Oh, were you using that server?

Who the heck just goes and takes a production server offline and reimages it without even consulting the local admin who maintains the system??

It's amazing the number of incompetant goofs that are considered managers in this society. Since about 10-12 years of my 30 plus year career were spent as a consultant, I got to see it quite often. Several companies that I worked for went belly-up. It was hard to tell at times whether it was the previous screw-ups or the current ones that killed the company. Some highlights - throwing away a bleeding edge software (homegrown) suite because the new manager had never worked in that language; trying to re-write the application serving 200 plus retail stores in a new language (Visual Basic) that was not robust enough at that time (lacked critical functions) to handle the job because the new CIO had an in with a firm in the town he came from; trying to rewrite the base application serving a car financing company when the commercial app that had extensive mods worked fine spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that the company desperately needed to stay alive (it died). Only a few of many - we would be better served to create a certification program for managers and require the letters after the name.

What is most important in this story seems to be neglected, namely that the IT Guys from the Head Office were the ones that took the server, without checking to see what it was there for. What does that say about the HQ "IT Guys"???

It says that they were arrogant and ignorant. They think their needs outweigh the needs of a smaller office and that they dont have to follow procedure. Which will always = FAIL.

While the HQ IT guys and the PHB obviously did the wrong thing, I'd be interested to know why the main server fell over so often that a second redundant server was required. Maybe some of that money left over in the budget would have been better spent buying a more reliable main server.

An IT engineer once told me, "I have no server level control over stupid." There is a huge difference between knowledge and good judgment, and even an overabundance of the former will not compensate for a deficit in the latter. If tests and certificates were guarantees of good judgment, auto accidents would involve only unlicensed drivers and "acts of God". You can't get around somebody else's poor judgment - that's why cars have airbags; however, if we carefully share information up-stream, we Can improve the knowledgebase of mgmt, and hopefully gain some respect and job security (if such a thing exists) as well. Smooth-running IT cannot be invisible and mysterious. Especially when you're THE IT Guy, doing it all, you gotta advertise and self-promote. When you need to spend, don't just say, "We need this," but say, "This is the situation; A - we can do nothing, and risk X; B - we can spend this, and risk Y; C - we can spend This, and be covered. I recommend C." Now mgmt knows not only the need, but the purpose, the risks, the fact that You Know Things that they never think about, AND that you think things through instead of shooting from the hip. Even if they don't let you have your first choice (after you made it So Obvious), your cred and your visibility have improved, and you can righteously say, "I told you so, neener neener neener," when it's time to put your stuff in a box and collect your final paycheck. But before that happens, get Visible and STAY Visible -- let them know along the way about bullets dodged ("Server A crashed today, but B picked right up, with no down time - I'm sure glad we were prepared for that!") Then, down the road, when they're looking for ways to cut costs, they're more likely to acknowledge your value -- they may keep you in your seat instead of hiring the boss's teen-aged kid to come in on weekends to do the server stuff. It takes a careful balance of brevity and clarity, with just enough technobabble to give it weight, and must always demonstrate your Deep, Deep Committment To Doing What's Best For The Organization. This practice may not have averted the situation that started this discussion - it sounds like Bad Judgment was a criteria for promotion at that place. I am convinced, however, that if IT tries to be invisible and mysterious, sooner or later, the only mystery will be "Hey, what happened to that guy that used to do the server stuff?"