# Vent **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641 "2013-10-17T18:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/1 "2013-10-17T18:28:56Z")
Just got a directive from an outside “efficiency auditor” demanding information on our environment (number of physical and virtual servers, purpose, average CPU load on each, etc) – to be provided by the close of business today. Because nothing improves efficiency like having to drop what we’re doing to provide information to an outside party who knows nothing of what we do or why. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/2 "2013-10-17T19:08:53Z")
Doug: My empathies. If you need to go into the bathroom or a closet and scream at the top of your lungs, it’s understandable. 🙂 – Susan Novell Community Chat Moderator [http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq\_rules](http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules) [http://www.ncci.org](http://www.ncci.org) NCCIrregulars Web Site [https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars](https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars) Please read the following before posting in here: [http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy](http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/3 "2013-10-17T19:12:35Z")
Susan, It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t strongly suspect that the request was actually made days or weeks ago and sat on some middle manager’s desk until today. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/4 "2013-10-17T19:27:04Z")
> and sat on some middle manager’s desk until today That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Calling in efficiency experts is the last resort of management that doesn’t know what it’s doing, and can’t figure out why it isn’t doing it better. 🙂 – Susan Novell Community Chat Moderator [http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq\_rules](http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules) [http://www.ncci.org](http://www.ncci.org) NCCIrregulars Web Site [https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars](https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars) Please read the following before posting in here: [http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy](http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy) ---
**Author:** ![kgroneman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f1d935/32.png) [@kgroneman](https://forums.suse.com/u/kgroneman)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/5 "2013-10-17T19:44:49Z")
I’d reply with “Your request has been placed in the priority queue. Given the late hour of the request, we can’t give any guarantees of meeting the deadline requested do to other high priority tasks in progress”. Then I’d go back to playing solitare and send them the requested data tomorrow. – Kim - 10/17/2013 10:42:40 AM ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/6 "2013-10-17T22:03:10Z")
Susan, [color=blue] > That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Calling in efficiency experts > is the last resort of management that doesn’t know what it’s doing, and > can’t figure out why it isn’t doing it better. 🙂 > [/color] They’re pretty clueless, all right. They appear to believe that poor morale can be resolved by micromanagement. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/7 "2013-10-17T22:41:16Z")
Douglas Black sounds like they ‘said’: [color=blue] > They’re pretty clueless, all right. They appear to believe that poor > morale can be resolved by micromanagement.[/color] So my response to Douglas’s comment is… Wait…it can’t? Well there goes everything I’ve been told/micromanaged by bosses previous… – Stevo ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/8 "2013-10-17T22:48:22Z")
Micromanagement is another resort of the poor manager. Sigh. I feel for you, Doug! : ) – Susan Novell Community Chat Moderator [http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq\_rules](http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules) [http://www.ncci.org](http://www.ncci.org) NCCIrregulars Web Site [https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars](https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars) Please read the following before posting in here: [http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy](http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/9 "2013-10-18T11:23:05Z")
On 17/10/2013 16:28, Douglas Black wrote:[color=blue] > Just got a directive from an outside “efficiency auditor” demanding > information on our environment (number of physical and virtual servers, > purpose, average CPU load on each, etc) – to be provided by the close > of business today. Because nothing improves efficiency like having to > drop what we’re doing to provide information to an outside party who > knows nothing of what we do or why.[/color] “We do not currently record average CPU load; While we can of course do so, it will take us a few weeks to gain an accurate baseline, in the meantime, please supply written, signed confirmation from senior management here that you are to be given what is clearly confidential internal systems information.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/10 "2013-10-18T12:15:34Z")
On 18/10/2013 09:23, Dave Howe wrote:[color=blue] > “We do not currently record average CPU load; While we can of course do > so, it will take us a few weeks to gain an accurate baseline, in the > meantime, please supply written, signed confirmation from senior > management here that you are to be given what is clearly confidential > internal systems information.”[/color] Oh, and on that note, make sure it really _is_ a company initiative. The other options are some auditor for a customer looking for info, or even a sales droid from a “server consolidation” company looking for info to make a pitch… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/11 "2013-10-18T15:21:04Z")
Susan, [color=blue] > Micromanagement is another resort of the poor manager. Sigh. I feel for > you, Doug! : ) > [/color] Oh well, at least I can laugh about it. [http://www.savagechickens.com/2012/05/employee-morale.html](http://www.savagechickens.com/2012/05/employee-morale.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/12 "2013-10-18T15:31:44Z")
Dave Howe,[color=blue] > “We do not currently record average CPU load; While we can of course do > so, it will take us a few weeks to gain an accurate baseline, in the > meantime, please supply written, signed confirmation from senior > management here that you are to be given what is clearly confidential > internal systems information.” > > 🙂 > [/color] That’s a great idea, and I would definitely do it if I already had another job lined up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/vent/24641/13 "2013-10-18T15:51:20Z")
On 18/10/2013 13:31, Douglas Black wrote:[color=blue] > Dave Howe,[color=green] > > > “We do not currently record average CPU load; While we can of course do > > so, it will take us a few weeks to gain an accurate baseline, in the > > meantime, please supply written, signed confirmation from senior > > management here that you are to be given what is clearly confidential > > internal systems information.” > > > > 🙂 > > [/color] > > That’s a great idea, and I would definitely do it if I already had > another job lined up. :)[/color] Heh, yeah. There are a fair few responses I have swallowed over the years that would have been career-terminating 🙂 but stating that less than 24 hours is insufficient to generate statistically meaningful data is fair enough, and you can offer them a “rough” estimate, on the understanding that it will be corrected later when you get a more accurate number - they give them whatever number is least helpful for their planned “advice” (anything above 70% utilization is a really bad candidate for virtualization, for example, but is fine for something like a blade server)