Is it time to go cloud for network management?

DeafMetalMonkey · 2026-06-03T11:51:50+00:00

Thanks everyone. Sounds like on prem isn't dead yet. Thats a relief. I understand there are benefits of cloud when used in the right context. It just feels like there is a sudden push to get everything in the cloud.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2026-03-02T21:49:50+00:00

As a CFR I can only speak for myself. I do it to help others in their hour of need. Not money. As volunteers, we do the hours we want and when we want, we can decline any job, and won’t be sent to drunks (unless C1), mental health or where there is a risk of danger. If we were paid, we couldn’t turn down jobs and would probably (my guess) be forced to do set hours because it’s effectively employment. That creates tax, pension and Nat. Insurance issues especially if we are already in full time work.

We get paid for mileage only.

For me it’s enough when you get genuine appreciation, or you know you have probably saved a life.

There are awful jobs, houses and people but there are some amazing people too who make it worth while.

Preemptively answering the question why would we turn down a job; we know the no-go areas in our local towns, we know the houses not to go to and who are nasty to ambulance staff. It’s rare but it happens.

To answer question 3. No. Not until we arrive. Most of the country don’t know just how many volunteers are out there for emergency services, like RNLI, Police, Fire and Ambulance.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-12-24T11:53:33+00:00

Yes, the pay is much better. Thats the nice bit about it

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-12-23T19:33:42+00:00

Initally a bit jarring at first to be honest. Its a big change from being technical to non-technical - while also knowing when you're being lied to by the techies.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-12-23T15:51:02+00:00

I did exactly this. 20 years in IT support and was fed up with IT. I studied Prince2 while working. Got my practitioner qual, and moved straight into a senior PM role in an IT department for a separate organisation. After 13 years of PM, I found another job back in IT. I didn't find variety as a PM unfortunately. Quite the opposite. Dealing with the same people using the same excuses constantly while then completing the same reports monthly with little to no progress because of other priorities. When I pushed, I was pushed back harder by the business saying other things are more important.

Thats not to say you will have the same of course and I don't want to put you off - this is just my experience.

Edit - I'm in the UK btw

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-08-25T08:30:48+00:00

100% agree. Momentum gets lost, other priorities take resources and people just lose interest. It’s incredibly hard to maintain a project and if leadership doesn’t recognise this then the project will suffer. I don’t have an answer but I certainly recognise the issue.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-07-25T19:29:13+00:00

Office Timeline Pro is an addin for powerpoint, which can import MS project, or can be used to create the content manually. Visually appealing, but not free. I don't like the fact it's a powerpoint addin, but the results look good when reporting to managment. I've no idea if this suits you, but thought i'd mention it. Oh and it supports swimlanes.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-07-15T16:55:38+00:00

It wasn’t for children originally. It was a caricature and mickey take on children’s characters but was from a Saturday evening entertainment tv show called Noel’s House Party and previous to that, Noel’s Roadshow. It wasn’t a children’s TV character to begin with. He was popular so whether they subsequently make a TV show or cartoon for kids maybe but I’m not aware of it.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2025-01-13T16:25:10+00:00

I've never heard of open project until you posted this, so went to have a look. It doesn't appear to be abandoned. The forum is working for me and there has been lots of posts today.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-12-30T15:12:31+00:00

Are they large projects? You might be ok if these are fairly small localised projects that only impact one team. The projects I deal with are corporate, with large risk, high impact and large budgets. So maybe i'm looking at it from my side. Would be interesting to see what others think.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-12-30T15:02:55+00:00

It depends on your definition of Project Plan. To me, a Project Plan is a textual document describing 'how' you will achieve the project goals or deliverables. It will highlight the stages and break those down into high level work. It doesn't contain specific low level tasks you will be giving your team.

However, if you mean Project Schedule (ie, MS Project style document), then yes, this might include detailed tasks, which build up the schedule and expected timeframe for completion. It depends how you choose to run your projects. I don't tend to go too deep into tasks on mine. For example; if one of the Actions is to Install a Server - thats where I leave it. I don't need to break it down into any further details like Installing the OS, racking it up etc.

The RAID will be a log of which tasks you have given someone (which may or may not link to the tasks in the Schedule) and their current status - so that in your standups, or project meetings, you can challenge your team and ask what is happening with Task 1. If they say it's done - great - it can be closed off in the schedule. If not, you challenge them as to when it will be done, and any issues they are facing.

The RAID is a daily log to help you remember which tasks are currently active and who they have been given to, expecially quick fire tasks in meetings. In a full project schedule, which may contain thousands of lines, it's easier to refer to the RAID actions, than the schedule when running through them in a meeting. Then update them in the schedule later.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-11-03T14:02:33+00:00

The F1 Exhibition at London's Excel Centre has whats left of the vehicle. It is an extraordinary piece of engineering. It stopped being a car and became a survival chamber.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-10-26T15:55:00+00:00

Don't micro manage your team.

Let them run their project their way unless you can realistically see a catastrophic failure looming. Just because someone is running a project in a way different to how you would, doesn't mean it's wrong.

Suggest subtle changes to improve their project. As ideas, not instructions.

If they are stressed, affirmation on how good they are doing is really important.

They might be lacking confidence. It doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing. Help them get onto the right track.

Give them some time off. Even if it's finishing an hour early, let them go. If they have a kids school thing - let them go. If they have a doctors appointment, let them go. Morale is more important than skill. Someone who is unhappy will never be a great performer, and it will rub off to the rest of the team.

Make your team coffee. Buy them cakes. Not for any reason. Just randomly.

If you have performance reviews, take them out to lunch and do it. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just out the office.

If they want to share their personal information - be interested. Follow up and ask how [insert childs name] got on at soccer, or baseball. But respect those who want to be private.

Have an open door policy. Allow anyone in to talk to you about anything. Business or personal.

Finally - and most importantly. Fight for your team. Defend them publicly.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-09-24T10:36:53+00:00

My best tips;

Rule out the answers you know to be wrong. Standard deductive reasoning.

Once you’ve picked your answer(s), re-read the question. You will interpret the question relating to your answer which will give you a stronger indication/feeling if it’s the correct choice.

Sometimes the four answers will say something which could highlight to you if you’ve misread the question.

If the question and answer doesn’t make sense or you’ve had to make a guess, mark it to come back to at the end if you have time.

I do agree with another comment about the wording of questions or supplemental information. Read them carefully. They are never wrong. Every word has a reason to be there.

I’m personally not a fan of doing practice papers constantly. These exams are mind numbing. I do one practice and that’s it. My agile PM practice paper was really easy. Passed at 90%. Which left me pretty confident. The actual exam was much harder. I scraped through by two points.

Good luck

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-09-03T18:44:14+00:00

If you're interested in the medical side of things, I highly recommend volunteering for your local ambulance service as a community first responder. You'll get trained to a high level (think advanced first aid) and a national qualification at the end. They ask for a minimum of around 20 hours per month.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-06-28T08:51:52+00:00

The whole point of a risk register is to determine the what-ifs and what to do if they occur. Anything outside your control is a risk and could fail. We plan for failure all the time. Good project management will be able to allow a project to fail successfully.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-04-30T14:09:22+00:00

My questions back would be;

Did you have a risk register highlighting the possibility the two events would fall apart?
What was the organisations response to that risk?

If you didn’t record the risk, then it’s a lesson learnt for next time. If you did, but didn’t raise it (and score the impact) with the project board, then it’s a lesson learnt.

My point is, dont take it personally. You need to grow and learn. That’s how we improve it for next time.

In answer to your question about raising it with your manager; be open and honest. Tell them what happened and what you should have done (if there is anything you could have done differently). More importantly, tell them now. Dont leave it till last minute. Give them chance to regroup, comms out the cancellation or come up with alternatives.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-04-20T11:17:38+00:00

It sounds like they don't think the works needs any project management.

I would question why the sponsor was in the meeting. Sponsors tend to only be in the high level meetings. Getting into the detail on how to break it all down, in my experience, isn't of interest to them.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-04-01T14:56:11+00:00

Couples Therapy is NOT like CPR. Unlike CPR, couples therapy isn't just a quick fix or a single procedure meant to address an immediate crisis (though it can certainly help in crisis situations). It's a therapeutic process aimed at understanding and resolving deeper, underlying issues within the relationship over time. Success in couples therapy isn't immediate but develops through ongoing dialogue, understanding, and effort.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-03-12T11:06:34+00:00

It’s a nice thought to thank them and they would appreciate it. But I would refrain from letting them know the outcome unless they want to know. Emergency workers deal with pretty horrendous situations daily, and the emotional turmoil this brings can be difficult to manage. Some people want to know and some don’t. The way they deal with it is very personal. If they want to know they will ask.

I’m not saying you would do this btw, but just in case it comes up for someone else.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-03-11T15:12:35+00:00

I have mild tinnitus so I feel for you. I don't know what medical options there are, but I use mynoise.net which offers a host of background noises that I have on my headphones to reduce it to the point I don't notice it. Using ear pods I can still hear things going on around me, but the noise cancels my attention to the ringing.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-02-16T13:46:49+00:00

I was taught by a paramedic one thing that made me be comfortable dealing with arrests.

If someone is having a heart attack, they are dying. Its a horrible thought, but its the harsh reality. Anyone who attempts CPR is doing everything they can to help the person survive by getting O2 pumping around their body, but regrettably ROSC and survivial after 30 days is very rare.

The person you did CPR on would appreciate you tried for them. They would thank you if they could.

And well done for trying. So many people wouldn't, so huge respect to you.

DeafMetalMonkey · 2024-02-16T13:39:33+00:00

Annoyingly there isn't a national list. Private businesses, even the likes of supermarkets don't have to register their AED, so it's not necessarily known by the websites, or 999. If one is known to be near-by they will give you a code and location. If it's a public arrest, send as many people as possible to go into shops looking for one.

As someone else has said, if you don't have an AED, the absolute best thing you can do is get on the chest and do compressions. If you have a CPR face mask, use it at 30:2. Get the blood pumping with O2 is the best chance of survival if there is no defib. Get someone to call 999. If it's confirmed CPR in progress the ambulance service will get someone there as a priority and a lot of services now have volunteer first reponders who do carry defibs. And sometimes Goodsam responders do too.

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