Posts made by stess

Quick question: When would you justify Datacenter license for Windows Server 2012R2? Seem to be about having each VM running individual Windows server role.

@scottalanmiller said in New IT manager making changes... should I be concern?:

Your big challenge here, if you decide to pursue a counter to these recommendations, will be in properly assessing business need (if you feel that his designs are not in the best interest of the company then you should, in theory, be able to not just put that into words but be able to put it into numbers) and then communicating that effectively to the powers that be. This is where the average IT person fails hard - IT tends to attract people who struggle to be able to quantify, qualify and communicate IT in business terms. Maybe you are not one of these people, but if you work in IT the chances are extremely high that this is an area where you feel a particular challenge.

Thanks for the insight. I'll gather more information before making any decisions. These changes are estimated to take 6-8 months at least. I got time.
I will look at the link you posted and make a better judgmental decision. I am 110% against SAN and know there are alternatives that could deliver results with fraction of the cost. *cough starwind virtual SAN *cough

I'll see if I can have a quick talk with the management to give my input about all these changes. Obviously I am not going in empty hands.

All the changes (VMWare, terminal, VDI, SAN/NAS, switch, etc) he is proposing I once think of doing the same thing. However, at the time (last year) I did not deem it necessary and overkilled. We grew from 45 people company to 80ish people company within one year. If I have to reconsider those option now... I still think it is overkilled.

@scottalanmiller said in New IT manager making changes... should I be concern?:

My biggest concern would be process. What process was followed that is leading to these changes? Was VMware, for example since you mentioned it, evaluated as having a specific value that will overcome its price point? Did he look into how to get those features potentially with Hyper-V? Or is his goal only to shift money to VMware and hope that no one asks questions.

This is all still brainstorming. He has to report and try to justify with another department manager before actually getting a green light. This department manager has experience in IT, but very vague and broadly. One could say his knowledge come from passion not directly from experience. Hopefully he will ask a lot of questions before giving it a green light, or even better I am hoping he would bring it up to our CEO directly before making decisions.

Most likely this is just someone who thinks what they did before will work again and is hoping to get maximum attention without doing their due diligence. Possibly they did due diligence and you just haven't heard about it. Possibly it is something nefarious. It's hard to say and how you react will mostly come down to your goals, how the company's politics are and such.

He seems to be experience with these kind of changes before. I don't know his true motive, but he doesn't give out any sign that he is working for a vendor or such. His vision is very vivid, and doable...and expensive.

@scottalanmiller said in New IT manager making changes... should I be concern?:

At the average SMB, no one will want to hear that money is being wasted. People just don't care and might actively get mad if you bring it up. But I've worked at companies where you are explicitly required to question this stuff and not doing so would get you in trouble.

Mostly this comes down to you reading the situation and figuring out how to approach it. How much clout do you have and how much does management actually care?

Any money spent need to be justified and produce result. With the amount he proposing there will be a lot of meetings before any decision is made. My concern is he may ignore free or cheaper options and go for a more expensive, but robust option. I am positively certain if he manages to pull this off his position with the company is secured for couple of years or more. The end result will be astounding, but at what cost.

I am a lowly IT guy. $100-200K is beyond my ability to compensate how much it is. To spend $500 I have to dig deep as is it necessary, luxury, or waste of money. I want the best for the company, but not to the point of starving for that perfect body.

How do you feel when your new IT manager/managers start making changes to infrastructure you built over the year?

I will not say that my infrastructure is perfect or future proof as my main goal at the time was disaster recovery. I took over a role as system administrator for a company where everything is physical and has little to no redundancy (except only nightly backup that takes hours/day to restore). As of now, I am confident that the infrastructure is sturdy enough to withstand some minor human errors, or failure, and still be able to recover within couple hours at most.

The new changes involve briing his familiar infrastructure and implement them here. For example, stepping away from hyper-v and onto VMware. His goal seem to be one central command center to control all aspect before anything happens. I like his idea and his vision. He seems to be experienced, or veteran, in making these changes in his previous jobs before. However, my biggest concern is the cost to make all of these happens. All the changes I made cost around $30K - $50K. His changes may cost $100-200K in the span of 2-3 years.

Since I started over a year ago I tried to find a cheap but sturdy solution where IT can survive while it doesn't take a big chunk out of company' pocket. What he wanted, I used to think of getting as well. The different between me and him probably I am willing to work extra hours while save the company thousands of dollars in labor or license. He wants to spend more to make less work in the future. I am torn to see all the work I have done being overthrown in favor for a more simpler control but costly option.

I don't know if I should bring my thoughts to management or CEO or not. If so, should I let him know of all the things I have in my head? What is my approach?
For certain, I will get back to acquiring more certifications, and expect the worst.

EDIT: Since I am not the only making the calls, I do not feel I am responsible to the consequences that may follow. Am I wrong? Do I go with the flow? This is almost opposite to what I have done so far, and I am lost for thoughts.