Eschew Obfuscation

Ok,

Let me start by saying I understand that vendor meetings are part of our jobs as system adminsitrators, to have the competitive edge and all that (I know there are a myriad and plethora of other reasons, I am claiming laziness on writing them all down). But I also wonder how in the heck we are supposed to get anything done with so many meetings within a day. After one of our senior people left all of the storage stuff fell on our collective shoulders, not that we weren’t busy to begin with as there are only 3 of us who handle all of the data/backups/filers etc.  Now I have traditionally handled the backups and for me this is a great new learning experience, as I get to deal with our netapp filers (I am always up for learning experiences).  But to be honest we have some *needy* customers and there just isn’t enough time in a day to get things done as it is, let alone with vendor meetings.

Now mind you I like meeting with some vendors better than others (I happen to really like our EMC reps, as well as the Netapp peeps), but taking 3 hours our of my day doesn’t help me with getting done what I need to get done.  Some would mention that I need to read Limoncelli’s book, and while that may be correct, there are also things that I cannot simply do at home (hardware, etc).  Don’t get me wrong, I spend a good portion of my night working, as anyone that has been a sysadmin will tell you, the job never stops, and I love it (sometimes it bothers my wife, but she is uber understanding.  I just happen to think that someone should write a vendor course in how to deliver tech information to techies in a short condensed version so that we can get the information we need and go, and let management deal with the sales bs.  Just my humble opinion though, so take of it what you will.

written by meh. \\ tags: backups, emc, filers, limoncelli, meetings, netapp, networker, storage, system administrators, time management, time sink, vendors

Dealing daily in the world of IT has its hazards.

One of the most oft visited in my opinion is that of someone taking offense (umbrage, pique) at something communicated. Be it a stanza in an email, a snippet of an overheard conversation or an outright slight directed at someone else, our words can create a minefield for us that often affects our relationships.

If you know me, you know that I’m the last person to be preaching about the need for political correctness. I will leave adjusting your behavior to someone more qualified for correction. I will deal with the thing that’s easiest to change. Your personal perception.

Note the phrase used above was “take offense.” There’s no victim in that sentence. The person “offended” has decided that the intent of the author/speaker was to offend.

We, as the taker of offense, take upon ourselves the indignation and robe of the victim without ever talking to the alleged offender.

This frequently results in making us look the fool.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather someone call me a flaming prat then to make myself look the fool.

At times, it can be difficult to discern. Especially in a day laden with email and text messages. There’s no body language in an email. Ten people could read the same email and come away with different opinions about what it actually meant, much less whether or not they were actively being offended.

I guess the long and short of this post is this; for the most part, we’re not important enough for people to actively try to offend us. The people who are really going to try are most likely going to be those closest to us and will want to be in your face when they offend you.

Don’t fret. They are out to get you, but you’re likely to see them coming.

written by halfdime \\ tags: people sysadmin