Existing Systems

I’m not too sure if this is something that just annoys me, or if others in various industries feel the same. Existing systems can cause you a great deal of grief, and sometimes are a real pain-in-the-ass!

I’ve worked on various systems (talking computers of course) for longer than I care to remember, and the ones someone else has setup end up being the worst. I think I’ve managed to categorize them as follows:

  1. They had no idea
  2. They were using old concepts/tools
  3. Someone else has played and cooked it!
They feature in different ways too. #1 just makes me go GRRRR, if you don’t know ask, pretty simple. #2 usually means either someone hasn’t kept up-to-date, or the person who wanted it hasn’t asked it to be maintained, or cut the cash (putting it simply of course). #3 is just as GRRRR as number one, but usually as a result of number 2 hitting the fan because of #2 ;)
Mostly my experience tells me it’s #1! It makes me a little mad, not because I run an IT company and don’t mind the work, or designing, implementing, and maintain it, but because the person that did it didn’t have enough rocks to ask for a little help. I think I’m the first person to put my hand up and say, “sorry it’s not my area, but I know a fellah who does a bloody good job”, which I think is the point really.
I’ve been caught out a couple of times in the last few months, when someone has asked me to do a job for them only to find someone else has half(-ass) setup a system with either the wrong system, wrong tools, old tools, or just plain stuffed it up. Now I would probably say it’s just as much my own fault for not asking for a few more details, but if you’re looking to setup a new system, you expect to do it from step one, not step 15, start adding in what you need to find the wrong flour was used (oh crap!).
In the future I think I’ll save myself the grief and ask some more questions, or say, I’m not setting it up unless I can set it up from scratch in light of ‘making sure it works for you’ (which is a nice way of saying, I don’t want you to stuff it up). That way our customers are happy because we are caring for them (and we are long term saving them paying for something they might well have stuffed up), and making maintenance easier for us (which results in more cost effective - I’m sticking with that rather than ‘cheaper’ as cheaper implies it’s crap, and it’s not).
If you’re looking for IT systems that work, head on over my company Totali, we can help you out, and if not probably know a good fellah who can. :)

About this entry

Title: Existing Systems

Published:
29.07
Category:
Business, Servers, Work