More truths about IT

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
10/04/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs discusses more truths about IT
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Sybase

It sounds so simple: if you collect enough business information,
you'll glean valuable insights that can drive both revenue
growth and competitive advantage. Along the way, however,
companies are discovering that managing the explosive growth of
online data can prove a formidable challenge. Here's how to
assess your data management style, and maximize your
opportunities to turn online data into business opportunity.
Click here for more on taming the data explosion.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116825
_______________________________________________________________
INSIGHT ON WEB PERFORMANCE

Many Web administrators live in a state of blissful ignorance,
unaware of the true health and performance of a Web site until
users complain. Network World's latest Clear Choice Test
reviews an appliance that actively monitors actual Web site
traffic, giving Web managers a heads-up on problems before their
users do. For more, click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116124
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: More truths about IT

By Mark Gibbs

Following last week's column "The truth about IT," Anon dropped
me a line suggesting an addendum to Item 5, "Security is a pipe
dream": "5a. The manager busting your [hump] for 'military-level
security' is going to complain loudly the first time the system
says he needs to change his password and he discovers he cannot
change it right back to his son's name."

Anon also threw in a new item: "7. 9% of CEOs won't get what IT
does for the company. While the engineering staff will be
getting bonuses for shipping buggy code one month late, IT will
get no recognition for keeping a Byzantine network running with
little or no budget and with practically no interruptions. But
IT will get hammered because Exchange went down and needed two
hours of coaxing before it was back (never mind that the guy
busting your hump about that was the one who insisted on
Exchange in the first place)."

As if that wasn't enough, he also added a warning: "Caveat. You
should have known this before you got into IT. If you have been
in IT for more than five years, you do know this, and if it
really bothers you, you've picked the wrong profession."

Which leads me to a couple of issues about IT that I omitted
last week. The first is the demand that management makes for you
to be a "team player" and give "110%." This usually involves
working 60-hour weeks, being willing to change your schedule at
the drop of a plane ticket and forgetting that normal people
actually have large chunks of time when they don't take cell
phone calls and don't reply to e-mail within 30 minutes.

The idea of living for your job is fine when you have some
equity in the company, but for the average employee to have his
job security dependent on what amounts to slavery is just a kind
of corporate protection racket.

How many of you in management positions have just fallen in with
the company ethic by allowing, and most likely encouraging, your
staff to go the "extra mile" when you knew that they were
completely overloaded? Sure, sometimes a little extra effort is
needed, but not day in and day out. Once extra effort becomes
the norm then the truth is you need more staff or less work.

But let's distinguish between companies that have this attitude
toward staff and IT departments that adopt the ethic by
themselves as a sort of geek machismo. Often all it takes to get
rid of this ridiculous way of life is for the CIO or tech
support manager to learn to say no.

And while we're on the topic of IT machismo, let's talk about
"Internet time." There's still far too much lip service paid to
the idea of everything being faster in the IT world than in the
real world.

In the real world my wife often refers to "horse time." She's a
serious equestrian, and she will tell you that there's a maximum
speed that you can move when you are with horses. Exceed the
speed allowed by horse time, and things go wrong very quickly
(such as horses getting scared and standing on you or bucking
and making you a lawn dart).

The thing that strikes me is that horse time and human time
aren't that different. We think we can move at the speed of
thought, as if our thoughts really could move at some fabulous
velocity, as if we could somehow transcend our biology.

Perhaps a few people (I suspect with a large S on their chests)
can operate at warp speed for a long time, but most of us can't.
And because we try to or are pushed to, we wind up wearing out
our IT staff.

To quote Anon: "Long term, I can tell that at some time in my
career this will all get to me, and that's when I will know it's
time to switch gears. The right environment can allow you to
thrive in IT for decades, while the wrong one will drive you out
in a few miserable years."

Are you thriving or wilting? Tell <mailto:backspin@gibbs.com>.
P.S. Gearblog is now Gibbsblog
<http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=gibbsblog> .

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. How to solve Windows system crashes in minutes
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad7713>
2. Nortel faces uphill battle
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad8071>
3. Cisco pushes new security software
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad8072>
4. Verizon CTO lays out next-gen network plans
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad7978>
5. Next-gen net seen at a crossroads
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad8073>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Mark Gibbs

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist
and he writes the weekly Backspin
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html> and Gearhead
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gearhead.html> columns
in Network World, as well as the Gearblog blog
<http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/gearblog/> . We'll spare
you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go to
<http://www.gibbs.com/mgbio>. Contact him at
<mailto:webapps@gibbs.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Sybase

It sounds so simple: if you collect enough business information,
you'll glean valuable insights that can drive both revenue
growth and competitive advantage. Along the way, however,
companies are discovering that managing the explosive growth of
online data can prove a formidable challenge. Here's how to
assess your data management style, and maximize your
opportunities to turn online data into business opportunity.
Click here for more on taming the data explosion.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116824
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Gibbs archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/bradner.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

IT PROS SHARE THEIR TALES OF MAKING ITIL WORK

Running an enterprise network is challenging. IT organizational
change can be even more so if managers don't balance efforts
proportionally across people, process and technology.
Implementing best practices frameworks such as Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) can help, but they
introduce their own set of challenges. Click here for more:

<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/092205-itil.html>
_______________________________________________________________
May We Send You a Free Print Subscription?
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered
at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by
receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply
today at <http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2>

International subscribers click here:
<http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html>
_______________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail
newsletters, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx>

To change your e-mail address, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx>

Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to
this message.

This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com
Please use this address when modifying your subscription.
_______________________________________________________________

Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor,
at: <mailto:jcaruso@nww.com>

Inquiries to: NL Customer Service, Network World, Inc., 118
Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772

For advertising information, write Kevin Normandeau, V.P. of
Online Development, at: <mailto:sponsorships@nwfusion.com>

Copyright Network World, Inc., 2005