As the ’90s end, this government department rolls out laptops to the executives and directors, reports this IT manager pilot fish, and they’re all given a quick “put your laptop on the docking station and plug the Ethernet cable in” demonstration.
But one director — she’s the one with oversight of IT, though she thinks IT is a waste of money — calls day after day to say that she has no network connection. And day after day fish goes to her office, finds her dangling network cable and tells her, once again, that she has to plug it in.
“Over the next three weeks, she forgot several more times,” says fish. “I eventually made up a bright yellow label for the cable so she would remember.”
At the monthly interdepartmental meeting with all the managers, directors and executives, fish’s director pipes up: “Why has the network been so unreliable lately? I have been unable to log in pretty much every morning.”
Fish: There have been no network issues at all.
Director: “Well, why have I been unable to log in?”
Fish: Do you really want me to answer that?
Director: “Of course I do, and you’d better have a good answer.”
Things are feeling tense, but fish tells the story about how she keeps forgetting to plug the network cable in.
After she storms out of the meeting, the tension evaporates and everyone breaks out giggling.
A short time later, the IT department is moved from under her directorship.