Why didn't this deployment go out yesterday?

Posted by Steve_78_OH@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 47 comments

I was pinged around 11:30 am yesterday by someone asking if I could setup an app deployment for that day to \~50 devices. I said sure, just get me the info (computer names, timeframe). They said sure. Radio silence for over 2 hours. "I'm just finishing up the list, I should have it over to you any minute now." Around 4pm I get on another call with a co-worker talking about some weirdness with my Azure portal login. We're on the phone until nearly 5pm, and by this time I completely forgot about the deployment, because I never saw anything come over. So I log off for the day. I'm on PTO today, and I get pinged about that deployment from my manager, on behalf of the guy who requested the deployment. Apparently they sent me the info after 4:30pm, and my bosses response after I told him that was "4:30 is still within core hours".  /sigh

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47 Comments

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SteveSCCM@reddit

It's unreasonable to think that you can package the software and create a direct rule collection and deploy it before core hours ends, assuming core hours end at 5:00. Even more so when the initial request was made at 11:30.

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

To be fair, the package is already created. And creating the collection and setting up the deployment is a pretty quick process (Right-Click Tools FTW). But still, they took most of the day to get the list together, sent it to me literally at 4:26pm right before I go on PTO, and now I'm getting shit because I didn't jump all over it. AND they never even created a request for it. Yet I'm the bad guy here.

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IdiosyncraticBond@reddit

No ticket, no work. Force them to have a trail you can follow

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awsnap99@reddit

Force them to plan and not assume IT is just sitting around, ready to jump on their crap.

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RecordLongjumping504@reddit

No ticket no work is a mantra I live by. Unless your name is on the VIP-no-ticket-required list, no ticket, no work.

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f02f2e6fa0b3@reddit

Also ticket categories have SLAs, and 36 minute resolution times are for "the entire business is down" class tickets, not something where the requester not only didn't bother opening a ticket for at all, but delayed getting you the required information for 5 hours when asked.

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jrdnr_@reddit

all about clear communication, it sounds like you verbally accepted the work w/o a ticket, and possibly w/o setting deployment expectations. Should you be getting beat up over it.. probably not, your side of the story doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Your initial communication probably should have been something along the lines of, "Sure I should be able to get that done in the next couple hours, what is the ticket number with the info (computer names, timeframe)?" "Uh.. I don't have that info yet" "Oh no problem, when you get the info together put in a ticket and ping me the number, so I know it's there. Depending on what else comes in between now and then I should be able to get to it in an hour or two."

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phillyfyre@reddit

No ticket , no work , f them for making their emergency yours

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bmyst70@reddit

"Your poor planning does not constitute an emergency on my part."

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Technical-Message615@reddit

If you have any kind of good rapport with your boss, this right here is the reply you need to give them, maybe slightly tweaked for language/tone.

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WoodPunk_Studios@reddit

You are in the right, and you can tell them that you refuse to do work like that in a hurry at the end of the day. That's how outages get kicked off, right as the developer that pushed it goes on PTO somewhere with no cell signal.

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cosmos7@reddit

> AND they never even created a request for it. Yet I'm the bad guy here. You didn't force them to create a ticket. You just accepted it, as-is.

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Competitive-Berrygf@reddit

This is why there should be a ticket, heck there should be a change management process

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Technical-Message615@reddit

Damn, If you can afford SCCM, you can afford a change management process

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Wide-Requiremen218@reddit

If they’re going to have you in meetings and other projects without giving you the documentation you need first, then they’re SOL.

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bitslammer@reddit

Your boss is an ass and should have had your back on that one. Unless it's an emergency you don't give someone a long task 30min before the end of the day.

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

To be fair, it's a really quick task. In fact, I set it up today in about 5 minutes (not that probably anyone else on my team knows how fast it is, or knows how to set these up, because nobody else logs into SCCM in our environment). It's just that it came over literally at 4:26pm yesterday via a Teams message, while I was on a call, and I missed it. If it had come over earlier, I would have been MUCH less likely to miss it, and it would have been setup and everything would have been fine. It sucks, but that's the risk you take when you send something over at the end of the day.

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grepzilla@reddit

Your still defending your boss. He should have your back. You were working in another situation until after core hours. If it was important for the requester they owe you a timely response. As long as you defend and tolerate people disrespecting you and your time you will always have these situations. What you could have done differently is given a "Yes but I need the information by time X or it won't get don't." Set boundaries for them and you. Good fences make good neighbors.

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

No, I'm not defending him at all. He had no part of any of that. He only even knew the deployment hadn't been done because he was asked about it. He has no part in the process at all, other than when something doesn't go right he hears about it. The requestor didn't give me the deployment info early enough, and my boss didn't defend me when I told him why the deployment wasn't set up. I was just saying that if I HAD noticed that the info came over at 4:26, that I could have had the deployment setup in 5 minutes. But the fact that I didn't, considering the time it got to me, is just what happens when info gets to the necessary party late.

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Pctechguy2003@reddit

*at the end of their last day before PTO.

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ubernerd44@reddit

> To be fair, it's a really quick task. In IT there is no such thing as a "quick task".

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israelrbb@reddit

Just tell everyone you missed the IM, do you know how many people IM me a day.

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Any_Royal_414@reddit

I would say it’s still not on you. You’re being so super nice and accommodating. I appreciate your justification that it was quick and you could have handled it before COB the day before PTO. However, it wasn’t on your radar prior - even your willingness to accommodate last minute shows your dedication. Regardless of how quick it easy, your manager should have had your back and tbh it sounds a bit toxic from a workplace perspective. IMO you deserve better.

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Patient_Bench6@reddit

Yep, OP is being entirely too accommodating. It’s why they are able to ride him for it. They need to RESPECT your dedication and your ability to make most deployments an easy button most of the time. Last minute deployments especially before PTO is how mistakes are made. Do they even have someone cross trained to back you up? I’m expecting the answer to be no and if it’s yes I wouldn’t e surprised if your the one who took the initiative to make that happen.

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Perkunas170@reddit

Do you operate a drive-thru IT window?

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JerRatt1980@reddit

It is within core hours, and you were on a work call during that last 30 minutes of those core hours. So, hire more people, boss, if you need every single ticket worked in the moment it is ready during those core hours regardless of what's already in progress.

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False_Owl_9818@reddit

This is why you have a documented SLA. Fuckers have to learn to be patient.

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phillymjs@reddit

This. Rushed deployments increase the chances of [the unthinkable happening.](https://www.neowin.net/news/whoops-emory-university-server-sent-reformat-request-to-all-of-its-windows-7-pcs/)

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AdAffectionate3143@reddit

If it was such a critical need why did they wait until the day before? People get sick and delys can occur. Time to throw out my fav saying "Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my behalf."

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Samphis@reddit

Software deployments in our org have to go through change management because of the sheer number of these "requests" I used to get. I would just get phone calls asking me to "deploy X Software to Y department by tomorrow!" There would be no mention of license info, no link to the exact product they wanted, no documentation (and it seems most Enterprise software seems to require an account to even view the documentation or get to the installer download pages these days). Never mind needing the Org ID or some other token ID to add to the installer path that wasn't provided...

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ARobertNotABob@reddit

Another example of "Improper planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine". Your boss is also a knob.

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7ep3s@reddit

I'm very particular with new sccm deployments and push back on "can you do this by tomorrow" type of requests like this so I can have decent time frame to test and stage my deployments. I am in meetings almost every day 14:00-17:00 and absolutely refuse to do any complicated stuff during that time unless I get enough downtime between the meetings or else I just leave it till next morning. Also your manager should do a bit better at having your back, that core hours bs is a bad first impression for me.

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ohioleprechaun@reddit

I've learned this lesson before; you never create a deployment at 5 minutes to leaving for the day. Especially when you are going to be off tomorrow. They should have had someone else create the deployment. And, you know, sent it at a reasonable time.

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

In most situations, I would agree. This however is a pretty standard deployment used across our entire hospital system, it was just being deployed to some new devices. I setup several of these deployments a week, with the only difference being the devices targeted.

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ANewLeeSinLife@reddit

You're going on PTO and no one else can add computers to an existing collection?

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recon89@reddit

Your twin would still need to be at work

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

Not really? This deployment is something they can manually run, so worst case, it just doesn't do anything. Then they just run through the steps on each PC.

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StaffOfDoom@reddit

Nope, 4:30 is exactly 2 hours past the deadline. If they’re going to have you in meetings and other projects without giving you the documentation you need first, then they’re SOL.

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Astat1ne@reddit

What this person did to OP sounds very similar to a tactic I've seen used by people - tossing a request to another team (even if it's totally the wrong team) around 4PM on a Friday. That way they can tell their manager the next week "Oh that thing, it's with team X".

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DamiosAzaros@reddit

Or the call that comes in 1 minute before phones switch over to after hours... they know what they're doing...

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pockypimp@reddit

This is why there should be a ticket, heck there should be a change management process since there's an app deployment which means a change in SCCM in your case. It's all CYA and proper testing at the end of the day.

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Steve_78_OH@reddit (OP)

Yeah, we're allowed to do deployments of 50 devices or less without a change. HOWEVER, I have a standard change template I still use for any deployments, even those of 50 devices or less, because of CYA.

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Aeonoris@reddit

A) They need to have made a ticket, so that someone other than you can handle if it you're unavailable B) Your manager should not be pinging you on your PTO day. That's unacceptable for anything other than an outage-level emergency. C) lmao 4:30 PM requests

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vppencilsharpening@reddit

If OP is salary and did some work to respond to their manager, that may qualify as working enough to get the PTO time back. If OP is hourly and did some work to respond to their manger, they should be paid for that time. Sounds like OP might need to ask HR how to properly record this situation related to payroll.

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