back to article Sysadmin told to spend 20+ hours changing user names, for no reason

Welcome again to On-Call, our regular Friday morning foray into readers' stories of being asked to do the right thing, for the wrong reason, at unspeakable times. This week, meet reader “Harold” who works as IT manager for an educational institution. Harold tells us that the institution has a simple scheme to allocate user …

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  1. Oengus
    Thumb Up

    To the 2IC

    My response to the 2IC "Go and redacted redacted redacted".

    Substitute middle finger for the thumb...

    1. Mark 85

      Re: To the 2IC

      Add to that... Harold should find another place to work. This is not going to end well for him or the institution and if he does follow the orders, even with a paper trail, his days will be numbered when the crap starts hitting the fan.

      1. Aqua Marina
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: To the 2IC

        I'd love to know what financially stable world some of the posters that frequent this forum are living in. A day doesn't go by where someone is suggesting that an actual paying job is simply abandoned because of a disagreement. Can someone let me know where all these replacement jobs are available?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: To the 2IC

          " A day doesn't go by where someone is suggesting that an actual paying job is simply abandoned because of a disagreement. Can someone let me know where all these replacement jobs are available?"

          Well everyone leaving a job because of a disagreement is freeing up a post so ...

          It might be a merry-go-round of misery but at least we get to throw in some invective to leaven the drudgery.

        2. Tom Paine

          Re: To the 2IC

          IDK about anywhere else in the country, but in London and the SE you've only got to whack your CV up onto two or three job sites and buff up your LI profile and your phone will start ringing off the hook if you have any sort of real skills and experience. You can't literally walk out of one job and into another, but that's only because the interviewing and onboarding process takes so long in most organisations. Obviously you'll be looking longer if you've particular requirements for your employer, salary, length of commute etc etc.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: To the 2IC

            "...and the SE you've only got to whack your CV up onto two or three job sites and buff up your LI profile and your phone will start ringing off the hook if you have any sort of real skills and experience."

            Yeah, but 80% of the calls will be based on a keyword search that picked up something you last did in the 1990s, plus the vacancy will be right at the other end of the country.

            Note to recruiters: As an IT Manager in West Sussex, I am not really interested in an electronic engineering position in Aberdeen.

            1. a_yank_lurker

              Re: To the 2IC

              Hey at least the UK is about the area of a largish US state. How about living in the Atlanta area and some wants to offer a temp position on the Left Coast (usually SF area). To get to a face-to-face interview is a ~5 hour plane flight each way.

              1. Roger Kynaston

                Re: To the 2IC in Atlanta

                I sympathise. I can imagine some recruitment droid in Toronto suggesting you just pop over from Vancouver but as I am now blighty based it is quite likely that a train journey from London to Brighton (approx 80km or 50 of your miles) could take in the region of five hours given the state of our railways south of the river at the moment.

              2. bdeluca

                Re: To the 2IC

                I just got asked if I could come in to talk about a position in atlanta, I live in sofia, bulgaria.

                1. Vic

                  Re: To the 2IC

                  I just got asked if I could come in to talk about a position in atlanta, I live in sofia, bulgaria.

                  I'm a code monkey on the South Coast of Britain. A few months back, I got offered a piecework electronics assembly job in Seattle. Who says recruitment agents don't earn their crust[1]?

                  Vic.

                  [1] Me. That's who.

            2. Alan Brown Silver badge

              Re: To the 2IC

              "As an IT Manager in West Sussex, I am not really interested in an electronic engineering position in Aberdeen."

              Unless the pay is _really_ good and shifting expenses are covered.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: To the 2IC

                The Aberdeen job was at around half current salary and there were no relocation expenses.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: To the 2IC

                I'm not sure how good the pay would have to be to persuade me to move to Aberdeen, but I think it would be way, way more than what was on offer...

            3. J.G.Harston Silver badge

              Re: To the 2IC

              And having Windows installation experience on my CV does not mean I'm interested in installing uPVC windows.

          2. JimC

            Re: To the 2IC

            I wish that were true...

            1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
              Mushroom

              Re: To the 2IC

              Is that the sound of a Simon Travaglia class cattleprod charging?

          3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: To the 2IC

            "Obviously you'll be looking longer if you've particular requirements for your employer,"

            such as, in this case, sanity.

            1. Unicornpiss
              Meh

              Re: To the 2IC

              The problem is, "the grass isn't always greener." You've no guarantee that management isn't just as insane, despite appearances, in any new job you take.

              1. J P
                Facepalm

                Re: To the 2IC

                ISTR hearing* of an individual who registered with several different agencies on learning his role was potentially up for grabs. Meanwhile, perused Sits Vac for an alternative option.

                Ultimately, found himself applying for what appeared (from advert) to be his dream role. His disappointment on discovering that it was actually the job he already held, but viewed through the rose tinted lenses of a recruitment droid, was tempered only by the discovery that meanwhile his boss had selected his own (anonymised and "edited" by the recruitment agency) CV for interview at 1.5 times his current salary to replace himself in his own job.

                *Possibly apocryphally

                1. Kiwi
                  Linux

                  Re: To the 2IC

                  ISTR hearing* of an individual who registered with several different agencies on learning his role was potentially up for grabs. Meanwhile, perused Sits Vac for an alternative option.

                  There was a BOFH episode that did this a few years back. I can't find it despite 20mins with Google and a few downloads of archives of episodes, but IIRC basically the bofh started looking for a new job as a way to get a pay rise, and the boss decided "2 can play at that game" and found someone "only slightly more expensive". Ends with the bofh taking a last look at the building he'd worked in for so long, before walking back into the lobby and saying he's the new sysadmin (or whatever the role was)

                  [Edit : see https://www.andrews.edu/~freeman/bofh/bofh12jun.html for a copy. The older archives El Reg links to are no longer working, site down. Episode title is "Looking for new challenges, or just more dosh, the BOFH risks it all in the agency shark pool" on a couple of versions I've found)]

                  (Hey, didn't we used to have a BOFH icon? We need one.)

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: To the 2IC

            Well I live and work in the heart of Silicon Valley, this fantasy of walking straight out of one job into another might work for 20 yr olds who are willing to work themselves to death but for anyone who actually wants to be paid for their real skills and experience it simply doesn't exist.

      2. oiseau
        Flame

        Re: To the 2IC

        Hello:

        "Harold should find another place to work."

        Quite so ...

        But as this obviously has a cost for Harold, in his resignation he should include (and in no uncertain terms) the reason why he is resigning, sending a copy to all other parties ie: the 1IC and all board members.

        Cheers.

        1. rototype

          Re: To the 2IC

          "sending a copy to all other parties ie: the 1IC and all board members."

          I did that one place I walked out of (made sure I had a job to walk into though) - it was politely swept under the carpet before anyone could say anything. Although apparently a few months later they had an impromptu IT audit instigated by one of the governors....

    2. Rich 11

      Re: To the 2IC

      My response would be to wire up his office door to the mains.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: To the 2IC

      Anyone care to explain what a 2!C is for me? Thanks.

      Oh, and the person who mentioned "interview and onboarding process", do you work in HR? :-p

      1. Mark 85

        Re: To the 2IC

        2IC = Second in charge or second in command.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          Re: To the 2IC

          2IC = Second in charge or second in command.

          Thanks!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To the 2IC

      A huge pain to change that could have been avoided by using the first two letters of everyone's first name and a unique four, five or six digit employee number. As Dept.'s/Businesses grow a three letter naming scheme based on names can run out of unique possibilities quickly.

      I'm not trying call out the submitter, but if there is any expectation of growth there are better naming schemes.

  2. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    That is not leadership, that is ego speaking.

    Why break a working system? For all you know it will induce funny things in AD and the entire environment, and may cause more grief than it's worth it.

  3. graeme leggett Silver badge

    management failings

    For some reason i'm reminded of the movie tag from Wargames. "Is it a game, or is it real"

    Anyone who thinks such a renaming is a worthy use of time shouldn't be let near an organization.

    1. Kiwi

      Re: management failings

      Anyone who thinks such a renaming is a worthy use of time shouldn't be let near an organization.

      Oh, I can think of several organisations they should be allowed to enter. Many contain the words "Mental Health".

      He'd do well at any government organisation come end of financial year, when they have a ton of money they haven't spent and need to dispose of into a worthless black hole.

    2. Skymonrie

      Re: management failings

      This comment stood out to me as being too true. Some people engineer awkward situations as a means of control

      I recently left a job as Head of Tech at a husband / wife owned shop where the wife overruled almost every decision I made because back in the 90s she was CTO at some bank and knew best. The typical week goes

      Monday

      Boss: We need this and this, what do we need and how long will it take to make happen?

      Me: 3 days to create, a couple for QA and then on Friday we can watch the rollout for stability

      Wife: That should only take about...a day TOPS

      Boss: Get it done or you're fired

      Me: I could get this part done by today but, we definitely shouldn't use it in production

      Tuesday

      Me: It's done but, there are some catches which could be dangerous. Don't use x and y until I say so

      Boss: Great, put it up

      Wife: *Uses the thing I told her not to*

      Boss: Why is it F'ing broken!?!?

      Wife: His stuff always breaks, utterly shit

      Me: I'll get it fixed, seems that x and y were used despite being told otherwise

      Wife: Hurry and get it fixed

      *Spend half the day fixing problem wife caused*

      Wednesday

      Me: OK, by the end of today, x will be done. Please DO NOT use x until I say so

      Wife: Excellent. *Uses x right before boss checks*

      Me: Are you kidding? *stays late to complete*

      Thursday

      Me: *Gets work done, sends email to both letting them know that it is done but, needs a day QA*

      Wife: It should be good enough

      Boss: I expected this to be done by Tuesday, why do i always have to F'ing do everything myself?

      Me: I stated (with business interests first) what we should have done and how to approach it. Things got complicated when rushing. To stop it happening in the future, I've put in this step we should all follow to make sure the whole process is clear

      Boss: This is my f***ing company and it makes profit because of the way I manage it. Do you think you could run this company better than me?

      Me: *Bites tongue*

      Friday

      *Without the necessary QA done, inevitably an error occurs*

      Wife: I thought you said it was done. You set such bad expectations and the results are s**t

      Me: Let me get this fixed first and then we'll talk. *Fix* It happened because x, wasn't' covered in the limited tests we had time to do after being rushed. Enjoy the weekend

  4. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    Of course Harold can also break protocol and bypass 2IC...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Of course Harold can also break protocol and bypass 2IC...

      He'd be out of a job. As a tech, he's a pleb to the academia and he should do as he's told as they know best.

      No, I'd get the steps written down, detail the risk very explicitly, add a good 15 minutes per user as contingency, including a statement that this change is so important that it overrides all his other tasks and that more time may be needed in case of conversion failure and get it signed off by that 2IC so that the tech has both his back covered and he has someone to point to when someone objects to the next step:

      Executing this. At 45mins per user I reckon you can slot in a couple of pub visits in the process and still remain on schedule, especially if you find a way to automate it. You can reject any other calls on your time as it's a priority, referring to The Right Honourable twat (RHT) who gave the order. Where possible, you should find a reason to down the AD for 5 minutes for every single change as well - quite simply maximise the pain, and divert your phone to the RHT because you have to focus on getting this done.

      I reckon the RHT won't even last a *day* - I'd make that a personal challenge.

      Beware of pissing off IT staff with a creative mind. I got a whole government to agree not to make us log its own traffic by some creative filtering. We didn't want the hassle and cost of storage so I took a look at the traffic proxy of the beta, picked out, er, "interesting" sites and took a printout of that sample with me to the next tech board meeting and had a quiet word with the government project manager beforehand whose face took on an interesting shade of red when he read the one sheet (and was told by me that there were "loads" of these in the logs). Naturally, I could not possibly know about a crime research exercise by one of the participants (*cough* fellow admins in the pub *cough*) and by his reaction, *he* certainly didn't, grin.

      Not entirely unexpected, that logging requirement was dropped in that same meeting "to ensure we met our challenging deadlines" :).

      1. Dr. Mouse

        I agree that he should get confirmation, in writing, that the 2IC is ordering this change and accepts that:

        * It will take X time per user account,

        * May break things (risk assess it),

        * Will not be able to be interrupted during the process, so all other jobs to be on hold,

        * He will accept responsibility for any down time or unintended consequences of this (pointless and stupid) change.

        Ensure that, in the confirmation, he makes clear his reluctance to do it and belief that the risks outweigh the "benefits".

        Then he should get on with the job. His arse is covered in case of problems, but if the boss tells you to do something, you either do it or look for work elsewhere.

        1. Antron Argaiv Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          I agree that he should get confirmation, in writing, that the 2IC is ordering this change and accepts that:

          Absolutely. 2IC wants this, 2IC needs to take ownership of the consequences, including costs and Harold's time.

          The clever BOFH makes sure that the consequences of Management actions fall where they should.

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            The clever BOFH makes sure that the consequences of Management actions fallfail where they should.

        2. Terry 6 Silver badge

          Also need to factor in time for informing current users of new user names and taking support calls for, if I've read this right, dealing with the calls and conflicts now that middle initials are not used and certain common combinations of initials are shared by multiple staff. And also for users who never type in their username then find that the one that magically appears in the username field has stopped working.

      2. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge
        Pint

        Simon? Is that you?

        Excellent advice, especially the idea of disabling/downing the AD environment for an extra 5 minutes.

        Here, have one :)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Excellent advice, especially the idea of disabling/downing the AD environment for an extra 5 minutes.

          Per user. Don't forget that. 5 minutes per user :)

          And thank you, that's now the third time someone complements me on my BOFH-alike approaches :).

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Yes spot on. The best answer to a daft idea handed down from above is a detailed implementation plan showing the numerous risks and high cost. The latter being calibrated to how daft the idea really is: if it's only a bit daft, maybe you'd happily do it in exchange for padding your budget a little.

        The management types may imagine they're in charge, but really the only people who can control whether something happens or not are the people who actually know how to do it.

      4. OzBob

        Not so fast

        First you have to get the RHT to actually write it down. I had a manager ask me to basically reorganise my team to favour one person (newest personal recruit, personal friend of the director). I told him it basically changed the job role of 3 people, and that I needed it in writing. At which point he would look at his watch, go "Oh dear, I need to be somewhere" and skip out. This was followed by all of my own improvement initiatives being blocked based on something-or-other. (Repeat for 6 months).

        My end game was to divvy up work based on the lowest common denominator (the newest recruit) and write prescriptive job taskings for everyone (I was being accused of bias against new recruit, so had to show I was treating everyone the same). Half the team left, they got in a new team lead after 6 months, then the other half of the team left (including me). The manager and director got booted at the next reorg due to high staff turnover.

        Lesson; management hold the reins on tasking and can make your life more uncomfortable that you can make theirs. They can also blame faults from their lack of support, on you, because they are in those circles and you don't. The only influence you can have is on metrics they are evaluated by that you don't control (staff turnover, morale etc).

        I am not friends with anyone on facebook from that job. Pity, I was there 11 years but the last 2 I would rather forget.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Not so fast

          I am not friends with anyone on facebook from that job. Pity, I was there 11 years but the last 2 I would rather forget.

          Hey, no worries. Neither am I, but that has more to do with the fact that I dropped Facebook a few years ago :).

  5. chivo243 Silver badge
    Trollface

    funny thing about these requests

    my feet get really, really heavy when one of these come across my desk.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: funny thing about these requests

      Oh no, I'd be eager to execute this as a priority once I had it in writing, it would be fun!

      After all, once you've explained the risk and are overridden by The Man/Woman In Charge But Without A Clue you can basically cause all the havoc you've explained in your comments - you gave the warning, after all. Invest a couple of days in causing as much havoc as you can explain away and the next time they may listen when you advise them it's not a good idea.

      :)

      1. Dr Dan Holdsworth

        Re: funny thing about these requests

        To be honest, this elementary BOFH behaviour. If a manager asks for something gibberingly stupid, then get everything documented then go about the task in a safe manner which will also cause the maximum pain, delay and annoyance to as many other users as possible, whilst being certain to use the name of the original fuckwit in the title of the plan.

        The BOFH himself thereafter does not need to trouble to inflict further punishment on the fuckwit; said idiot's colleagues will conspire to mete out punishment as much and as frequently as they are able.

        1. Anonymous Custard
          Headmaster

          Re: funny thing about these requests

          Yup, make sure you have a full trail of supporting evidence, and then go about the task methodically and with total focus. That way when all the stuff that is actually important comes along and has to be put aside as you're too busy with the jobsworth crap, you can lay the blame exactly where it should be and cover yourself as doing exactly what you were told to do.

          Either that or use the army method of just prevaricating and waiting for the countermanding order to arrive...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: funny thing about these requests

            Yes that army method is a good one in a lot of corporate situations. Just assure everyone that it's under control and you'll be right onto it just as soon as your other urgent tasks are completed; and repeat until the idea's either forgotten, or rendered irrelevant by the next re-org.

            1. rototype

              Re: funny thing about these requests

              Works especially well on morning "I can't log in" od "My PC isn't working" type calls, an hour later you wander over to see how they're doing and you find they'd either forgotten to switch something on (PC, Monitor etc) or switch something off (ie Caps Lock) or they've actually properly checked and re-plugged in the cables.

          2. This post has been deleted by its author

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