Life, Upside Down

Never take your access to email for granted. This advice comes from one deeply immersed and just pulling above the surface in a month-long conversion from POP3 email accounts to an Exchange Server. Wow. Who knew? For those of you who might look to me for some sort of explanation about the above sentence, I am sorry to disappoint you. I barely understand the principle, let alone the implementation.

Which brings me to the issue at hand. We are gearing up big time for the Road Show. Part of that is an issue of remote access so I can continue to produce our publications while on the road. That required a new server. That implied an update to a new server operation system. That resulted in Exchange. And all of that resulted in me saying goodbye to my role at the IT guy here at LensWork Publishing. For 18 years now, I've known everything. I installed our systems, I configured our systems, I fixed our systems, and I knew our systems. I had knowledge and power. With the new server and Exchange, I have a phone number to call when something doesn't work. I am adrift in a vast ocean without a compass. No wait, I do have a compass — on my new Android phone. I have no email on it, but I do have a compass.

The supposedly "seamless conversion" has been full of seams. Bounced emails, new passwords, shaky implementations, broken routines. For three weeks now we (okay, they) have been tweaking and fixing, adapting and fussing. We see the tunnel and perhaps the light at the end of it. I hope. Some things are now working perfectly, even better than before. Some things are lost in the woods and we miss them terribly.

I was prepared for some rough spots. I was prepared to be patient. I was not prepared for the helplessness of not being able to jump in myself and fix something when it doesn't work. My staff, who have always looked to me for solutions, now look at me with pleading eyes while I stare back blankly. I am not used to this. I will need to learn a very valuable new thing. I will need to learn to let go. I will need to learn new routines and new procedures. I will need to appreciate the opportunity to enjoy the quiet drone of crickets when something doesn't work. Most importantly, I will need to memorize our new IT guy's emergency cell phone number. Life moves on.

UPDATE:
OMG!!! OMG!!!! While I was typing this, I just got email on my new phone!!! The new IT guy gets a cookie. Things are looking up.

Comments

[Jim Bullard]

Until I read the update I was going to suggest that you get a Gmail account. You can have email from other accounts forwarded to it and even send mail through other accounts using Gmail. And of course you can receive/send mail directly from Gmail. Pretty neat.

[vartkes peltekoglu]

Well I chuckled deeply as I read your harrowing experience. As a person who's career been in high tech for 35 years, I regret to say I am not surprised. Wait until the current lunacy about risk, security and access controls and management catches up with you. Now that is a befuddling area as never experienced before!