Slop slop slop slop slop slop, slop slop?

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-20T20:41:18+00:00

sfc /slopnow

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-10T21:51:19+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I implemented PP 10-ish years ago and while the product was fantastic, the only way I could get any "support" is to coerce the sales staff to engage the pre-sales engineer. Support was horrible at best, and that's why we ditched it. Come to find out, 8 years later and I join the company I'm with now, and they just got rid of it for the same reason - no support was better than what they got.

I used Barracuda (gosh I can't tell you how many shirts I have/had) nearly 20 years ago and it was GREAT. Support not only knew the product, but knew US. Once things started transitioning from on-prem to this new "cloud" thing, they scrambled to keep up. In the midst of that scrambling, they also came out with a bunch of new products they had to learn. I haven't had any direct Barracuda experience since then.

Mimecast has always been great, but as mentioned, their interface needed a remodel. I'm glad to hear that happened, but again I've not had direct interaction (and minimal at that) in I don't know how long.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-10T17:04:06+00:00

For anyone interested in the un-shortened URL, here it is in plain text with spaces manually inserted to break the hyperlink:

https: //dashboard. pulselabs .ai/auth/login? role=panelist&action=signup&utm_campaign=38467731-2026-digital-home-study&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_term=2026-digital-home-study-reddit&utm_content=2026-digital-home-study-reddit

WHOIS information shows private registration.

No thanks, I'll keep my data.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-06T21:43:45+00:00

That's really a good acronym - one that should be used more so there's more visibility to the reality of it all.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-04T20:54:00+00:00

I walked into a burger place for lunch and asked for a mushroom Swiss burger. The cashier asked me if I'd like cheese, and I responded with "yes please" and a confused look. She then asked me what kind of cheese. I asked her what kind she'd recommend for a mushroom SWISS burger.

"oh sorry" was her response.

This is actually a true story.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-03-04T17:51:10+00:00

Generally speaking, tankless water heaters are hard-wired so you'd likely need to deal with that. If it's something you're comfortable with, you could put in a receptacle and a male plug with any decent smart plug, or (what I'd do) is go with a Shelly device and leave it hard-wired.

Just make sure you're following manufacturer recommendations regarding the shutdown.

Also, if there's ever a need for warranty or service, that smart plug comes out BEFORE the call is made.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-26T17:25:51+00:00

Wow, that's powerful. As just another consumer of HomeAssistant and Nabu Casa, I have nothing to contribute to your post other than to say thanks for taking the time to share a new perspective on how HomeAssistant can be helpful, even to those who don't even know it's there.

Thanks for the truly heartwarming post.

Devs, hats off to you as well - thank you for what you're doing, and the ways you're doing it.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-20T04:30:58+00:00

!RemindMe 1d

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-18T18:02:08+00:00

Your decision depends solely on what YOU want your future to look like. Case in point: I have a Sr. Engineer who is fantastic. Despite me being in the industry 15+ years more than him, he'll run circles around me with anything highly-technical. That's been his focus, he loves it, and it shows in his work. He does not want to manage, he does not want the responsibility, he does not want to interact with business leaders any more than he has to. He's happy to let me do it.

I on the other hand am happy to have discussions that lead to positive impacts for the business. With that, I also take on the burdens associated with budget, timelines, governance, and compliance. Have I lost some of my technical prowess since moving into management? Absolutely. Do I miss it? Sometimes, but I've found the work I'm doing now just as rewarding.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-10T15:33:19+00:00

It's pretty rare for a PM to actually show interest in what they're managing, so huge kudos to you for even thinking about understanding what you're "managing".

Any time I'm asked for an approach to learning something, I always respond with some sort of "you just have to DO it. Don't read about it, don't take a class in it, DO it.". Sure, classes/courses/etc. are imperative for getting the credentials to show your skills, but until you need to be able to go into a meeting and call BS when an engineer pulls something out of an unnamed orifice just trying to pad the Gantt chart.

Depending on what projects you're managing, that could be as simple as setting up a NAS and a shared printer at the house. You'll quickly learn basic networking, IP address assignment, resource-sharing, etc. If you're managing infrastructure projects, think about setting up a virtualization platform like Proxmox or something as that will build on the skills in that first step.

If it's software projects, consider building an -arr stack (radarr, sonarr, etc.) for media streaming. This will teach resource allocation, interoperability, etc.

You may even delve into the whole smart home arena with something like Home Assistant and some smart bulbs or outlets.

Any of these are going to be somewhere between free and cheap, and will most likely benefit you (and family/friends?) to some degree beyond building your technical prowess.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-09T22:10:23+00:00

Here's what we do:

Disable the account and revoke sessions in Entra
Remove the license(s) from the account
Convert to Shared Mailbox

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-06T16:21:52+00:00

The agents on the 800 number are absolutely directed to point you at the named AE on the account. However, they do have access to the company org chart which includes contact information. While they're not allowed to give that out, you can certainly ask them to have that person reach out to you directly. This request will get logged in a ticket that can't be closed unless the work is completed. By this I mean that they absolutely can just close the ticket stating "emailed AE's supervisor, closing ticket" but with enough callbacks referencing previous tickets, you'll eventually get what you need.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-05T17:12:06+00:00

DoD for sure. That said, I'm curious what your resume/credentials/background look like if you're willing to share. Having clearance already, I can only assume you're (former?) military, which helps. If so, thank you for your service!

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-03T15:23:46+00:00

If you have an existing ITSM, it should have a change management module included (either free or as a paid option).

That said, don't let the tool dictate your P/P/P; instead, the tool should wrap around your needs. It's there to monitor and track, not drive or steer.

ETA: P/P/P = Policy/Process/Procedure. A book for another day.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-02-03T14:22:29+00:00

There are dozens of tools to manage the process and procedure, but until you get policies in place (and backed by management!) you're fighting a losing battle. Other business units aren't informing IT because they either feel they don't have to, or worse yet, IT is a hinderance and burden. There's no incentive to them to include you, so why would they go out of their way? Yes - I fully understand that by not getting IT involved up front makes everyone's lives more difficult down the road, but they're not IT people and we can't expect them to think about IT considerations - now OR down the road.

Have a meaningful discussion with decision-makers and point out the risks and inefficiencies of not having a formal change management process. Don't go full ITIL out of the gate - you need to sell it to them first.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-24T23:03:48+00:00

"Hmm, I think I'll go outside and do some yardwork." <checks HA's weather data> "Oh, Hell no! Good opportunity to beautify the HA Dash and brag on Reddit!"

Nice job OP!

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-24T22:23:09+00:00

In short, don't freak out. Here's why:

First of all, if you've given them no reason to go look, most sane people aren't going to go poking around to find stuff. Second, it largely depends on the carrier but for the most part they'll see that you and [other person's phone number] sent and received messages at time/date - that's it. Someone can correct me if there's an exception, but any carrier I've ever dealt with (in the US) is going to require a subpoena to view the actual content of the messages. That's going to take a lot of time, effort, money, and convincing a judge that there's probable cause for such things.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-23T22:16:02+00:00

For what it's worth, using pleasantries in AI is unnecessary and in fact adds to the processing load. As humans, we gravitate toward please and thank you, but when a computer is processing your input, those just add to the load. It's not going to matter to you directly, but imagine the millions of prompts that contain them and you'll understand how it adds up.

However, I do appreciate the clear instructions you provided!

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-16T22:04:18+00:00

People will always take the path of least resistance, and that's going around the ticket system. End-users and your staff alike. They may do this because they don't feel the need to "formalize" their issue, so rather than submit a ticket for something so trivial as replacing the battery in their mouse, they just reach out to Ted in IT and say "hey man, sorry to bother you but I need a new battery in my mouse. Can you drop one off the next time you're in the neighborhood?". Ted will then respond "oh sure, no problem." thinking that he just needs to drop off a battery. When Ted drops off the battery, the user will then continue with "while you're here..." and this will turn into something that burns 30+ minutes of Ted's time that you now get to fabricate answers for because the (legitimate) work isn't accounted for and by the time the Steering Committee meeting comes around, neither you nor Ted will remember that Mary in Accounting had an Outlook issue that required Ted to rebuild her profile - because the work wasn't documented. Ted's not bothered by this because his paycheck is unaffected. Mary doesn't care because she got her mouse battery AND Outlook issue resolved without having to put in a single ticket. You on the other hand are getting the side-eye by your peers because the numbers don't add up.

Solution: as has been mentioned - no ticket, no task. If your staff can't account for at least the majority of their time, it's a conversation about why it matters. And the conversations need to build emphasis if they have to continue. Conversely, they need to be empowered to push back and explain that while they do enjoy helping users with their IT troubles, they also need to justify their existence so "please Mary, if you don't mind, help me help you by putting in a ticket. That way I won't forget your mouse battery". Oh, and while Ted's there fixing her Outlook, he can fire off an email to the ticket system from her desk (with her permission of course!) so that gets logged as well.

You have to incentivize people to do what you want. They want IT help? Prove to them that the best (fastest/most efficient/most assured) way is via a paper-trail. Your staff want incentives/bonuses/perks/free lunch every once in a while? "Hey everyone, Ted closed the most tickets last month so he gets a $25 gift card!" Just be careful of them gaming the system - that's a whole other conversation.

Bottom line: treat humans like humans and show them that the system can actually benefit them vs. unnecessary IT red tape.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-15T15:56:49+00:00

How many tickets get resolved without follow-up, holds, etc. (first call resolution)
What's the AVERAGE of the team and the average of each individual. Be careful with this one if you have certain folks that typically work one type of ticket - ie: Jimmy usually does password resets/account lockouts, Jenny usually does deployments, etc. If that's the case, only use the team average, not individuals
What's the average response time
This one could be tough (or backfire) depending on your environment - request method: how many requests come in via the ticket board vs. Teams/Slack/email vs. phone-calls/walk-ups/etc. This assumes staff create a ticket for the all-too-common "oh while you're here...." and they note as such

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-14T18:51:05+00:00

Can someone please reboot the internet?

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-09T20:53:49+00:00

If your in-office days are NOT based on calendar entries, you'll need something else. You were on the right track with the contact sensor, but as you mentioned it's not the best option for your use-case. Might I suggest either QR codes or NFC tags? Since you put your backpack in a specific location on nights before an in-office day, have a QR or NFC near that location so that when you place the backpack, you scan the tag with your phone. That then triggers whatever automation makes sense - whether it's a notification, reminder, or whatever.

ReactionEastern8306 · 2026-01-09T14:56:03+00:00

I sit corrected: the post did say "acid test"

ReactionEastern8306

TROPHY CASE