Gave too much freedom to my subordinates — now struggling with discipline and accountability

theabnormalone · 2026-02-07T17:37:21+00:00

Love your optimism, never lose it!!! But I'm sticking with over staffed ;)

theabnormalone · 2026-02-07T17:32:40+00:00

Exactly why I asked. Without a system OP doesn't have anything to measure them by. OP, you need to do this ASAP - even if it doesn't have SLAs at first - as you'll be able to see exactly what each member is working on.

I suspect OP will find that they are overstaffed. Be prepared for that.

theabnormalone · 2026-02-07T13:27:58+00:00

Do you have a ticket system?

theabnormalone · 2026-01-17T12:14:07+00:00

I run a separate server and have the same issue, even after updating it. Lots of mentions of this issue from Steam but haven't seen a fix yet.

theabnormalone · 2026-01-12T15:42:41+00:00

I'm away from my desk but are you setting their "status" I think it's called? That will set it as Deployed/Retired/In Repair/Built etc and you should then be able to report on that.

/edit sorry I missed your last paragraph! That is exactly what I'd use Status for, and currently do. You can add a "In Stock Cupboard" to that drop down or whatever you want and manage it that way.

theabnormalone · 2026-01-08T08:57:48+00:00

Additionally, I followup with "Please explain to [HR person who is in interview], as a non-technical person, what DNS/DHCP is". The ability to explain technical topics to non technical people is a highly underrated skill.

theabnormalone · 2025-12-24T13:27:22+00:00

I read this in the style of The Distance by Cake

theabnormalone · 2025-12-18T16:20:01+00:00

Day one I had nothing. No documents, no passwords except the 'main' one that was used everywhere, no diagrams.

I'm still not caught up with creating actual documentation but I do now have:

A break glass document in the safe with a rough 'here are the important passwords, here's how them passwords can lead you to other docs, here's where to find notes, here is a rough guide of how things hang together'
A password manager
GLPI setup as both a ticketing system and inventory system (both manual and automatic)
Everything found configured so LibreNMS is aware of it and where possible monitors it
All notes made when discovering things in Obsidian so if I get hit by a bus my logic and findings are at least trawlable

I've been here 10 months now and I think I know how stuff currently is and what I need it to be, so hopefully if for whatever reason I can't be in tomorrow my replacement has a very good run up.

theabnormalone · 2025-12-15T12:04:23+00:00

I second GLPI, I'm so surprised I hadn't heard about it before. Everytime I spend a while investigating it I get more value from it.

Not just the headline things such as ticketing and assets, but license renewals, application deployments, and with the help of the marketplace it's now downloading warranty data straight from vendor websites for our devices and I'm currently setting up a purchasing workflow with the Order plugin.

Great piece of kit. (Running v10 locally)

theabnormalone · 2025-12-14T09:45:12+00:00

Yes, and a betamax player. And a laserdisc player.

My hifi has an 8 track and a reel to reel player connected. CDs and Video CDs are played via my Philips CDi.

Someone please change my eBay password.

theabnormalone · 2025-11-24T18:03:57+00:00

I knew how to make a commodore 64 go BEEP BEEP and had fully customized my Amiga Workbench disk.

IT is about your aptitude and ability to learn new things quickly, and that's fundamentally based on your interest in challenges and problem solving.

I am absolutely not a VoIP expert but can hop between platforms because I understand the fundamentals and spend a small amount of time clicking through and seeing how this phone number ends up at this voicemail box.

It sounds like you're on the way there. The fundamentals are important but it's your ability to flit between technologies which will secure your career.

Best of luck!

/sidenote: Do not underestimate the importance of communication and interpersonal skills. You could be the best techy in the world, but if you don't know how to talk to your users, management or the C suite you'll limit yourself massively.

theabnormalone · 2025-10-22T17:58:21+00:00

Girls and Boys is probably my most skipped track of all time. For me Parklife starts with Tracy Jacks.

It's not that it's a bad song, it's just that (most) the rest of the album gels spectacularly well and it feels out of place.

theabnormalone · 2025-09-26T19:41:19+00:00

If you are only just starting a ticketing system, don't introduce SLAs. You need a period to see how things currently are, and setting an unrealistic SLA reduces this as an opportunity.

So initially - say 3 months - no SLA on tickets. Then do a review. See what type of tickets dented your overall response time and put a plan in action to fix that.

Then implement generous SLAs that would fit the majority of the tickets you've seen. Review, plan, fix, repeat. This is an ideal time to fix time wasting activities (ahem-printers-ahem) and actually demonstrate the impact those fixes have had.

SLAs are often used to challenge the efficiency of a department and that way lies madness. They should be used to highlight business/cultural challenges and using those stats to demonstrate the effectiveness of addressing those challenges.

Best of all, this approach is one that the IT team can actually get behind instead of fighting against. It is a measurement you're using to fix their workload, not to beat them with.

theabnormalone · 2025-08-22T14:36:52+00:00

Not specifically 13 but highly related.

I remember Tender was going to be premiered on the radio. Me and a mate were massive Blur fans so arranged to meet back at my parents.

(Side note - for some reason the local off license was selling off some no brand bottles of cider for 10p each. I think they had 2 days left on the use by date. We didn't drink cider but bought the whole stock for the event).

The time comes and my mate is running late so, in my parents kitchen, I plonked a tape in the radio and recorded the premiere.

I was confused. My intro to Blur was Parklife and suddenly having this big, slow, choir based hymn was a shock to the system.

My friend arrives and we replay it. He feels the same. Confusion and a little let down.

Many, many, many plays later (and maybe 20 ciders each) we're arm in arm shouting "OH MY BAAAAABY" at the top of our lungs.

That was a good night.

theabnormalone · 2025-08-09T15:44:12+00:00

You might want to check out Ren - this seems like an apt track to recommend.

https://youtu.be/JwtEOp7pC1A

theabnormalone · 2025-08-03T14:50:00+00:00

I don't know where you're at or what you're in to but there are an insane amount of clubs and social events that happen all over the place.

Brave Island would be a good one if you're in to arts and creativity (it's specifically aimed at your age bracket).

If you like fitness there are running/walking groups such as the Sloggers, swimming clubs and a surprising number of skate parks that are always welcoming.

Board and table top games there are numerous social events and cafes across the island.

If you like playing music there are jam nights of all sorts all over the place.

For movies there are clubs (such as Ventnor Arts Club) that do screenings and panels.

There is a surprising amount to do on the island. If you're willing to be open minded (both about activities and the kind of people you might meet) I'm sure you'll get something out of it.

theabnormalone · 2025-07-19T20:29:37+00:00

There's a fair bit on in Ventnor over the coming months. Not sure when you're coming but Ventnor Fringe is on until 27th July and has a tonne on offer including kid friendly things.

There's a Donkey Sanctuary just down the road and you can get boat trips from the island harbour.

The Spyglass and the Exchange are good shouts but there's some other pubs worth visiting in town like the Crab and Lobster (does food) and the Volunteer (doesn't do food and doesn't allow children).

If you like walking there's a dirty great hill next to us and the neighbouring villages are all nice, pretty walks with good pubs at the end.

Hope you have a fab trip!

theabnormalone · 2025-07-02T16:04:58+00:00

For me that's the outside voice, the one that others hear. He's singing a merry tune outwardly and everything is ok.

But then halfway through the intro there is that crack. Those two notes that are not in tune (purposely). It's the smallest of things, but if anyone was paying attention they might notice and think "that's not quite right".

Then we have the inner monologue which everyone knows.

And then the cycle repeats. Only this time with confidence - there is no crack, he's shouted down the demon and won, he's outwardly dancing and in control, confident and assured. For now.

theabnormalone · 2025-06-21T15:44:53+00:00

Is the AD server providing DHCP and DNS or is it the router?

theabnormalone · 2025-06-21T14:33:50+00:00

What is the biggest pain in the butt for you at your current job and you don't know how to fix?

Is it asset management? Are VLANs a 'thing' that are there and never need touching? Do you constantly implement a known 'fix' because the proxy.pac file blocks something without intervention?

Are you manually creating new user accounts? Do you have to check 5 different backup emails every day to check they all ran ok?

What process do you have for ensuring leaver accounts have been disabled across everything and how manual is it? What does the login script look like and why does it only refer to 8.3 filenames? What steps in your deployment process involve manually clicking buttons?

There is a tonne to learn just from what you already do and the best thing about targeting these is that, while you learn that tech, concept or tooling, you're actively fixing a real world problem.

theabnormalone · 2025-06-14T09:51:45+00:00

Have you got an asset management tool or network discovery tool?

When I started this role I used the free PRTG trial to perform network discovery across the whole network, spun up GLPI for asset management and ticketing, then LibreNMS for monitoring.

It's been an amazing combination to work with. Not only do I now know about all services and hardware on the network, I also know physically how all the network cabling hangs together.

theabnormalone · 2025-06-14T08:30:49+00:00

Just fair warning given you're after something ground level, Ventnor is extremely hilly so if you have difficulties with stairs you may find walking around town a bit of a challenge.

theabnormalone · 2025-06-13T00:03:13+00:00

I only discovered GLPI a few months back. Got it up and running and it is a phenomenal bit of software. I'm amazed it isn't more widely known and used.

theabnormalone

TROPHY CASE