[ale] smart IT manager

[Robert E. Karaffa, II]

Stephen,
    Jim and Dow are both spot on.  I'll add that, like what Dow said, you
have to overlook the "go away, I'm busy" attitude of your IT manager.
Priorities of bad managers are mostly "let's keep the boat from sinking,
then we'll worry about 'great ideas' from the rest of you".  That's, of
course, unfortunate but true in many cases.  My experience:  I had a lab
supervisor (I won't mention her name...the twerp...) whose bad temper always
got the better of her.  It was not hard to get her goat, and I often did.
She relished taking shots at me and the rest of the staff when we made
errors (she got to check our work before it was sent up the chain of
command).  Her remarks were always unkind and hostile.  I won't mention the
fact that she had a "relationship" with the lab Director who already had a
"relationship" with his wife...So I made it a part of my job to check her
work.  Pounded her mercilessly.  Made her so mad she would spit when she
talked.  We had just received a "workstation" (IBM ValuePoint 486/DX
something or other) to be used to analyze data.  4Mb of RAM!!  Woo Hoo!
However, she didn't want me touching it..."it's not your job".  Well, never
tell a Polack to go sit in the corner of a round room...I took it upon
myself to not only learn how to analyze data on that computer (when she
wasn't around), but some of my buddies saw what I was doing and pitched in
to help.  We created an automated method of data analysis, using Quattro
Pro, WordPerfect, and the data analysis software (Winlist...we had to create
macros in Winlist to automate the routine, using DDE...that was hard...but a
real gas!).  Formerly, it took about 90 minutes to analyze each data set,
from start to end of printing.  Our method took 14 minutes.  Remember, we
did this "behind her back", and without her blessing.  When the time was
right, we unveiled it to the doctors who were feeding us the data to
analyze.  They were impressed and astounded!  And we chose the unveiling
when she was standing there beside the doctors!  Ha!  Shoulda seen the look
on her ugly mug...priceless!
    Remember to keep a positive attitude, and don't snipe at your IT
manager, to his face or to others (even when you've had one-too-many
margaritas at that hole-in-the-wall Tex-Mex restaurant down the street!)
What he doesn't want to know will ultimately lead to his demise.  Open minds
are a priceless commodity in the business world.  Good luck.

-Bob K.

P.s.  Check your spelling!  Points off for bad grammar and spelling!  Go to
the back of the line...
-- 
**************************
Robert E. Karaffa, II
Technical Director
Emory University
Flow Cytometry Core Facility
1365 B Clifton Rd., Room B5133
Atlanta, Ga 30322
voice: 404/712-4429
e-mail: rkaraff at emory.edu
**************************


---
This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list.
See http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info. Problems should be 
sent to listmaster at ale dot org.