When running IT as a business, don't start at the service desk
Symantec serves as an example of how running IT as a business can get in the way of real work, such as handling parallel responsibilities
Follow @ITCatalystsYou've been told, over and over again (but not by me) to run IT like a business. This being Advice Line, here's some advice: If you decide to run IT like a business, be careful in choosing the business.
I use Norton Internet Security. For the most part, I like the product -- the product, mind you -- but so far as Symantec's support goes ...
[ Also on InfoWorld, Bob doesn't mince words: "Run IT as a business -- why that's a train wreck waiting to happen" | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld's Advice Line newsletter. ]
Because my name and e-mail addresses are prominently displayed on my websites, I get a lot of spam, which led to the following: my final message to Symantec, sent on Sunday and reproduced here for your edification and amusement. You should be able to infer what preceded it.
I suspect I'm caught in an infinite loop.
I contacted Norton technical support to report a bug in your anti-spam product -- a specific type of message which causes Outlook 2007 to crash when I click the "This is Spam" button. (Simply deleting the message does not cause a crash, by the way, which is how I isolated the difficulty to your software.)
I hope you understand that when your software causes another piece of software to crash, the problem isn't user error or a problem with my configuration ... it's a bug. Tech support provided an e-mail address for my use. I mailed a copy of one of the offending messages to that e-mail address. I'm attaching a copy of that message as well.
Because I'm reporting a bug in your software, there is no logic in your asking me if my problem has been resolved. If my problem has been resolved, it's up to you to tell me that you've fixed it. When you have, I presume I'll pick up the fix in one of your regular software patches, without my having to take any further action.
I'll be delighted when you've found and fixed the problem. In the meantime, I ask only one thing -- please send me an e-mail that's phrased in such a way that I'm confident you understand that I was reporting a bug in your software and not a problem with my system.
One more suggestion: You might consider contacting whoever is responsible for your website to suggest they make it easier for your customers to report bugs. Given the process thus far, I'll have to think long and hard before I take the time and trouble to report another one.
- Bob
If you're responsible for any aspect of internal IT, there are a few lessons here:
