GiantEmus

Are there known issues?

Absolutely nothing worse in the middle of a big incident when people would rather argue or ask questions instead of just letting you try and fix it. I don't mind when people are harmless and just want to give more information they think might help, it's the ones who are relentless and just won't go away.

His higher up is his friend and they are joined at the hip. I would need to check the person higher up again but I'd bet it's somebody miles away who I've never even seen 🙄

What makes it harder is that he is also an issue. It would have to go to his boss.. I've never met or spoken to him!

I get that and when I do get to work with the end users directly they do like me and realise I get stuff done. A lot of things are gate kept as well, which makes it a lot harder. The example about a VIP asking for things to be installed on a few work stations. It's hard to even communicate them when your bosses boss decides he wants to login to intune and start doing things to look good. The issue is that when people have worked there for many years and shout very loudly, it's hard sometimes to give a better view of myself to people I don't get to interact with directly. By nature, I'm not going to fill a room with noise or shout and scream at mistakes.

Yep, exactly the same. Anybody I have spoken to (none work in IT, one was a therapist) said it all comes from a place of insecurity and wanting to be seen. It is the same type of person who will go on and on about how busy they are all day but have 15 calls about something that would in the real world, take 15 minutes, but they have spent 3 or 4 hours telling everybody about it, umming and ahhing. Nothing ever really seems to get done but you hear 20 times a day about decisions they are going to make or things that will be "signed off". Then it will be 10 more meetings about it, another week or so and lots of hearing about stuff. It is very much about chest puffing and authority when in reality, nobody in our dept cares and just wants to get on with their jobs.

Totally agree, thanks very much!

Of course, I am looking at the same time too :)

I have emailed them asking about policies and the possibility of a chat, but I haven't received a reply. I'm not going to work to be a snitch or try and get people sacked, I would be making it clear I want to go to work to do my job and be treated like a normal person. I don't think anybody should be subject to that behaviour towards them. (especially for no reason)

My direct manager was the one who did it; his boss has complete visibility of it, but seemingly does nothing. It hasn't just been towards me in different instances either, I have seen it being done to colleagues (both at my level and below) and towards people in other departments.

Work is currently spread across about three systems at the moment. None have any sort of change functionality, so it does come down to me having to chase people via Teams, in a meeting, or Email. Obviously, I prefer everything to be in writing. I'm not in a position to fix the process, unfortunately, I can make recommendations or look into ways to make the process better and a better audit log but again whenever I do suggest improvements that would need multiple people to use, it gets ignored or completely shot down. (Not in a constructive way either). I have done plenty of automations / streamlining that I use myself though.

Oh I think it is already happening... It would be silly not to assume this.

See you at the water cooler in the morning! :)

The issue is that the 2 decision makers who I have to get approval are joined at the hip. Both been there for years and don't seem to be able to do anything without the other. One of them got a promotion so it meant another went up the chain. Don't get me wrong, technically one of them is absolutely full of knowledge and knows everything about all of the systems. The issue is that if somebody doesn't know about a system that was designed 10 years ago and asks for help, it's really hard to get it....

In those 20 years it has been 4 jobs and the other 3 I never really encountered it. All different types of businesses though and 2 of them were MSPS so a different kettle of fish.

I keep screenshots of the discussions about the tickets, I do also put things into the actual tickets too. So the change control...Send a message on Teams / Slack or email and just get approval that way. Which is why I keep screenshots as well so I can have a copy of the "No this isn't happening" type replies.

Actually, yes, we were taken over by a bigger company last year. Funnily enough, only the people above me are allowed to interact with people from the bigger, new parent company, so they are the faces. I agree about looking for new work!

I am pretty much doing this at the minute by trying to be transparent and just saying I am awaiting approval for it. The issue is that when their managers complain, I get thrown under the bus by the people above me. I have screenshots/emails and logs of me asking for approval and either being ignored or told I can't do it. However, when other managers get involved, they do their best to make me (and others) look bad at our jobs because it hasn't been done. I know the easiest way to a peaceful life is just ignore people's requests for help and just stay quiet but it's not in my nature when I can fix something easily.

I love to get things done for people and find solutions, it's literally my job. I have some people ask me for things simply because other people refuse to take ownership. This is usually the pattern when I raise it to those above me. "Person A has asked for X and Y to be done on this? I know it's a bit outside of my main job but I have expertise in it and it will take me 5 minutes. Can I get it done?" "This isn't your job, send them to a different team" Person A goes to another team, they are told it isn't their job either, so they come back where I am forced to tell them I can't help. Person A goes to their manager who kicks up a fuss. After 3 or 4 days of politics I am told "Just get it done" because there's nobody else in the company who knows about it or willing to do it. So the end result is the same and I end up doing it, it's just that Person A has to wait, their manager needs to get involved and kick up a fuss. So now, Person A just asks me for stuff and I just get it done. Person A and Person A's manager know I get it done and I know what I'm talking about on that subject and they are super thankful.

That is exactly what it is, however it's a Stop Energy until somebody kicks up a fuss about things not being done and then they ensure they are seen getting it done for them...

It is a bit of this. I have noticed that if it is a request from somebody of importance, then the Director suddenly tries to log in to Intune to push out software to end users merely because a VIP requested it, and he can say "I have done this". It comes across as the people above trying hard to ensure they are relevant and seen.

The most recent request I titled what it was about, the fix, the user who was asking, and just saying "Can I work with the user to fix this simple issue so he can do this work?" One of the people above decided they wouldn't read this properly and just assumed that because the same user had opened another issue that it was about this (Even though I clearly stated the issue, the proposed fix) that I was referring to this and my proposed fix was wrong. (as his other issue was something completely different). So they were very active in telling me that what I was thinking was wrong, however when I said "No, it is the issue I stated originally and this is the fix. Can I have authorisation for this?" the tumbleweed appears. In my most recent request, I clearly titled the message with what the issue was, what the fix would be, who the user was, and simply asked for authorisation. Someone above me didn’t read it properly and assumed I was referring to a different issue that the same user had raised earlier—*even though I clearly explained the actual issue and the proposed fix*. Because of that, they were quick to tell me I was wrong and that my solution didn’t make sense—when in reality, they were thinking about the wrong problem. When I clarified, saying: “No, I’m referring to the issue I originally stated. This is the fix. Can I have authorisation to proceed?” —suddenly... silence. It is just like they cannot wait to jump in and make others look bad, take all of the public credit for things but when they are needed to actually manage their staff they aren't interested.

No it's been a couple of years now.

Oh I'm keeping receipts for everything that goes on. I was quite restrained and didn't post the one of somebody quite clearly telling me something isn't happening while they then publicly take a bad tone with me and come to the rescue, simply because the end user asked in a public channel.

In a past job, one of the directors had a thing for the "larger lady". His laptop was often full of malware and spyware, I assume he was looking for them "in his area" and clicking links.