A day in the life of the CentOS team

A day in the life of the CentOS team

Posted Mar 31, 2006 18:08 UTC (Fri) by jmmc (guest, #34939)
In reply to: A day in the life of the CentOS team by clump
Parent article: A day in the life of the CentOS team

clump, your comment is well stated and some part of me initally agreed with your sentiments.

Yet, stepping back a bit, I'm going to side with allesfresser on this:

Sometimes, imh experience, the bully must be bullied (back). I and think this case warranted it. Name dropping (calling) the FBI is just the worst kind of response for a person in his position and situation.

I've found folk in IT to be some of the most well-intentioned, solve-problems-that-aren't-really-my-problem, 'do-no-harm'-type folk I've ever met, in any walk of life, period. IT folks I know solve all kinds of so-called 'technical' problems for people with things that might not even be related to their immediate job (phones, copiers, helping people use their iPods, PIMs) on top of a LOT of 'home user' PC advice to their coworkers, brothers and sister, friends, in-laws, etc. I was naive at first, but I now know there _are_ people who take advantage of IT folks willingness to be mostly goodly-natured problem-solvers first and foremost. Some of the more perceptive 'bullies' have picked this up over time.

It sounded to me like Johnny _wanted_ to help the guy at first, but the OK manager's own arrogance seemed to block him from listening and understanding what Johnny was trying to tell him - shame on him (the OK manager). At least that's how the exchange came off to me.

As well, the gentleman from OK did indeed, begin this volley, and imho, way too aggressively. True, any one of us may have responded differently than Johnny at CentOS, but I did not think Johnny's responses were too out of line in this case. In most of the exchange, Johnny's responses seemed more professional.

Lastly, I'm bothered that the manager (small m) in OK did not know who to properly contact about the status of his city's website when it did not show the content he expected to see. No doubt, his first communication should have been to the administrator of those server(s), hands down. Sans that, combined with his technical ignorance, it was going to get tougher anyway you slice it, right ?. At root, could we not say, his ignorance and inability to keep his composure started this whole situation (isn't that how many conflicts begin) ?. Professionals (and _good_ managers) keep their cool, always, even under even the most stressful of situations, at least that's the experience in my humble work life (23 yrs).

---

(Log in to post comments)