Ramble On

Yesterday was a bit interesting at work. I hung out with the new team but nothing was really going on...they were both just doing some clean-up of some older (resolved) issues. Since nothing was being done, I went back to my desk to see if any important e-mail had arrive. Some had.

Two weeks ago, I was give an rather informal request to start an escalation. Since we have a process for this (that should be followed), I directed the person in the correct direction. Time goes by and I figure that the mgmt came to an agreement and that was that. Yesterday, a manager sent me an e-mail asking me were we are on this escalation. I responded by telling him that I did not have any info to start one and if he wanted one started, all he had to do was "follow the process". He sent me an e-mail with a very broad complaint from one of our customers. No real detail, just "people in $remote_city state it takes 2 hours to transmit files to $homegrown_app and it is unacceptable". To my knowledge, no tickets have ever been opened up on this problem and the customer wants it escalated. Not something that is normally done, but it can be. This app is high profile enough (it sits on a DMZ) that the issue needs addressing. I figure the guy taking my place should take this since it will not be a hard one to run.

The e-mail also asks why $another_app appears to be slow when accessed from $different_remote_location...a completely separate issue. Again, no tickets have ever been opened up and the customer does not appear upset, just curious. I tell my replacement that I do not think this warrants and escalation, but maybe a normal trouble ticket could be opened up to test the waters, so to speak. He agrees.

The Mgr then asks us to open yet a THIRD escalation on an issue that was just resolved Friday. The request for corrective action has been issued but it will take time to implement. The Mgr is asking us to escalate something that he says "may bog down", because he does not trust the third party who has to implement it. I tell him that a workaround is in place that will hold until a real patch can be written to fix the problem.

The Mgr does not understand the process and when I tried to explain it to him, he says, "I do not know the process so you guys have to run this". Run it, yes. Absolve him from all his responsibilities, no.

I keep the Swede in the loop on this since he will be running it and he starts getting stressed. I ask him why and he gives me a small list of things that are on his mind. I try my best to put him at easy, but he is determined to be stressed out over this. He then tells me that I too will be stressing very soon. Maybe I will...maybe not. I plan on trying to do my best not to, but if I do...oh well.

When I left yesterday, I had finally gotten him to agree that the issue that was just resolved (that has the workaround) won't be escalated unless $third_party drops the ball.

I go home and help my wife with dinner (taco salad), I wash dishes, put away food, take care of bills and walk 2 of the 3 dogs. We are both tired so we watch a little TV then hit the hay.

I wake up at 5:00 AM as usual...albeit very tired. I complete my normal routine and then head to work. I get to work and noticed very few e-mails in my box (yea!) so I go chat with the guy who is switching with me next Monday. I ask him how the night went and he told me he was busy. I find that odd since there are no local/regional issues on the threat board and when I ask him about it he tells me he got ONE call at 6:30 PM that did not require a ticket. The issue was fixed 5 minutes after the call was placed. Again he is stressing over something relatively small, at least in my opinion.

I go back to my desk and there is an e-mail from The Mgr (I am CC'd) asking if three escalations are going to be opened on the issues in the customer e-mail. I just laughed. This guy does not have any idea how much time and how many resources are invested for an escalation. He also does not understand that we have processes and if he does not follow his part, we cannot follow ours. Maybe you can now see where he gets his nickname. I know it is mean spirited, but if we all just did our part...it would all work.

I have not responded to the e-mail since I was just CC'd. I will guide the Swede through this escalation and once he has his feet firmly planted on it, I will step back. I am not going to get in the middle and try to do his job and mine...we already do that with The Mgr.

Other than that, things are going well. The rain is clearing out and it is supposed to be sunny and very warm the next 5 days. I will be moving into a new office soon (shared) and starting on call in a couple of weeks, but mostly things are good. We have 10 days left to dog sit Jazzie and by the time she goes back home, she will have been with us a little over 2 weeks.

Well it is almost lunch time...I think I may leave the building today and enjoy the sun.