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  • #2228745

    Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

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    by billyo92833 ·

    My employer recently merged with a larger company. Our entire operation moved to one of their buildings(450+ truckloads), and our computer system as well. I was not present at the new facility during the move, but rather helping to close down the old one. The IT guy from the new(majority) owner set up our computer systems before I began working at the new building. Everything he set up is working just fine- that is not the problem. 3 1/2 months later, I am still waiting for another half dozen ‘dumb’ terminals to be connected, as well as a system printer, and myself and 2 other managers are still waiting for our ‘promised’ integrated workstations. All of the wiring is in place, as well as most of the hardware and software licenses. I was in the computer room the other day getting something else, and had an opportunity to get a good look at his work in private. There is not one single label anywhere on the patch panel to indicate outlet numbers even though over 100 are already hardwired and marked at the other end. The same is true for the various routers and servers connected. A customers’ T1 server is on the floor on the other side of the room and connected by a cable that runs across the carpet to the patch panel. Repeated requests for the completion of the work result in unkept promises only. The upper level managers at the new owner have made it clear that they are unable to get the guy to do anything at all. I can only assume that he has similarly ‘personalized’ their system also, and that they are afraid to show him the door. I am seeking advice on how the company(and myself) should proceed, given the circumstances. And yes, those managers are very willing to hear suggestions. Thanks!

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    • #2471771

      I would look for a new job

      by zlitocook ·

      In reply to Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

      (*The IT guy from the new(majority) owner set up our computer systems before I began working at the new building. Everything he set up is working just fine- that is not the problem. 3 1/2 months later, I am still waiting for another half dozen ‘dumb’ terminals to be connected,)
      The person that is supposed to network your company is ether working for the other company or has ben told to slow your companys intergration.
      It should only take a few days to get both systems up and running. I would review the contracts and the installers about the problems.

    • #2471740

      I’m not sure that there is a half-way on this one

      by drowningnotwaving ·

      In reply to Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

      … because, coming from the company that is being ‘taken over’ so to speak, you are (by any business praticality) on the back foot to begin with.

      Your compromise (if there is one) is to take a subordinate role to this person.

      Depending upon your personal circumstance that may be the best option – i.e. do nothing, role with the punches, smile and get paid.

      The next option, if there are heaps of appropriate positions available in your area, is simply to go get another job.

      But if you’re up for it, and your circumstances give you a bit of leeway, then you could go all out for a quick strategic assault.

      The aim would be to unseat this person (to whom you have no allegiance or loyalty) and make yourself the head of the IT group (or this particular division within IT, whatever it is).

      You clearly have direct and immediate “ammunition” in terms of the delayed installs which are impacting the buisiness unit. You have access to further detailed information in terms of the set-up. You have further annecdotal evidence from the installed managers.

      You’ll need a LOT of solid evidence, and you’ll need to turn technical evidence into business impact. For example, who gives a sh1t if the labels are not there? What is the future business impact of this? (EG additional costs to change, longer time to provide users with solutions etc).

      But before you do that, you need to know your enemy, so to speak. Why is it that the current management have tolerated his ‘nuances’, so to speak? Is there anything in the past that he has done so well that they are prepared to overlook his manner of work? Try to find out as much as you can in terms of background.

      Answers to these questions will determine whether or not you really want to take this on, or just start looking outside.

      Good luck! 🙂

      • #2471493

        I agree a lot with what’s said here

        by Anonymous ·

        In reply to I’m not sure that there is a half-way on this one

        Definitely – there is not enough here to go on. Just because the guy’s work is a mess, doesn’t mean he’s not a great worker. You could find yourself look at the exit rather than him if you take any action…

    • #2471691

      play dirty pool

      by jaqui ·

      In reply to Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

      collect all the outstanding work orders, the bad wiring etc, prioritise them and put a team together to get them all done asap, such as overnight.. or best of all, over a weekend so you can present the board a completed stack of work orders, with properly documented ifrastructure on monday morning at the board meeting.

      don’t say a word about him, just hand them the information that makes him not needed and walk away.

      if they are not happy with him, they get rid of him, and put you in his place, you made sure that they have the information they need to replace him so you obviously do what is right for the company. >:)

      • #2629781

        another form of ‘dirty pool’..

        by john_ludlow ·

        In reply to play dirty pool

        That’s one way if you can afford to put the team together. If not, do the opposite.

        Think of the situation. You’re prevented from doing your job because the equipment you’ve ordered hasn’t arrived. Presumably this has a negative impact further down the line – other people can’t do their jobs because they can’t update customer records, for example.

        You need to go to your boss and explain that he needs to escalate this issue further. At some point someone will (hopefully) say “hang on – are we losing money here? Get the damn terminals”.

        This approach has worked for me before, even though I’m in a slightly different position. I’m an build & installation developer, and we were releasing an important service pack. The machine I was supposed to be using for this, however, hadn’t arrived after two weeks, and we were one week away from release. I went to the Sr Dev, and explained the situation to him, and told him that we weren’t going to be releasing anything until that machine arrived. It arrived the next day.

        That’s possibly a slightly different situation.

        • #2630050

          Some progress to report

          by billyo92833 ·

          In reply to another form of ‘dirty pool’..

          Thanks for all of the replies posted here. Using an approach similar to this one I have gotten some action. Instead of borrowing someone elses workstation to send email to upper management, I started sending from my personal Yahoo webmail instead, and that attracted a lot of desired attention to the matter. Also, in a couple of meetings, I presented work that had been done at home and then emailed to myself, then downloaded and printed at work. I was careful to point out the inefficiency of that process where tighter deadlines were involved, although this work was done on time. (My employers believe in doing your work ‘at work’ and that your time not at work should be your own.) Anyway, without ever mentioning the problematic guy at all, I have gotten three dumb terminals and 2 spanking new workstations- including the one for me- within the last week. In fact my new workstation has more upgrades than my direct supervisors’!! Now I have to figure out how to get that networked system printer hooked up, because I still can’t print from any Windows apps without emailing the stuff to someone else just for printing. Thanks again- Billy

        • #2629894

          Nice!!!

          by john_ludlow ·

          In reply to Some progress to report

          That sounds like the way to do it. You’ve managed to get someone to do the job without any risk of you sounding bitchy.

          Glad it’s all (getting) sorted

    • #2471667

      Treading the dangerous waters of job personalization

      by infraguru ·

      In reply to Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

      Hello Billy,

      I will assume, based on your description of the situation and the job role in your profile, that you are at least at the manager level and have some connection with IT…on the systems side or perhaps as a business process owner with close ties to IT. Obviously the individual you are referring to is not a manager otherwise you wouldn’t be waiting for him to personally patch some cables, so approaching his direct supervisor would be the obvious choice?but it seems much more complicated than that. The interesting fact you pointed out that all the patch panels and cables in the datacenter are not labeled which would, of course, make patching extremely difficult for anyone to do without the cheat sheet chart/diagrams that he probably has and keeps a closely guarded secret?perhaps for the purposes of job security. Sure, the company can go ahead and fire him then have to manage the task of identifying each and every port and cable (for a 100 user organization it should only take a weekend), but a smarter solution for this task is to have the company?s Head of IT or other executive mandate that everything be labeled?period, no exceptions. Equipment must be rack mounted so to ensure sufficient cooling and power protection (UPS usually on the racks) which has the side benefit of ensuring compliance with federal and state health and safety regulations that probably would consider cables across the floor to be a safety violation.

      In as far as the pending connection of terminals, printers, and computers?I understand that there have been unkept promises, but try to find out what is the root cause for this admin not fulfilling these requirements. Perhaps there are competing interests for his time and other priorities have superseded yours. Sincerely offer your assistance, either personally or of one of your subordinates, to help in getting these requirements competed and note his reaction. Ask him to join you for lunch?your treat?and during lunch mention how wonderful it would be to have these requirements completed as soon as possible. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar so if you need these things done and the company executives have acknowledged this persons inertia yet, for some reason, are not able to manage him then you are probably stuck with him and need to get on his sweet side. If you start rattling his cage (assuming you haven?t already), and executive management appears to have history of grinning and bearing it, then you are going to have a much more difficult time in achieving any of your technological requirements to meet your business objectives because you?ve made an enemy instead of an ally. If you have already rattled his cage, then it’s time for some serious diplomacy to soften and hopefully eliminate the grudge that may have developed and make him an informal partner of your domain.

    • #2625771

      I see symptoms of a power struggle

      by bdmore ·

      In reply to Problems with the company IT guy- I need your advice

      Your company seems to be suffering some sort of power struggle somewhere hight in the hierarchy. Be very careful with this guy, he could just be one of the pawns used by somebody hight above, who have an obscure agenda and is fighting for it. I’m skeptical that this is just a rouge employee with a lot of secrets that the company can’t live without.

      Without knowing what’s really going on, it would be very risky to plan any kind of action.

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