Time to gut the network - thoughts?
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're expecting people to take your advice without being questioned. The advice you are giving is to question people who give you advice.
Sure, but question it, don't twist it. I gave advice that only requires logic to know why it makes sense. It's clear that there can be no financial motivation behind it as I lose money or come out even on it as a consultant. And I don't advertise the advice. I'm not saying not to question it, but it's not being questioned, is it? Just twisted?
What part of what I said do you question? That advertising can make people emotionally susceptible to suggestion? That advisor will leverage that for personal gain? That we should be aware of these facts and prepare ourselves to look for this common scenario?
Which part are you questioning specifically?
Again, you've changed the argument so many times that we're somewhere different from where we were originally.
The original comment was "The people who are hiring the consultants don't know what they need...HOw do you question someone on recommending one brand if you don't know anything about it."
You still haven't answered that. You've just said "question them"
How?
What do you mean? Ask questions. Ask why the recommended it when it's popular. Ask what else they considered and why the big brand name won out. Ask if there is any financial connection to the company. Ask if there are skills tied to the brand name and not to other products. Ask if there is any reselling going on or kickbacks.
Question.
So you expect them to not be upfront and try to trick you from using marketing, but then expect them to tell the truth when you ask those questions? Those questions aren't going to help at all. If the person isn't up front from the beginning, they won't be up front when answering those questions. So, now where do you turn?
Yes, because you change from a grey area into a black and white one. You make them legally and morally obligated, you remove any social contract of sales, marketing or other. Nothing allows them to lie, ethically or legally. It also removes you having missed or them not disclosing a financial connection. You say that it won't help because if they are not up front... but you've totally changed the scenario. Not being "up front" is not disclosing voluntarily a connection. That's totally different than flat out lying. Absolutely different.
Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it a really, really big deal, yes.
I'm giving advice on how to improve things. There is no answer on how to be perfect. But we don't skip doing a good job just because we can't do a perfect one.
So the "consultant" says, "Oh we love Cisco. We use it for everything. No ties to them, we just love the product and does more than what we need, and it's easy to get help for it."
So now you either have to get a "second opinion" or try to do research on your own, which will most likely lead to the same results.
The obvious thing, if you really wanted to push the point, is to ask for a non-Cisco consultant or VAR to give you an alternative and ask why the Cisco solution is bad. Then compare notes. Maybe question the original vendor again. But I'm not suggesting that anyone need go that far, if the logic behind why Cisco was selected is reasonable, that is easily enough.
This isn't about finding every bad case or bad advice or bad motivation, it's about improving the process so that we find it more often than if we didn't.
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're expecting people to take your advice without being questioned. The advice you are giving is to question people who give you advice.
Sure, but question it, don't twist it. I gave advice that only requires logic to know why it makes sense. It's clear that there can be no financial motivation behind it as I lose money or come out even on it as a consultant. And I don't advertise the advice. I'm not saying not to question it, but it's not being questioned, is it? Just twisted?
What part of what I said do you question? That advertising can make people emotionally susceptible to suggestion? That advisor will leverage that for personal gain? That we should be aware of these facts and prepare ourselves to look for this common scenario?
Which part are you questioning specifically?
Again, you've changed the argument so many times that we're somewhere different from where we were originally.
The original comment was "The people who are hiring the consultants don't know what they need...HOw do you question someone on recommending one brand if you don't know anything about it."
You still haven't answered that. You've just said "question them"
How?
What do you mean? Ask questions. Ask why the recommended it when it's popular. Ask what else they considered and why the big brand name won out. Ask if there is any financial connection to the company. Ask if there are skills tied to the brand name and not to other products. Ask if there is any reselling going on or kickbacks.
Question.
So you expect them to not be upfront and try to trick you from using marketing, but then expect them to tell the truth when you ask those questions? Those questions aren't going to help at all. If the person isn't up front from the beginning, they won't be up front when answering those questions. So, now where do you turn?
Yes, because you change from a grey area into a black and white one. You make them legally and morally obligated, you remove any social contract of sales, marketing or other. Nothing allows them to lie, ethically or legally. It also removes you having missed or them not disclosing a financial connection. You say that it won't help because if they are not up front... but you've totally changed the scenario. Not being "up front" is not disclosing voluntarily a connection. That's totally different than flat out lying. Absolutely different.
Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it a really, really big deal, yes.
I'm giving advice on how to improve things. There is no answer on how to be perfect. But we don't skip doing a good job just because we can't do a perfect one.
So the "consultant" says, "Oh we love Cisco. We use it for everything. No ties to them, we just love the product and does more than what we need, and it's easy to get help for it."
So now you either have to get a "second opinion" or try to do research on your own, which will most likely lead to the same results.
The obvious thing, if you really wanted to push the point, is to ask for a non-Cisco consultant or VAR to give you an alternative and ask why the Cisco solution is bad. Then compare notes. Maybe question the original vendor again. But I'm not suggesting that anyone need go that far, if the logic behind why Cisco was selected is reasonable, that is easily enough.
This isn't about finding every bad case or bad advice or bad motivation, it's about improving the process so that we find it more often than if we didn't.
I didn't ask that you ask them for advice, that would be silly. You are asking them for the sales pitch.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
It does. If the company uses marketing, you should be wary. So if they don't market, you don't need to be wary.
Yes exactly, you should be wary. Wary of advise is totally different than a company being bad. UNrelated. 100%
And I NEVER suggested that you stop being wary when they don't advertise.
Sure you never said it... but normals will hear an implied inverse, wither you mean it to be there or not. If you don't want them to have that inverse thinking, you need to explicitly say that.
Oh sure, but that is something that they make up themselves and didn't get from me. That's not my concern. If they don't want to screw themselves for their own purposes, they should read what is written instead of making things up. Intentionally altering my advice to something rather different is in no way my concern.
it is your concern, because the took the advice from you - you need to be more explicit your statements is what I'm saying.
either that or you're lumping @stacksofplates and I with the normals
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
It does. If the company uses marketing, you should be wary. So if they don't market, you don't need to be wary.
Yes exactly, you should be wary. Wary of advise is totally different than a company being bad. UNrelated. 100%
And I NEVER suggested that you stop being wary when they don't advertise.
Sure you never said it... but normals will hear an implied inverse, wither you mean it to be there or not. If you don't want them to have that inverse thinking, you need to explicitly say that.
Oh sure, but that is something that they make up themselves and didn't get from me. That's not my concern. If they don't want to screw themselves for their own purposes, they should read what is written instead of making things up. Intentionally altering my advice to something rather different is in no way my concern.
it is your concern, because the took the advice from you
NO they did not. I said nothing of the sort. You said that they made it up. Which means that they got it from themselves, not from me in any way.
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
either that or you're lumping @stacksofplates and I with the normals
In the case where you are saying that I said things that I did not say, if that lumps with normals, then that would be true. But that's like saying that I lump you with them because you put your pants on one leg at a time like them, too.
Just because normal people do something doesn't make it bad. But doing things because normal people do them, makes for a bad decision making process.
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Let's state this another way....
When crossing the road, be extra cautious when crossing against a green light as traffic is less likely to be looking for you, stopped or aware of you in the crossing.
This never implies...
When the light is red, cross the street without looking.
But you are saying that if I gave the first set of advice that normal people would hear it as the second.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
the problem I have with this whole line is that you're paying someone because you trust their advice..
Are you? How many companies do you know trust the advice of their consultants? I know very few.
And of the few that do, often they are getting screwed when they trust blindly without ever asking critical questions. Many don't even have real consultants and are ignoring that fact.
See.. here you go changing the baseline again - before it was - question if you have seen an ad... and now it's - you're getting screwed if you trust blindly without ever asking a critical question...
You can't have it both ways.
You're giving general advice here, Scott. The advice should not be - be critical if you get suggested somethign you've seen an ad for.
instead your advice should be - be critical, 100% of the time... ask them why that choice was made. Period.. this to me seems like the real advice you are tying to make.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're expecting people to take your advice without being questioned. The advice you are giving is to question people who give you advice.
Sure, but question it, don't twist it. I gave advice that only requires logic to know why it makes sense. It's clear that there can be no financial motivation behind it as I lose money or come out even on it as a consultant. And I don't advertise the advice. I'm not saying not to question it, but it's not being questioned, is it? Just twisted?
What part of what I said do you question? That advertising can make people emotionally susceptible to suggestion? That advisor will leverage that for personal gain? That we should be aware of these facts and prepare ourselves to look for this common scenario?
Which part are you questioning specifically?
Again, you've changed the argument so many times that we're somewhere different from where we were originally.
The original comment was "The people who are hiring the consultants don't know what they need...HOw do you question someone on recommending one brand if you don't know anything about it."
You still haven't answered that. You've just said "question them"
How?
What do you mean? Ask questions. Ask why the recommended it when it's popular. Ask what else they considered and why the big brand name won out. Ask if there is any financial connection to the company. Ask if there are skills tied to the brand name and not to other products. Ask if there is any reselling going on or kickbacks.
Question.
So you expect them to not be upfront and try to trick you from using marketing, but then expect them to tell the truth when you ask those questions? Those questions aren't going to help at all. If the person isn't up front from the beginning, they won't be up front when answering those questions. So, now where do you turn?
Yes, because you change from a grey area into a black and white one. You make them legally and morally obligated, you remove any social contract of sales, marketing or other. Nothing allows them to lie, ethically or legally. It also removes you having missed or them not disclosing a financial connection. You say that it won't help because if they are not up front... but you've totally changed the scenario. Not being "up front" is not disclosing voluntarily a connection. That's totally different than flat out lying. Absolutely different.
Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it a really, really big deal, yes.
I'm giving advice on how to improve things. There is no answer on how to be perfect. But we don't skip doing a good job just because we can't do a perfect one.
So the "consultant" says, "Oh we love Cisco. We use it for everything. No ties to them, we just love the product and does more than what we need, and it's easy to get help for it."
So now you either have to get a "second opinion" or try to do research on your own, which will most likely lead to the same results.
The obvious thing, if you really wanted to push the point, is to ask for a non-Cisco consultant or VAR to give you an alternative and ask why the Cisco solution is bad. Then compare notes. Maybe question the original vendor again. But I'm not suggesting that anyone need go that far, if the logic behind why Cisco was selected is reasonable, that is easily enough.
This isn't about finding every bad case or bad advice or bad motivation, it's about improving the process so that we find it more often than if we didn't.
I didn't ask that you ask them for advice, that would be silly. You are asking them for the sales pitch.
Ah yes, so you're asking them for the exact thing you're supposed to be wary of.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're expecting people to take your advice without being questioned. The advice you are giving is to question people who give you advice.
Sure, but question it, don't twist it. I gave advice that only requires logic to know why it makes sense. It's clear that there can be no financial motivation behind it as I lose money or come out even on it as a consultant. And I don't advertise the advice. I'm not saying not to question it, but it's not being questioned, is it? Just twisted?
What part of what I said do you question? That advertising can make people emotionally susceptible to suggestion? That advisor will leverage that for personal gain? That we should be aware of these facts and prepare ourselves to look for this common scenario?
Which part are you questioning specifically?
Again, you've changed the argument so many times that we're somewhere different from where we were originally.
The original comment was "The people who are hiring the consultants don't know what they need...HOw do you question someone on recommending one brand if you don't know anything about it."
You still haven't answered that. You've just said "question them"
How?
What do you mean? Ask questions. Ask why the recommended it when it's popular. Ask what else they considered and why the big brand name won out. Ask if there is any financial connection to the company. Ask if there are skills tied to the brand name and not to other products. Ask if there is any reselling going on or kickbacks.
Question.
So you expect them to not be upfront and try to trick you from using marketing, but then expect them to tell the truth when you ask those questions? Those questions aren't going to help at all. If the person isn't up front from the beginning, they won't be up front when answering those questions. So, now where do you turn?
Yes, because you change from a grey area into a black and white one. You make them legally and morally obligated, you remove any social contract of sales, marketing or other. Nothing allows them to lie, ethically or legally. It also removes you having missed or them not disclosing a financial connection. You say that it won't help because if they are not up front... but you've totally changed the scenario. Not being "up front" is not disclosing voluntarily a connection. That's totally different than flat out lying. Absolutely different.
Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it a really, really big deal, yes.
I'm giving advice on how to improve things. There is no answer on how to be perfect. But we don't skip doing a good job just because we can't do a perfect one.
So the "consultant" says, "Oh we love Cisco. We use it for everything. No ties to them, we just love the product and does more than what we need, and it's easy to get help for it."
So now you either have to get a "second opinion" or try to do research on your own, which will most likely lead to the same results.
The obvious thing, if you really wanted to push the point, is to ask for a non-Cisco consultant or VAR to give you an alternative and ask why the Cisco solution is bad. Then compare notes. Maybe question the original vendor again. But I'm not suggesting that anyone need go that far, if the logic behind why Cisco was selected is reasonable, that is easily enough.
This isn't about finding every bad case or bad advice or bad motivation, it's about improving the process so that we find it more often than if we didn't.
I didn't ask that you ask them for advice, that would be silly. You are asking them for the sales pitch.
Ah yes, so you're asking them for the exact thing you're supposed to be wary of.
Yes, and you should absolutely be wary of it. Remember this is for specifically getting the specifically opposing marketing, not advice, so that you know the strong "case" against the solution you are trying to question.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
Sure, but those people would have no exposure to these forums, etc to know that SANs are more often than not, a bad idea. How would they ever know that unless there were dozens of TV shows talking about just that.
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
See.. here you go changing the baseline again - before it was - question if you have seen an ad... and now it's - you're getting screwed if you trust blindly without ever asking a critical question...
You can't have it both ways.
Why not? I see no conflict. Not even kinda.
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
Sure, but those people would have no exposure to these forums, etc to know that SANs are more often than not, a bad idea. How would they ever know that unless there were dozens of TV shows talking about just that.
Ah that's marketing, so if you do see that, you shouldn't pay attention to it.
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
Sure, but those people would have no exposure to these forums, etc to know that SANs are more often than not, a bad idea. How would they ever know that unless there were dozens of TV shows talking about just that.
Because there are.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
Sure, but those people would have no exposure to these forums, etc to know that SANs are more often than not, a bad idea. How would they ever know that unless there were dozens of TV shows talking about just that.
Because there are.
What TV shows? Name one that has talked about not using a SAN.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Let's state this another way....
When crossing the road, be extra cautious when crossing against a green light as traffic is less likely to be looking for you, stopped or aware of you in the crossing.
This never implies...
When the light is red, cross the street without looking.
But you are saying that if I gave the first set of advice that normal people would hear it as the second.
You're right, because you're taught that you always look both ways when crossing a road regardless of ANY other circumstance.
We humans aren't taught to distrust advertisements, so this logic wouldn't apply.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're expecting people to take your advice without being questioned. The advice you are giving is to question people who give you advice.
Sure, but question it, don't twist it. I gave advice that only requires logic to know why it makes sense. It's clear that there can be no financial motivation behind it as I lose money or come out even on it as a consultant. And I don't advertise the advice. I'm not saying not to question it, but it's not being questioned, is it? Just twisted?
What part of what I said do you question? That advertising can make people emotionally susceptible to suggestion? That advisor will leverage that for personal gain? That we should be aware of these facts and prepare ourselves to look for this common scenario?
Which part are you questioning specifically?
Again, you've changed the argument so many times that we're somewhere different from where we were originally.
The original comment was "The people who are hiring the consultants don't know what they need...HOw do you question someone on recommending one brand if you don't know anything about it."
You still haven't answered that. You've just said "question them"
How?
What do you mean? Ask questions. Ask why the recommended it when it's popular. Ask what else they considered and why the big brand name won out. Ask if there is any financial connection to the company. Ask if there are skills tied to the brand name and not to other products. Ask if there is any reselling going on or kickbacks.
Question.
So you expect them to not be upfront and try to trick you from using marketing, but then expect them to tell the truth when you ask those questions? Those questions aren't going to help at all. If the person isn't up front from the beginning, they won't be up front when answering those questions. So, now where do you turn?
Yes, because you change from a grey area into a black and white one. You make them legally and morally obligated, you remove any social contract of sales, marketing or other. Nothing allows them to lie, ethically or legally. It also removes you having missed or them not disclosing a financial connection. You say that it won't help because if they are not up front... but you've totally changed the scenario. Not being "up front" is not disclosing voluntarily a connection. That's totally different than flat out lying. Absolutely different.
Is it perfect? Heck no. Is it a really, really big deal, yes.
I'm giving advice on how to improve things. There is no answer on how to be perfect. But we don't skip doing a good job just because we can't do a perfect one.
So the "consultant" says, "Oh we love Cisco. We use it for everything. No ties to them, we just love the product and does more than what we need, and it's easy to get help for it."
So now you either have to get a "second opinion" or try to do research on your own, which will most likely lead to the same results.
The obvious thing, if you really wanted to push the point, is to ask for a non-Cisco consultant or VAR to give you an alternative and ask why the Cisco solution is bad. Then compare notes. Maybe question the original vendor again. But I'm not suggesting that anyone need go that far, if the logic behind why Cisco was selected is reasonable, that is easily enough.
This isn't about finding every bad case or bad advice or bad motivation, it's about improving the process so that we find it more often than if we didn't.
I didn't ask that you ask them for advice, that would be silly. You are asking them for the sales pitch.
Ah yes, so you're asking them for the exact thing you're supposed to be wary of.
Yes, and you should absolutely be wary of it. Remember this is for specifically getting the specifically opposing marketing, not advice, so that you know the strong "case" against the solution you are trying to question.
So why would you ask for advice in the first place and not just ask to VARs?
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
You're giving general advice here, Scott. The advice should not be - be critical if you get suggested somethign you've seen an ad for.
instead your advice should be - be critical, 100% of the time... ask them why that choice was made. Period.. this to me seems like the real advice you are tying to make.
Nope, like I explained, the second set of advice is bad. It simply becomes words. I've not made my point clear if you think that the second would solve the first.
You can't be critical 100% of the time, no one can. I'm giving advice on when to be more on alert so that you can spend less time questioning things that have no specific reason to be questioned.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
i really think you should drop the "if it's in an ad, you should question it" and change it to - "OK Mr/Mrs consultant, thanks for this recommendation, now tell me why and who it beat out"
That's great and fine and if you have a good process for questioning every recommendation, great. But even then, you should be aware of which cases are more risky and which are less.
We know to be wary if SAN is mentioned. Does that make SAN bad? Not in the least. But we know that the chances that we are being sold something we don't need just went up one hundred fold.
Now you're into specialized cases. And specialized cases are the exact opposite from @stacksofplates original question, where the shoeshop owner is trying to get some paid advice who knows nothing about computers. If the paid consultant suggested a SAN to him, he would have NO clue if that was good or bad.
Not really, SANs are so oversold that they are sold to non-technical people directly easily half the time. Not specialized at all.
Sure, but those people would have no exposure to these forums, etc to know that SANs are more often than not, a bad idea. How would they ever know that unless there were dozens of TV shows talking about just that.
Because there are.
What TV shows? Name one that has talked about not using a SAN.
They don't, there are ads about USING a SAN. That is what makes you wary.
