Group Efforts 21

Group Efforts
The Diary of a Workgroup Manager

Episode 8 (1994)

Bernard dabbles in high technology, Amrat takes umbrage and Llewellyn bears a grudge.

Thurs 4th
Arriving via the Fire Exit I see Danny, his back to me, wearing headphones and piloting a jet fighter. I instruct him to land immediately, and conduct a full investigation which reveals that he has upgraded his PC to multimedia spec without my knowledge, including an internal CD-ROM drive which I'd assumed was a tape streamer installed by Amrat for server-independent backups. Under interrogation Cathy says that she refused to set it up for him but didn't think it her place to squeal on him either. June and Rose say it's fine by them as the headphones mean they can't hear anything. I have a budget meeting to attend, but tell Danny I'll deal with it when I get back.

Wed 10th
After some consideration I've decided that Danny's CD-ROM drive will have to come out. I'm about to tell him this when he asks if I'd like to see his latest disc, Microsoft's Cinemania. It's fantastic - reviews, cast lists, stars' biographies, the life story of the Great Dream Factory available at the click of a mouse. I'm about to tell him that the drive will still have to go when Amrat informs me that it can be shared across the Windows network, which means that I can have Cinemania piped in to the comfort of my own office. I ask Amrat if this would be a major step forward in the company's realisation of peer-to-peer potential. He replies that it definitely, undoubtedly would. I give the go-ahead.

Thurs 18th
Amrat reminds me that I still haven't resolved his dispute with Cathy over moving the document pool to a shared PC. The pros are that it'll give Amrat some real peer-to-peer progress to impress I.T. with, the cons that it'll probably bring our entire department to a halt. On balance I think caution is best, and ask Amrat if making the peer-shared LaserJet 4 everyone's default printer would count as showing willing. He says not, and skulks off to I.T. to do some C++ programming 'for a department where they aren't frightened of information technology and welcome its benefits.' Cathy says it's actually Solvents Stores, where they're so desperate to get the system working that they'll try anything. I remind her that smugness is a vice, and head for some homeward-bound refreshment.

Fri 19th
Twin CD-ROM troubles - an email message from I.T. asking what the hell I'm doing sticking unauthorised hardware in my workstations, and Cinemania speechless on my PC because I don't have a sound card. Danny says a pre-emptive strike is the best way to deal with the first problem, while the SoundBlaster clone I confiscated from him six months ago will take care of second. Both options are deeply unattractive, but I agree to let him proceed. Twenty minutes later my PC has lost a free expansion slot and gained a pair of cheap speakers. Rose, June and Sheila tell me to shut my office door if I'm going to play games, as they have work to do even if I don't. Feeling compromised but compelled, I type 'Maltese Falcon' and wait for a response.

Tues 23rd
Triumph at the management meeting as I announce an independent initiative in the peer-to-peer project, namely our installation of the company's first, workgroup-shared CD-ROM drive. George Barker asks what one of those is and why we didn't get it from I.T. like all the rest of that computer junk. I reply that it's the new standard in high-volume data storage and that we couldn't wait any longer for I.T. to catch up with current technology. Llewellyn, fixing me with his best lizard-like stare, coldly asks what software we're running from this device, and I reply that we're still in early trials, using high-volume sound and image data to test network throughput. Under questioning from Brison, Llewellyn admits that CD-ROMs are reliable and cost-effective and should really have been trialled by now. Brison congratulates me, and asks to be kept informed of progress. I leave a hero of the Line Management classes, but know there will be a price to be paid later.