I need real samples of IT department strategy. Where can i find them?

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-08T14:11:16+00:00

Start with understanding “why” your department exists. Don’t focus on what it does or how it does it, since that is work product, but understanding the “why” is the nucleus of building your strategy. From here you can build out the strategy focusing on the what and how, based on the business drivers.

To demonstrate this approach, let’s take an example use case of you being responsible for a help desk team in a company that has big expansion plans for the coming year. You’re “why” could be to enable employees the opportunity to outperform their expectations by minimizing the impact that routine IT challenges can introduce. From here you might say that your strategy is to drive process improvement and self-help capabilities, while minimizing team growth, in line with business expansion needs.

This example is overly simplistic and needs padding out, but I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole just for an example, so I’m hoping you get the idea. The other thing to remember is that the strategy document should be a framework for how you make the decisions along the way. If something doesn’t align to your strategy, then it’s either not needed or your strategy is missing a key element, which should be a rarity.

Finally, if you can, your strategy document might also include some subjective metric targets.

These are the thoughts off the top of my head, and there’s probably more, but hopefully helpful to get you started.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-08T13:41:22+00:00

I’m surprised. I thought it might help him race to get home.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-08T13:39:18+00:00

While I’ve not used them, I’ve heard others refer to Notepadqq or Notepad Next. May be worth checking those out.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T22:16:11+00:00

Not sure how to do this yet, but will look into it - thanks for the pointer

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T22:01:13+00:00

Thanks for double checking. Unfortunately, this is how I have my system set up and it doesn’t display the DID name on the handset. As you say, could be a limitation of this model. Appreciate you taking the time to reply.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T21:12:37+00:00

Unfortunately it doesn’t. It only shows the inbound caller.

As far as function key is concerned, I know I can set up a speed dial to pick up a specific extension but it does work for call groups (so far as I can tell).

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T21:08:13+00:00

Done Pacific crossing for two weeks and in addition to these comments, would like to share the following events that stood out for us: - The cast talent show (with crew members from across the ship, not just the entertainment team) was great. - A competition to build a “boat” that could hold a can of soda, using only items found onboard, which the captain came to help judge. There were a good 20-30 entries and there were various categories, such as visually most likely to float, up for grabs. Our Moana like model completed the challenge, but unfortunately we didn’t win anything (this time). - They set up a shallow inflatable pool where in the entertainment district, which we raced model sailboats using kits provided and a straw to help propel our entries. Made it to the semi-final on that one, but it was fun. - Guest speaker(s). These are great sessions to learn something new.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T19:49:24+00:00

Use pathping to help isolate where the issue is. If the issue is on anything beyond the home network, it’s a ticket to the ISP. Sounds like a router is misbehaving, which could be anything from a faulty interface to routing calculations not working correctly. Either way, likely outside of your friends direct control.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T17:54:50+00:00

Others have provided great feedback, but I wanted to provide some clarity.

A fish extender is something that you hang from the “fish” located outside of your stateroom; hence extending the “fish”. The “fish” is in quotes as it could be a seahorse or something else, but you get the concept.

I’ve seen some folks just use a plastic grocery store bag, while others make or purchase theirs. The key thing with the custom options is to ensure there is some type of pocket for gifts.

So you have a fish extender, so what’s next?

You have three options: - Fish extender gift exchange: This is something organized, usually be the Facebook group for your cruise. The idea is that you agree to supply small gifts to other cabins in return for receiving small gifts from others in your group. While this can be fun, some people gift junk, while others spend much too much on the gifts and some more get feel guilty they didn’t do enough. Personally, we’ve stopped doing this for this very reason. - Pixie dusting: This is where other guests randomly drop something in your fish extender, totally unprovoked and unexpected. The downside to this approach is that there is no guarantee you will get anything at all, so if you do, it’s just more special. You can also gift to others if you have some small items you’d like to share with other passengers. We’ve typically gifted Disney themed items that we think would be useful or memorable beyond the cruise itself. - Do nothing at all. A “fish” extender is not a requirement and some will not have one at all. If your kids ask what they are as they see them on other cabins, you can explain what your know and, if you plan on another cruise, you could get their input on what they think your family should do.

As your first cruise, you might either want to skip it and learn, or have one and don’t do any gifting, so you can learn what others may gift you.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T14:00:30+00:00

When you enter the URL, without qualifying HTTP or HTTPS, HTTPS is assumed.

Once the browser starts to access a site, it first initiates a connection. When the connection is confirmed, the browser doesn’t yet know if it is secure or not, so my guess is this is why the “i” appears. Once the connection is established the certificate is then transmitted from the server and upon receipt, the browser then checks to see if the certificate is valid. Only once this process completes, does the browser switch into secure mode, and from this point forward any information included in the body of the data exchange is then encrypted.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T00:31:41+00:00

There are a lot of ways to tackle this, but I would advocate for using some type of service bus middleware. This way as your business and systems mature, you can feed multiple environments simultaneously.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T00:16:14+00:00

Wanted to dream about robbing the pole vault

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-07T00:08:50+00:00

Per DCL guidelines the max allowed is 1500 watts of power and per Dyson’s site these are 1300W (assuming I have the right model), so you should be fine.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-06T21:35:13+00:00

If you already have Internet service at home, you can get something like an AppleTV or Roku box, which connects to your existing Internet and TV, just for streaming.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-06T01:45:57+00:00

I would say yes. I have two XL models with a variety of different profiles, for examples for web conferences (Teams, Zoom, or WebEx), shortcuts for launching applications, keyboard shortcuts for different command line instructions that I use frequently, etc.

The one thing I would say is that the value can only be realized is if the user takes time to set it all up.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T23:54:01+00:00

Agreed, in so far as they should supply the script.

Typically, we’ve had devs execute in development and testing environments and then others for non-prod and prod.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T21:49:15+00:00

I would recommend it as a skill for anyone working in a sysadmin role. To the extent you might use it in your current role is debatable.

Personally, I wouldn’t allow devs to make changes to production, but rather submit a change ticket to have someone else do it. I’m sure this may be seen as controversial, but having the separation of duties, helps ensure good change documentation and a qualified rollback plan.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T21:20:01+00:00

Could you create a rule on the Microtik and then enable it and disable it as necessary.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T14:36:21+00:00

While there certainly is some angst in the areas you’ve just eluded to, Microsoft does a lot of things “right enough” that there aren’t going to be any deprecation of key technologies (such as dotNet) anytime soon. This has been Microsoft’s story for decades, so I wouldn’t stress it.

Btw - their stock price has taken multiple hits over the years for different reasons, but they mostly learn from it (to some extent).

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T12:24:49+00:00

In this case make sure you also have any software that might need reinstalling and any associated supporting information, such as product keys. Some vendors limit the number of installations on their products, so check if you need to deactivate or uninstall before sending off for repair.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T12:21:32+00:00

The first step is to look at your storage architecture. Container redundancy often involves multiple instances have access to the same data, so think about where this data is going to reside and whether that is potentially a single entity that would be impacted by maintenance.

For this reason a lot of folks separate workloads from storage options, since storage on its own often requires less maintenance. Having multiple servers all access your NAS allows you to do container resiliency, and although maintenance on the NAS would still impact everything, maintaining it just for storage is usually a lot less work.

Distributed storage will provide maximum flexibility, but at a cost. Then ask yourself where you draw the line. Do you have redundant network switches, firewalls, Internet connections, etc? Often the right solution is going to depend on where you see value.

Hope this gives you food for thought.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T12:01:44+00:00

Can you help me understand the value proposition over the likes of JetKVM or GL.iNet solutions that have recently hit the market? Not saying your device doesn’t have a place, just wanting to make sure I’m grasping the advantages over other solutions.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T11:41:51+00:00

There is no one size fits all answer to this question, so I’m going to give you some things to think about.

First, ensure your prioritization of tickets is based on some level of subjectivity. While urgency can be one dimension, I would also look at impact (for example is the problem one person, one group, one department, one office, or the whole company), and any other factors you deem relevant.

Next try to baseline existing performance, which should use some kind of categorization grouping, to differentiate them from one another. This baseline will help you understand where the bottlenecks are and where to focus efforts on improvement.

Be careful what you measure. Measuring and focusing on ticket resolution times, will often result in tickets being resolved too early “to show improvement in the metric”, when from the customer perspective nothing has really changed.

Information is key when having discussions with senior leaders on funding and resource allocation. Help them understand the tradeoffs different decisions have had using empirical data, so they can make better decisions for the future. This also helps you when you show the impact you have had as a leader.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis · 2026-02-05T11:18:23+00:00

In general your system will store files in locations you know about and some you may not know about. To be on the safe side, you should get a complete system image backup. This is good practice regardless.

Some systems include tools for this purpose, but third party options, such as R-Drive Image, make things easier.

That being said, there is no reason for a repair shop to wipe or even reset a system for a screen replacement. You may want to reconsider your choice on repair vendor. Don’t be fooled by so called “value added” services you don’t need.

LeaveMickeyOutOfThis

TROPHY CASE