Overwhelming Bureaucracy in the IT Department? 591
Nedry57 asks: "I am in the somewhat unique position of being a technology worker, who lives outside of the IT department in my company (a very large organization in the US). By far, the biggest challenge I face is getting anything done due to the bureaucracy that exists, within IT. There are certain tasks (i.e. anything that happens in the data centers) that I don't have the access to do. Even a simple task, like installing more memory in a non-production server, can take nine months and massive mountains of paperwork (no exaggeration), thus costing many times more than it should. The lack of agility is maddening, because I know we are missing significant business opportunities. My management is extremely supportive and despite our excellent track record of success in creating robust/secure applications--our work has passed audit numerous times with flying colors--we get no support from IT. Even senior management can't break through the barrier. I am very interested in hearing the experiences Slashdot readers have had in similar situations." How do you get your technology work done, when your IT department is more hindrance than help?
IT (Score:5, Funny)
I don't. (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps you should try (Score:5, Funny)
you need more meetings (Score:5, Funny)
We guard you while you sleep. (Score:5, Funny)
Dear IT Professional: (Score:5, Funny)
Dear IT Professional:
Please don't change anything about the way your IT organization does business. We love the way you and your team fail to communicate; the way mindless mandates from on-high drive pointless initatives; the way the latest technology trend shifts focus from project to project like the attention span of a two-year-old.
Especially don't pay any attention to streamlining the use of hardware and software investments that you've already made. You and your team need MORE MORE MORE to get this project wrapped up on time. Have you upgraded to the newest rev of our software? Can't you just taste the new-and-improved speed of our lastest hardware?
In summary, we love the way your IT organization is today, and wouldn't change a single thing.
Yours Truly, Your software & hardware vendors
Dammit, Already! (Score:4, Funny)
in answer to your question... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:They DENY you for a reason (Score:4, Funny)
"I need to put some photos on our website for folks to look at."
"You could copy them to a shared drive."
"But people outside of our company need to view them."
"I guess we could expose a drive to the outside world, I'd have to talk to my boss about that. There'd probably be security issues."
"Can't you just put up a web page with the photos on there?"
"Building that kind of webpage takes a lot of work."
"I can do it for you, I have a script that will generate the HTML and thumbnails."
"We're not supposed to put up HTML any more, we're supposed to move everything to ASP."
"OK, I'll find an outside server to host them."
Re:Recognize those things you cannot change.... (Score:5, Funny)
1. Formal complaint about IT to CEO. Done.
2. Forge good rapport with IT. Having trouble here, for some reason they don't seem to like me. They said something I didn't quite catch about me and the CEO.
Maybe I should have done that in another sequence?
Dealing with IT. (Score:5, Funny)
Why IT departments need bureacracy. (Score:3, Funny)
1. Their computer problem is much more important than any other computer problem that might be on your plate on any given moment. Oh, and they are certainly more important than you going home to the wife and kids or to catch the latest episode of Veronica Mars or whatever you IT people do in your off hours.
2. Even though computers are mysterious things to them, they know that it'll only take you a couple of minutes to fix any given problems they have with them. So, you can get whatever you were currently working on done, if you IT people even really work rather than surf the net and play video games all day.
3. The words from the Veruca Salt song in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, "Don't care how, I want it now!!"
You may know the following things:
1. It will be very tempting to work on the most obnoxious person's problem first just to get rid of them. Even though that person's problem may be irrelevant in terms of the organizations productivity or profits, since they won't let you alone you may take your valuable time and use it to work on it just to get some peace and quiet.
2. There is nothing more fun than to be pressured into working late to solve some irrelevant problem because you are being pressured into it by some obnoxious co-worker who may be important in the corporation.
Face it, most of us need some sort of layer or wall between us and them so that we can work on our manager's priorities rather than J. Random Employee's priorities. When you waste hours on someone's project and your manager comes and yells at you for missing your deadline on your real project, you're not going to be happy about how little "red tape" is in the corporation.
Re:IT (Score:5, Funny)
How do you get around the language barrier? Where does one even find translators?