My Odd Theory of Network Administrator
I have sometimes told my clients that I am the fellow you pay NOT TO SEE. Curious statement, but say we have two consultants in different scenarios.
One is working like mad, solving problems, billing hours, nothing is going right, virus intrusions all over the place, etc. WOW, IS THAT GUY WORKING HARD!!! The client thinks so even as the client is writing monsterous checks. Boy do we need him on site.
Second situation - a local area network properly managed should be BORING without too many problems, and running well and protected from failure, as my situations generally are. So here the consultant is indeed doing his job but in the background, monitoring, correcting BEFORE mighty problems hit. It is a managed network.
Indeed, in corporate support I am partly convinced this is the perception for outsourcing. Why do we employ all those server administrators? They are doing nothing. Oh, Really!! True you do not need 17 administrators but maybe the few you have really ARE doing work, but not the TOTAL PANIC QUANTITY kind I described in scenario one.
ProActive management is generally invisible to the client and staff,as it should be. And yet, look at the subject of this blog. Go figure sometimes. Damned if I do and Damned if I don't.
