135
anon81
7y

My CEO: "So! You are the new guy we hired to design and manage the implementation of our new state of the art super-duper fancy ERP solution with badass Business Intelligence systems to grow our company which already spans over several localities across the county, that has to live for at least the next 12-15 years?

Please remember that the Windows Server in the rack in the basement needs replacement soon, and that our new fancy solution must not in any way utilize cloud-technology or SaSS! I don't like that! I think it's a scam! We store everything on premises, own our infrastructure and we buy our software...Because I think that is best!"

Me: "So... let me get this straight: You want me to build you a one-off, concept sports car that can outperform a Lamborghini using only plywood, duct-tape and a donkey cart?"

He walked off... I may need a new job next week!

Comments
  • 27
    Nailed it!!!
  • 21
    Apparently he has never experienced the need for disaster recovery. They always have to learn the hard way.
  • 2
    @iAmNaN In that case I will be held sole responsible for any damage I think
  • 3
    @anon81 I would discuss the DR side of things with him, and if he doesn't listen, you need to decide if you're being paid enough to carry that responsibility.
  • 1
    @iAmNaN What exactly do you mean by that...?
  • 2
    @anon81 don't skip the disaster recovery site in your design, even if he already told you verbally it won't happen. That way you got yourself covered. Make him his own cloud :)
  • 11
    @anon81 tell him you want to meet with him, maybe over coffee or something, and explain disasters, and disaster recovery, and the high risk of having everything on-site. If the basement floods, or burns, and and everything is "in house," the business will lose everything, which could mean bankruptcy. If that doesn't sink in, find another job, because eventually disaster will strike. Personal experience of the co I work for; we had one datacenter, with everything in it. It took a direct lightning strike, and went down for days. Fortunately, we had off-site backups of everything, so we were able to come back online, but at immense financial cost. As they say, don't keep all your eggs in one basket. Preparing for disasters is essential.
  • 6
    People don't take this stuff seriously until it happens. I work for a service provider that holds data for tens of thousands of users and let's say that disaster recovery done right is not one of the top priorities. Manager would ask questions like "is this necessary for it to work" and afterwards say that I told him that it isn't necessary. Because of that I always provide several designs in written form and explain how much what costs and what do you get for it. If he still wants to go without redundancy, I have a written proof that I advised against it so I can't be held accountable. And guess what, since it's their ass on the line, no more cutting costs.
  • 3
    Ask him if he knows so much about this then why doesn't he do it himself.

    Else, he needs to allow the person he hired to do the job, to do the job.

    Else, you need to fire him.
  • 1
    Seriously, would any of you recommend making a multimillion dollar investment ind an all new ERP solution project kicking off now to be hosted on premises?

    The industry is not only moving to "cloud first"... its more like "cloud only"! Why would anyone want to maintain their own servers?!
  • 2
    Because they own them.
  • 0
    You may "want" a new job next week ;)
  • 0
    I love the sports car concept using duct tape and shit. Explain your boss the shit that a greasy sports car is not wood and duct tape but it has a fucking kickass engine and a fucking bloody driver who drives it. What fucking analogy he used.
  • 0
    Hmmm wonder what i would get if asked about security where your working.

    Will I get a response like: oh yeah we are compliant...
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