It takes a disaster to prove a techie right

To say the least, tech pros’ expertise is not always compatible with managers’ egos. The head honchos reject the reports, plans, budgets, recommendations, arguments — and common sense. But sometimes, letting nature take its course can be the best way to make the point.

Off the Record writers have shared the sweetness of the “I told you so” moments when their recommendations prove to be the right ones. In the following tales, the breakthroughs include public embarrassment, an act of nature, or a blow to the business. The tech pro isn’t always acknowledged — that would be too easy in the business world. But it’s vindication all the same.

And if you’d like to cash in on your IT experiences by publishing a story in the Off the Record blog, send it to offtherecord@infoworld.com. InfoWorld is looking for your amazing or amusing IT adventure, such as managing IT, developing apps, supporting users, colliding IT and business expectations, or even a lesson learned. If we publish it, we’ll keep you anonymous and send you a $50 American Express gift cheque.

• Take a new call center, a 10-second delay for callers, and frustrated sales associates, then wait for trouble to arise. Management won’t listen to the tech pro’s concerns, but a few misplaced curse words finally get their attention.
• The boss insists that the company is too small for IT security policies. The IT manager disagrees. An unethical employee settles the argument.
• You can’t plan these things. It takes stormy weather to make one techie’s managers realize he’s not just an upstart kid wanting to instigate change for change’s sake.
• After insisting on orderly shutdown procedures, a boss eats humble pie after ignoring his own words when the emergency scenario is accidentally demonstrated.
• The stock exchange’s management may blame the tech vendors, but an investigation into their high failure rate on computer components uncovers shocking incompetence through the ranks.

This story, “It takes a disaster to prove a techie right,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more crazy-but-true stories in the anonymous Off the Record blog at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.