I can't stress enough, the need for simplicity. Every day I run into systems and processes that are overly complex and under thought. This is a challenge to overcome for clients and businesses alike.
Anytime you consider a new system, technique, or process, think about the ramifications of that implementation. Additional software doesn't necessarily fix anything nor does it always make a job simpler or faster. The same can be said for meetings and business processes. Root causes of slowdowns in production and efficiency in the workplace are often the result of the people employed there and the systems/processes that they are forced to use.
For example; during an engagement at Enron (a whole other story!) I encountered an environment that was laden with overly complex processes. Our purpose was to stage and implement a data center relocation to a new facility in accordance with the Bankruptcy settlement.
The equipment consisted of about 500 computer systems, both Solaris and Windows based, 200 of which were to be decommissioned in the process. During previous relocations for other companies my co-worker and I (with a few other techs) had moved 300+ systems in a single weekend shift, so the job didn't seem to be too daunting. We met with the Enron project managers and encountered immediate resistance to every suggestion. It deteriorated into a five month meeting-fest.
Daily meetings during the first week were to plan the processes for the next week's daily meetings and so on. The flowcharts were prodigious and complex and we were told by the local systems engineers that it was physically impossible to move more than 30 systems in a night. They used three project managers and an admin assistant for each weekly stage. A PM was on the data center floor, one in the NOC, and one as a go between. The admin assistant's job was to check off completed servers on a wall chart with a marker. It took about 12 hours each Friday to move no more than 15 systems at a time. The project started in October and ended in March.
Given a one month prep and two weekends the same job could have been accomplished by the 5 person team I normally worked with and a few local Enron admins. In the end they paid nearly $250,000 in labor to the company I worked for at the time, and an amount I can't even estimate for room, board, and airlines. Why? Because of unnecessary meetings, processes, flowcharts and the word impossible. I still wonder why they hired us in the first place.
On the subject of systems; one of my newer clients had run into complexity issues with their servers and workstations. Their previous technical resource was a believer in software's ability to "fix" things. If there was any issue with a system he installed some software to fix the problem. Spyware scanners, registry cleaners, system tweakers, and so on. Soon the systems were struggling to run the software that was trying to save them.
I won't dispute that some of these things are handy tools and I use them when they are called for, but they do not fix the problem. They treat a symptom caused by the employees of the company that are surfing where they probably shouldn't be. Most of the "bugs" that I encounter are installed by the users inadvertently. They see a box pop up that asks a seemingly innocuous question and they click YES. They subscribe to e-mail newsletters of dubious origin in the quest for free stuff and dates. These are understandable behaviors that need to be modified.
The simple answer is user empowerment. Install non-resident software on the systems that will clean up the mess but not run in the background eating up valuable resources. Show them how to use it and tell them to run it once a week (they usually won't though). Check the systems on the next visit and run them yourself. Patiently explain to them how this software infects the system and show them the difference in performance on their newly cleaned machine and a dirty one. Explain the nature of "free internet stuff"; the comparison that I like to use is "Don't take candy from strangers". It's silly and gets a laugh, but it's a lesson that we all learned in our youth that applies.
The servers were overwhelmed with various contact managers installed for different users. Databases were scattered among the disks along with externally accessible web pages. Many of the programs were no longer used and there was no logic to the storage of data. Back ups for their 70GB of data was taking two tapes and drives, and ran into business hours every morning. The network was a mess.
To simplify it we reconfigured the drives in the servers and moved all the data into a single shared folder on one system. Permissions on the files were set up to define user access. Databases were transferred to a dedicated server and Exchange to another. Backups were reconfigured by archiving unchanging data and an incremental system was devised with full backups on weekends. A list of approved software was created and the management forced users to abandon software that was no longer supported.
We approached this job like all the others; schedule recurring site visits, show up, check the systems, ask the employees questions, use minimum resources to get the job done. Simple.
In my experience complexity is not an answer.
Pete
