Getting Sick of Licensing and Manager BS
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So the main product I support right now at my current job is MVM, or M Vulnerability Manager. Now, one part of the program is called FSUpdate, or Foundstone Update (program used to be called Foundstone). This updates the scripts that the program uses, and the program itself, in addition to everything else that needs to be updated. Well, in order to run it, you need credentials that I don't believe you are given by default. It's pretty common to have people call in and ask how they get those credentials. Sadly, it's nothing support has access to. The KB has you email a licensing email with your grant number and the credentials you want, and licensing is supposed to send you the credentials. My issue begins that people will email licensing, who is supposed to get them the credentials within 24 hours, and the email just goes there to die. I have one guy who has not heard back after a week. I had a previous case that the guy emailed three times and still heard nothing.
What makes it interesting is that for the guy who emailed three times, I went to management and asked them to intervene. One of the managers tells me "oh yeah, sometimes it takes three or four times". WTF?! Are you kidding me?! I asked if they could get involved, because it was outside my scope of work as a support technician. One of the other managers, who has a bit of a reputation, just tells me "oh, you email licensing and then get back to us if they don't respond". Now, while I'm not adverse to trying to resolve the issue outside my specific scope of work, what ticked me off is that I was completely blown off, which I've heard is a bit of a pattern around here. We had a meeting where they brought in groups of T1 techs 9-12 people at a time, and our group tore the managers apart, which was the pattern with all the meetings I heard.
Just frustrating and needed to rant.
Thanks!
A.J. -
Sounds... wonderful.
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And this morning, when I went to find a manager to talk about another customer who hasn't heard back after a week, none were to be found.
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@ajstringham if I were those managers I would be hiding too. The real question is... where are THEIR managers?
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@scottalanmiller I am with SAM on this one. climb that ladder*!
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@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham if I were those managers I would be hiding too. The real question is... where are THEIR managers?
Not sure, but circumventing procedure has burned me before, even when it's sensible or justified. I'm gonna go hunting for them again in a few minutes.
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@ajstringham Wow thats a bad typo
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@ajstringham said:
Not sure, but circumventing procedure has burned me before, even when it's sensible or justified. I'm gonna go hunting for them again in a few minutes.
This is a Fortune 100, though. Are you sure that going to their managers isn't the official procedure? I've never worked in a large enterprise where telling the bosses' bosses wasn't the official, required channel.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
Not sure, but circumventing procedure has burned me before, even when it's sensible or justified. I'm gonna go hunting for them again in a few minutes.
This is a Fortune 100, though. Are you sure that going to their managers isn't the official procedure? I've never worked in a large enterprise where telling the bosses' bosses wasn't the official, required channel.
I'm not ready to rock the boat like that just yet. Too new...
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@ajstringham said:
I'm not ready to rock the boat like that just yet. Too new...
Just be aware that not escalating might be rocking the boat (breaking procedure.) I have definitely worked places where holding critical knowledge or a critical opinion and not sharing or escalating was the same as being at fault for it. Ready your policies and go through your training carefully to see what you are supposed to be doing. Don't focus on rocking or not rocking, focus on doing what you are supposed to do. Maybe Intel's policy is to suck it up and let bad managers screw the company, but I find that unlikely in a company like Intel.
Do you have a mentor or other person to talk to about how to handle things?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
I'm not ready to rock the boat like that just yet. Too new...
Just be aware that not escalating might be rocking the boat (breaking procedure.) I have definitely worked places where holding critical knowledge or a critical opinion and not sharing or escalating was the same as being at fault for it. Ready your policies and go through your training carefully to see what you are supposed to be doing. Don't focus on rocking or not rocking, focus on doing what you are supposed to do. Maybe Intel's policy is to suck it up and let bad managers screw the company, but I find that unlikely in a company like Intel.
Do you have a mentor or other person to talk to about how to handle things?
I'm going to go to my Team Lead when he gets in at 10. It can wait another 40 minutes or so. He, unlike the managers, gets things done when he says he will.
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My Team Lead is the most reliable guy around here, despite the fact he is the Team Lead for EVERY product for Tier 1, and while there used to be three or four of them, now there is just him...however, he's gonna take care of it, and he actually will. Good guy.
