Tales of problematic people in the IT workplace

IT pros face many challenges day to day, not the least of which is coping with coworkers, bosses, or business managers who stand in the way of getting the IT job done. From the techie of perpetual negativity to the manager of unrealistic promises, dealing with people such as these can be a major time suck.

Here in Off the Record, readers have shared stories of surviving the onslaught of challenges that coworkers send their way. In some, the writers get fired unfairly. In others, they find ways to cope with the unpleasant person or situation. And in still others, they witness justice served to the problematic coworker. Some lessons learned are unique to the economic and tech culture of their day; some are more timeless. In any case, it’s a story straight from the tech trenches.

And since this is a blog written by readers — all under the Anonymous byline — new submissions are always welcome. Do you have an IT story of coping with an ineffective boss or coworker? Of ways you dealt with a challenging situation the business managers created? Send it to offtherecord@infoworld.com. If we publish it, we’ll send you a $50 American Express gift cheque.

Here are some of the more memorable Off the Record tales of coping with challenging personalities and skillsets in the workplace:

• Accountability? Check. Authority? Not so much. When senior management ignores office computing best practices, what’s an IT manager to do?
• In the story “When business savvy ignores IT reality,” management and bean counters cut operating costs. The result? A cumbersome, chaotic, inefficient IT structure.
• Bureaucrats — the real enemies of IT — can throttle productivity with a single buzzword. How does an IT staffer cope?
• A stubborn corporate manager gets in the way of the IT staff who just want to fix the networking problem in “Vexed by VPN and interfering management.”

The coworker

• The dreaded question “Do you have a copy of that?” takes on a different light in this IT horror tale of office backstabbing and daily backups.
• A new hire faces the challenge of dealing with a disgruntled coworker.
• Corporate goodfellas and the red tape litter this tale of how feuds between departments all too often create inefficient work situations.
• In “Beware the on-staff backstabber,” an IT manager gets fired when a staffer circulates ugly rumors.
• Never try to code complex software with no scope, no requirements, no project plan — and a programming guru known to be up on all the latest things IT.

The boss

• “Another screw-up? You’re promoted!” may sound like an oxymoron, but it happened at one company that hired a new IT director who turns out to be a nightmare. He’s finally let go, but at what cost to the rest of the company and employees?
• In the story “Lots of talk, few skills,” the new network administrator decides to show off his technical expertise. But it becomes very clear that his staff knows more than he does.
• The tech boss’ first goal is to look good to top management; completing projects and taking care of employees comes last.
• An IT manager’s “hostile termination” plus one missed detail create a memorable IT meltdown — for the wrong reasons.
• One techie shares a tale of surviving a tough IT project that combined a challenging upgrade and an equally complex working relationship with the associate director and project manager.

This story “Tales of problematic people in the IT workplace,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more crazy-but-true stories in the anonymous Off the Record blog at InfoWorld.com.