We have all no doubt been there when something is so blatantly in need of attention but can not be done due to some need to jump through hoops for the sake of making it too damn hard. I had that dubious pleasure twice yesterday.
In the first instance I had a task to design a change to some Interfaces. There was no suggestion, nor need, for a change but my unprocessed task prevented others from proceeding. All I did was effectively document that there was no need for change. Would have been nice if the change management system had notified me of the task. Perhaps it needs a change!
The second was to address a problem I detected last week. I found the fix on Friday which consisted of a Windows registry change and server reboot. Though I can do it my line of demarcation does not allow me to perform the task. So I decided to request the group that was understood to be responsible at this level to fix it.
Unfortunately the impacted servers are in a beauracratic hole where they are not production, but kind of are. As a result the support team assigned were not prepared to touch them, however they wpuld likely do the work upon instruction from the project team.
So I engage the project team leader responsible. All I got back was a request for yet another beauracratic layer to be navigated, and a request if I could do the work which is widely known is not in scope of my services! So I engage the next layer of red tape mongers copying in all impacted parties.
The project manager then foolishly responds requesting yet another hoop to be jumped through. My draft response had lots of capitalisation telling him that what he wanted needed to come from his team. Thankfully I engaged my boss who essentially said the same thing, just without the incendiary comments. Draft aborted, all out war avoided.
I know that there is a place for process and change control, but when the dilineation of responsibility is unclear or not understood it simply wastes adds time and money. It also increases blood pressure, frustration and dissatisfaction. We can all live without this crap!
