A look back at stories from Off the Record's early years InfoWorld launched Off the Record in August 2005. The stories, then as now, are anonymous, first-person accounts of life in IT. Some of the tales describe tech situations and management clashes unique to years ago, but often the lessons learned are timeless. Still others describe those crazy tech adventures that crop up from time to time.Here’s a look back at some of the reader tales from Off the Record’s early years. The case of the disappearing datacenter You hired experts to ship your equipment to a new location. Any other brilliant ideas?[ Want to cash in on your IT experiences? Send your story to offtherecord@infoworld.com. If we publish it, we’ll send you a $50 American Express gift card. ] Web site disasters made easy Want to flush $6 million down the drain fixing an e-commerce site that isn’t broken? ‘Just fix it’ is not a viable strategy for complex IT problems When your boss has more money than sense, look out when the rug starts moving underneath you Devilish details dash software project Only his partner had the insider knowledge needed to finish the app. Guess who was left holding the bag When your VoIP vendor goes bye-bye References and specs aren’t enough; check the financials before hiring a company to do a major installation How to get rewarded for incompetence Sometimes doing your job as badly as possible pays off, especially when the boss is watching The last IT worker standing When laid-off knowledge workers hold the key to undocumented data, expect the worst When your clients hate IT Beware bad blood between project managers and users When competitive advantage isn’t advantageous Be willing to rethink your business model, or risk going under The real enemies of ITWhy politics and software don’t mix Data Management