open letter
I wrote this at work today... but was implored by the asset manager and one of my techs not to send it. They are probably right.. I am just pissing people off by pointing out serious failures in the system... but I have to get it off my chest..... I'm not sure how much more isolation and dissapointment my idealism can take....
Dear "Work"
I implore us yet again to reconsider our current IT service mentality and, by way of that mindset, the global “direction” (if you consider ever-enlarging circles to be a direction) mandated by that mindset.
We have directed all IT sections (and the Business, actually) to think GLOBALLY instead of locally, and we haven’t even given them a common global framework from which to begin. Repeated incidents & struggles triggered by uncertainty and misinformation reveal the primary cause to be a lack of clarity within management regarding roles and responsibilities, and the interdependence of policies and requirements.
Even defining these “SLAs” in the current manner (end to end service availability agreements for systems that we don’t even have the tools, measurements or resources to track?) is an absurdity if we keep saying “this doesn’t apply to us” for all the local site issues.
The only thing that “doesn’t apply to us” at the moment seems to be a “structured, logical approach to delivering IT services to the global business.”
We want [PROGRAM ACRONYM] to succeed, yet thus far – despite all the failures and rework and incidents and emergencies hitting us right and left - we can’t seem to get our minds around the idea that regional (or Operations/Service Desk/ Applications or WHATEVER delineations you want to segment IT into….) are interdependent segments of this global model.
There are no sovereign policy owners!
*No* autonomy should exist between the policies defining the infrastructure, the procedures defined by Operations to maintain the infrastructure, change control and auditing instructions to ensure we have an accurate picture of that infrastructure, and the Business’s IT service requirements, supported by that infrastructure..
I keep hearing the directors agree that this is “very important, but we have too many other things that take priority, and we can still move forward…”
Yes, I agree we are still “moving forward” – but at a THIRD of the pace and TWICE (more, in the end) the budget set aside due to rework and poor planning, yet we remain “too busy to get organized.” Ugh. We have some serious issues that have NOT been addressed... we have asset issues, tracking issues, licensing issues that have NOT been addressed... and yet.... and yet you cover your ears and say *I'm not listening!!* while project after project stretch and groan and finally crumble to bits.
The intent of this letter is not preaching (I did give up the ordination, honestly…).I just can’t fathom why isn’t this isn’t a “significant enough” concern to appropriately address it.
We have adopted a “framework” to meet the needs of the company… yet we have yet to appropriately discern roles and responsibilities within that framework before implementing it.I realize we are all overburdened and running off in a million directions, many of them headlong into each other.
We MUST take the time to get ourselves organized and define our IT roles and responsibilities. 5 days seems a large commintment, but the weeks, nay, MONTHS of rework is only the tip of the iceberg as we delve further into this deployment project.
Help me help you, damnit!
Dear "Work"
I implore us yet again to reconsider our current IT service mentality and, by way of that mindset, the global “direction” (if you consider ever-enlarging circles to be a direction) mandated by that mindset.
We have directed all IT sections (and the Business, actually) to think GLOBALLY instead of locally, and we haven’t even given them a common global framework from which to begin. Repeated incidents & struggles triggered by uncertainty and misinformation reveal the primary cause to be a lack of clarity within management regarding roles and responsibilities, and the interdependence of policies and requirements.
Even defining these “SLAs” in the current manner (end to end service availability agreements for systems that we don’t even have the tools, measurements or resources to track?) is an absurdity if we keep saying “this doesn’t apply to us” for all the local site issues.
The only thing that “doesn’t apply to us” at the moment seems to be a “structured, logical approach to delivering IT services to the global business.”
We want [PROGRAM ACRONYM] to succeed, yet thus far – despite all the failures and rework and incidents and emergencies hitting us right and left - we can’t seem to get our minds around the idea that regional (or Operations/Service Desk/ Applications or WHATEVER delineations you want to segment IT into….) are interdependent segments of this global model.
There are no sovereign policy owners!
*No* autonomy should exist between the policies defining the infrastructure, the procedures defined by Operations to maintain the infrastructure, change control and auditing instructions to ensure we have an accurate picture of that infrastructure, and the Business’s IT service requirements, supported by that infrastructure..
I keep hearing the directors agree that this is “very important, but we have too many other things that take priority, and we can still move forward…”
Yes, I agree we are still “moving forward” – but at a THIRD of the pace and TWICE (more, in the end) the budget set aside due to rework and poor planning, yet we remain “too busy to get organized.” Ugh. We have some serious issues that have NOT been addressed... we have asset issues, tracking issues, licensing issues that have NOT been addressed... and yet.... and yet you cover your ears and say *I'm not listening!!* while project after project stretch and groan and finally crumble to bits.
The intent of this letter is not preaching (I did give up the ordination, honestly…).I just can’t fathom why isn’t this isn’t a “significant enough” concern to appropriately address it.
We have adopted a “framework” to meet the needs of the company… yet we have yet to appropriately discern roles and responsibilities within that framework before implementing it.I realize we are all overburdened and running off in a million directions, many of them headlong into each other.
We MUST take the time to get ourselves organized and define our IT roles and responsibilities. 5 days seems a large commintment, but the weeks, nay, MONTHS of rework is only the tip of the iceberg as we delve further into this deployment project.
Help me help you, damnit!
posted by Psyche at 12:38 PM
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