Don’t mind me, I just work here

I work for a K-12 school district. Three months ago I pointed out to my boss, the assistant superintendent, that we didn’t have a backup solution in place even though our strategic plan and budget showed we did. Technically, we had one in place, but the server had crashed months earlier, and fixing it had slipped through the cracks. Not surprising considering we’re trying to support 1,325 computers with a staff of 2 full-time employees and one 3-day-a week-consultant.

I presented him with a solution and asked for permission to order and implement it. He refused, pointing out that the technology committee should make the decision about a backup solution, not me.

Last week, our financial server crashed. Two of the three hard drives in the RAID 5 array failed. My guess is that one of the drives failed several months ago and no one noticed. Thanks to our inadequate staffing levels, we don’t have time to monitor our systems. We don’t have enough staff to successfully implement everything that is purchased as it’s purchased, let alone maintain it after it’s implemented.

To the superintendent’s credit, he questioned my boss’s refusal and I guess this spurred my boss into action. The wrong action, naturally.

So, after a major crisis that should have been a minor crisis, the superintendent and the assistant superintendent made a decision that was the exact opposite of what I suggested. And they did not consult me at all before making any decisions.

Don’t people learn? When someone tells you that something is about to go wrong, and is proven right within 3 months, why would you turn around and immediately make a decision without consulting that person? Hasn’t that person proven his judgment is sound, and shouldn’t his expertise be called upon before decisions are made that will affect him?

I can’t identify the school district or the so-called solution for fear that you’ll recognize it, but the latest stellar decision this management team made was to hire a person with no Mac experience to be the point person for the upcoming integration of a new program into our 90-percent Mac environment. This person isn’t familiar with the computers we will be purchasing or the infrastructure that they have to be integrated into. Why not assign the person who knows more about the details of our infrastructure than I do to be the point person in the implementation and to assign the new person instead to a project they have experience with — implementing and maintaining the backup solution? That would enable the person to learn our infrastructure and learn how to work with Macs, while also using existing skills and experience. It would also give the major program a better chance to succeed because the point person on the project would know what is needed to integrate it with instead of discovering how everything works together by making mistakes.

But then, what am I talking about? I just work here.