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There are two sizes of companies: those that can afford '1+ dedicated ____-person' and those that can't. Which should filter through to technology choices more

by ethbr1 2mo ago

There are two sizes of companies: those that can afford '1+ dedicated ____-person' and those that can't. Which should filter through to technology choices more than it does.

erispoe 2mo ago
It's not 1+ person when a system needs to operate 24/7. To have a proper on-call rotation you need 5 to 8 people.
- CodesInChaos 2mo ago
  One specialist and a group of generalists is often enough. Especially if you are allowed to contact the specialist outside normal working hours in rare emergencies.
mooreds 2mo ago
Often you start as the latter and grow toward the former. That transition can be super super painful as you don't quite have enough work for the dedicated person.
slfnflctd 2mo ago
Or, you can do like one of my former bosses, and just rattle off a list of 60+ major projects which would require a team of 10 to make any reasonable progress on in the near future, then pin it on one underqualified person, refuse to provide a proper budget, and continually press them about why targeted deadlines are being missed.
- ethbr1 2mo ago
  Organization, in that hypothetical, the individual also retains substantial power. Enough so that they should sit their boss down and say 'I have capacity for N of these projects, let's rank them in terms of priority.'
  - slfnflctd 2mo ago
    You would think so! Perhaps in a more sane situation. We tried it and it did not help. Priorities shifted, facts on the ground changed, emergencies came up, and there was almost no chance to focus for long periods. Part of it was me not handling certain kinds of stress well, but a different management approach absolutely could have made a difference. To cut them a bit of slack, this particular boss had come from a prior position where they were managing hundreds of roles... to a small shop where they managed just a handful (and only one other dedicated IT person). They had trouble breaking away from the "throw everything at the wall and go full steam on it all" approach and dealing with scarce resources more carefully.

by ethbr1 2mo ago

There are two sizes of companies: those that can afford '1+ dedicated ____-person' and those that can't. Which should filter through to technology choices more than it does.

erispoe 2mo ago

It's not 1+ person when a system needs to operate 24/7. To have a proper on-call rotation you need 5 to 8 people.

CodesInChaos 2mo ago
One specialist and a group of generalists is often enough. Especially if you are allowed to contact the specialist outside normal working hours in rare emergencies.

mooreds 2mo ago

Often you start as the latter and grow toward the former. That transition can be super super painful as you don't quite have enough work for the dedicated person.

slfnflctd 2mo ago

Or, you can do like one of my former bosses, and just rattle off a list of 60+ major projects which would require a team of 10 to make any reasonable progress on in the near future, then pin it on one underqualified person, refuse to provide a proper budget, and continually press them about why targeted deadlines are being missed.

ethbr1 2mo ago
Organization, in that hypothetical, the individual also retains substantial power. Enough so that they should sit their boss down and say 'I have capacity for N of these projects, let's rank them in terms of priority.'
- slfnflctd 2mo ago
  You would think so! Perhaps in a more sane situation. We tried it and it did not help. Priorities shifted, facts on the ground changed, emergencies came up, and there was almost no chance to focus for long periods. Part of it was me not handling certain kinds of stress well, but a different management approach absolutely could have made a difference. To cut them a bit of slack, this particular boss had come from a prior position where they were managing hundreds of roles... to a small shop where they managed just a handful (and only one other dedicated IT person). They had trouble breaking away from the "throw everything at the wall and go full steam on it all" approach and dealing with scarce resources more carefully.