Anticlue

A different type of production problem

We have another person leaving our IT department. She is off to hopefully greener pastures. We are all wishing her well on her journey to the new pasture, and the relationships have changed to the short-timer stage of her eventual departure.

So where is the production problem? Here it is, we don?t have a single-signon, and we have a plethora of applications. Depending on the type of employee you are, your security level can be very broad, or extremely narrow. It can also may need to be extensively tracked and monitored or minimally. We have a very process driven security maintenance application that is customized to that process and not very well documented. The last person who understood our security management process and worked it daily is leaving. We have coverage which we can support for a week or two, but other critical projects will hit the resource crunch due to the switch of support.

She is a terrifically diligent and dedicated person, showing up daily, quietly dealing with all of the issues, so nothing ever came to the front showing that the security process needs to be examined. The process may work, as complicated as it is, but it is very very complex. And when questions arose, the process is so screening intensive, she would be back before any real concerns arose.

For me this has been an eye opening experience, I've learned to appreciate the niche player more. It takes a certain type and level of dedication for someone to do the exact same job day in day out with little to no glory. Yet, they are always there and always dedicated, they may quietly grumble. But the truth be told, the whole operation would not be able to run, without them. As we will soon see if we don't solve the production problem.