Gregg Steinbrenner
greggs at msn.com
Mon Jul 7 20:24:10 CDT 2003
John, I whole-heartedly agree with your statement on unions... "they have their place, but they go overboard and protect people whom they shouldn't." Their existence often depends on convincing their members they are entitled to wages and benefits that eventually price themselves out of the free market we all enjoy. Remember when foreign cars only had 10% of the market. Or more recently, I'll bet the American Airlines employees are no longer believers. The truth is... the market will always get what it wants as long as there is free competition. I suspect those front line people are writing apps because they want to get their problems solved quicker than the IT department could commit to. And, maybe they feel like they know more about their problem than they can effectively communicate. At any rate I would think your best strategy would be to encourage every front line person out there to write disjointed front-end apps that you can go around and join together and fix. Give them license to do whatever they want as long as they get you involved once it hits the server. They will be happy, you will be their hero, and you will never loose your job. Microsoft didn't become a giant because Word was better than Word Perfect or Excel better than Lotus. They are king because they made it easy for data to get from one to the other. Only IT can do that... no front line user even wants to try. That's your hook. That's your security. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John Colby Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 6:53 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT - My union grievance John, The flip side of this is that many people build apps like this because the "process" of getting something done is to put in a request and wait for XXX weeks / months / years. You would not believe the horror stories I have heard about departments hiring real consultants to build them an app because they just can't get their IS to do the job. John W. Colby www.colbyconsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John Clark Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 12:34 PM To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: [AccessD] OT - My union grievance First I'd like to let you know where I am coming from. I have to be a union member...I work in a "closed" shop...but I am not a huge supporter of the union...they have their place, but they go overboard and protect people whom they shouldn't. I usually prefer to settle disputes by going to the boss and voicing my opinion. But around Xmas of this past year, there were many layoffs, and many more threatened. And, the majority of us believe this will be an annual event now. There are people out there doing our jobs that shouldn't be (i.e. nurses, social workers, etc.). I recently sent a letter to our union, which basically asked them to send out a blanket statement to it's membership (i.e. my brothers and sisters in unionism), that notified them that they should not be performing duties of other coworkers. Three others, in my department...the MIS dept...liked my letter and asked if they could sign on to it. I adjusted the original letter to reflect their problems as well...they are more tech related...and sent it out. Apparently, it ruffled some feathers, and soon after, the union filed a grievance on our behalf...turns out they can do this w/out us even wanting them to do it. The reason that I am writing to the list, is that I want ammo for my hearing tomorrow. It is just an initial hearing, but I would like to make some solid impressions. To do this I want facts, or at least quality in my statements. As you all know, Access is unique in that it can be used by a novice office worker for simple desktop dbs, as well as hard core programmers pumping out intense programs, and everything in between. But where do you draw the line? I have said that if someone creates something for their own use, that is saved to their HDD (i.e. a tool for them to do their job), then I don't have a problem with it. However, if it becomes, or is to become, a tool that they whole department will become dependant on, and/or it is going to reside on the network, then it should be created and managed by the MIS department. I have gotten calls in the past, saying that, "our program is down and our department cannot function w/out it. We need this fixed ASAP." My response has been, "What program?" Departments have become dependant on a program that we were totally unaware of its existence. Because these programs are written by non-programmers, they are often difficult, if at all possible, to repair. And, in some cases, the person who did write it, no longer works for that department and therefore cannot help them. The politicians...for those of you unaware, I work for a county govt...have sent out requests for each employee to write a small paragraph, justifying our positions...I've had to do this two or three times. I wouldn't have so much of a problem doing this, if I was assured that the people doing my job were exposed here. It seems to me that if they have the time to do my job, there job must not be keeping them busy enough, and therefore maybe that is where the cuts can be made. I would appreciate an advice, input, etc. that anyone could give me here. Take care! John W Clark _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com