In effect,
"I
> want a list of all unplanned outages for the next six months!!!"
>
> He also wants us to be regularly reviewing new hardware and software
> (of all kinds), so that we can determine what is best for the
> district... it's not as though we have TONS of time on our hands or
> anything. :rolleyes:
>
> This past summer, we had virtually nothing to do all summer... and
then
> about a week before school resumed, we have about 500 things happen
all
> at once (ok, maybe it wasn't 500...). We're just now catching up.
>
> Another thing is our budget (much like the below response from
> jstockard)... except our budget appears... and then disappears.
We've
> put together lists of things we need - take, for example, server,
> switch, and router replacements across the entire WAN. The equipment
was
> aging, and we knew that it wasn't too far from failure. We gave
> administration nearly a year's warning. They never would approve
the
> money for replacement routers / switches. It was only one night when
we
> had a power failure, and a Core Builder never powered back up, that
they
> realized - hey! - we need new equipment! So they gave us the money
for
> replacement equipment. The switches failed very near the beginning
of
> the school year... the new switches came in yesterday. They're still
> sitting down in the loading dock. We've been begging & borrowing
> switches from everyone we can think of to get us through until these
> switches came in. Now our servers are still getting old, and are
used
> quite heavily... something needs to be done about that, but we don't
> have the budget... (even though we're supposed to be proactive, and
> should point out pending failures)
>
> At least in this district, I don't think that this department will
ever
> be proactive in much beyond software preparation. Then again, I
really
> don't care - I don't plan on being around to find out.
>
> On that note, does anyone know of any job openings in the Central
Ohio
> area?
>
> Andrew
>
>
>>>>jstockard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 12/02/04 11:36AM >>>
>
> I work in a K-12 public school (charter schools) environment. At
the
> beginning of the summer we were given a list of things that would be
> nice to accomplish and a list of must accomplish. We also received
an
> admonition that we have been too slow to react in the past and we
need
> to take a more proactive approach. We left that meeting and I
> immediately scheduled a meeting with the entire IT staff. We went
> over
> both lists and came up with an action plan, a timeline and a list of
> needed equipment (for both the nice and must accomplish list).
> We took this to the next meeting and were given a pat on the head
and
> told nice job. Then we were promptly ignored for the rest of the
> summer. As our items became due on the timeline, we went to the
> budget
> and finance people who told us we needed to wait until we had a fall
> head count.
> When we told them we needed the funds if the must accomplish list
> could
> be accomplished, we were told the head count was not high enough.
> They
> gave us a different list of must accomplish. We did the same
> preparation. We came back and were told to wait.
> Needless to say the school year is well under way. We have parts on
> order and people asking us why we insist on being reactive instead
of
> proactive. At least now we have our list to point to as we walk
away.
> All of my no cost proactive list still happens. Most of that
involves
> staying on the people who do the head counts and attendance.
> At least you have company!
> Jeff
> Jesus Loves You
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Andrew
Shriner
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 11:14 AM
> To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [windows2000] Proactivity
>
> Does anyone here (besides me) work in an educational/K-12 setting?
> Namely, public education...
>
> My boss just sent an agenda out for a meeting, and the biggest part
of
> it is determining how to be proactive about a lot of things around
the
> district... while that's not a bad idea, I'm wondering how he's
> planning
> on pulling that off, when every knowledgeable person in my
department
> has enough of a workload for three people. Going beyond that, I've
> worked with most of the other school districts in our area, and none
> of
> them appear to be proactive at all... and employees that I've spoken
> to
> in other districts agree.
>
>
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