Work will calm down soon

I will strategically make work appear to be busy for the next week.
I know I have done everything necessary to make things smooth.

Last week was a short week and the three days of work was intensely busy despite a lack of IT tickets. It was all preparation and that's perfectly acceptable.  It has made things quick and easy two times this week already and that's not bad.  If software on the computer fails it's simply a case of well sucks to be you we need to wipe and start fresh.  Of course all we do is switch hard drives then transfer select data back into it.

We have been upgrading the company MRP software and everyone including my manager seemed to be in panic mode.  Maybe I just don't feel the significance of the situation, maybe I don't know the impact it could have on a corporate standpoint.  Maybe I believe in my hard drive images too much.

I had to ask for a list of names, I had to ask if it was okay to start early.

When I say panic every related email had everyone in upper management and half the executive team the carbon copy field.  Of course I'm not in the loop. Wednesday morning at 6am my supervisor sends me an email START INSTALLING TODAY.

I fail to see why it's a big deal.

I got to work at 8am spent one hour to prepare the "day 1" group remotely.  When they came into work I got the feel of why I'm just casually sitting around so I asked if my supervisor wanted to help me with the update.  After one hour the "critical" day 1 group is complete. I told my supervisor the day before that I will get things prepared remotely and the images we have deployed had everything needed.

Continued the list for "day 2" and finished that with the exception of a few people who were just out on vacation.

Allow me to share a case of inter-departmental hostility.  I got a call from the developer side of IT and was told someone in finance will need a database link updated.  I ask if this is something that will be globally implemented or exclusive for the person in finance.  I get a reply along the lines of we don't need to do that yet but we can do that if you want.  I don't reply because I'm busy.  Later on I'm told that during a meeting the director of finance told management that IT has already taken care of all of the upgrades for the finance department five days ahead of schedule because everything was supposed to start rolling out on Monday.  Application reply - "Really?  Even the database has been updated for everyone?" I'm told this is a classic "throw you under the bus" move but it's like fine so I updated registry hack which took care of them in just a few minutes because part of my morning preparation was to provide them with admin access to the computer.  I do occasionally get back handed compliments like "I need you to install this software because I don't trust the network guys to do it right" I suppose it's good but that only implies that I can follow a printed set of instructions... so what does that say.

Monday rolls around and everyone left asks why they weren't upgraded. Management sent out an email which explained things would get rolling on Monday but failed to explain the list of priorities.  So do important areas in batches, then work on "day 3" people based on my guess and by request.

I went around with the intern.  He is fine, helpful to an extent.  This is just a time when I'm just not a good leader, I like to do things myself unless I know they can do it.  Is this upgrade process hard?  No, but guess what he doesn't have the same access so if he logs in he won't have access to anything needed and won't have admin access.  SO I need to log in first, then have him continue.  Is that even efficient?

I get a call from applications asking when I would get around to installing the update for a user.  I said I can take care of it now.  I failed to mention that the user was part of the day 3 list which almost everyone had decided was low priority.

Only snags?  Error message on two computers.  Why?  Because the documentation stated uninstall old software, install .NET 4.0, reboot, install new version, reboot.  What they fail to mention is you need .NET 3.5 and .NET 2.0 I bet they still don't know why that error message comes up they just think I don't install the .NET 4.0 framework correctly.  One should not assume a higher number would install the previous versions and they probably failed to notice this glitch because they all run Windows 7 which natively has .NET 3.5 built into it.

Application calls my cell phone "YOU'RE INSTALLING IT WRONG REBOOT THE COMPUTERS".  That's what happens when the end users contact applications and not help desk I don't know what symptoms they had.

High priority groups done.

Tuesday - finish up the ones we missed.  Get 180 emails by lunch.

Wednesday - HARASS EVERYONE who submitted tickets during the last 3 days to get them closed.

As you can see we provided data for the worst case scenario of 30 minutes a computer and some did take that long.  I know computers that are deployed in the offices and have ghetto techniques to remotely install things and get the most done without physically walking.  The only issues that remain are on the application and network side both of which I have no control over.  The end users love to ask me questions which I do not have any answers to because I never had any training in the use of this MRP software.  Not to mention I don't have access to any of it so I can't even poke around to see what it does.

The only benefit is I got fed sandwiches on Monday and Tuesday but once they realized everything was complete they decided against feeding me today!  But I could really go out for a long lunch, just don't know what's good to go for alone tomorrow. Looking at this I should seriously feel less stressed.  Everything has rolled out as I imagined, the only snag has been the sheer number of tickets and emails which I have no control over.