Category: From the trenches

  • “Have you checked it’s plugged in?”

    Customer: Your service is broken! Me: Why do you think that? Customer: because all the connections to it is down Me: I will double check because all indications are it’s all fully working. Can you check your end please? Customer: What information do you need? Me: I don’t need information, I need you to check the configuration…

  • Enterprise contracts considered harmful

    Enterprise IT contracts are an unavoidable fact of life in many large organisations. So much so, in fact, that they have almost become the norm. So what I’m about to say may be jarring to many. I believe Enterprise IT Contracts are regressive and harmful to an organisation. Let me be clear, by “Enterprise IT…

  • The £100,000 FTP server

    Recent experience of working on a start-up MVNO contrasts sharply with some previous experiences in larger companies. The noteworthy difference is the ability to get things done in the former, whilst the aim of the latter often seems to be to prevent innovation and progress. This is a generalisation, of course, but large companies are…

  • The last Windows Update I did took longer than every Linux update I have done in the last decade combined!

    Let’s be clear on this: I use Linux a lot. It has been my desktop OS of choice for the last 10 years or so, and I’ve used it on countless projects in the last 10-15 years. Therefore, I also upgrade it a lot. Comparatively I use Windows when I have to, which isn’t really…

  • The hidden cost of licence management

    One of the biggest hidden IT costs to many large companies is due to managing licences. I don’t mean the costs of the licences themselves, which are all too clear, but the costs of understanding, administering, and otherwise dealing with commercial licences. It’s such a problem that an industry is growing around this, known as…

  • Bail out

    This is actually a story from a colleague of mine who did a short piece of Technical Architecture work for a large European Telecommunications company. He was contracted by the Architecture group who had just spent the previous several months putting together a plan to “re-architect” some of their systems, which had previously been put…

  • Introduction

    I’ve decided to share a few of my “war stories” in this blog. Over the coming months I plan to post stories of real life experiences as a consultant and Technical Architect in the industry, plus opinions on the state of the industry. Stay tuned!