Tom, I haven't had a chance to watch your keynote, yet...but I will! So my apologies if you already went into more specifics in the keynote.
On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 18:48, Tom Limoncelli <[email protected]> wrote: > "My boss doesn't understand my job" is a "worry". "My congressperson > doesn't understand my job." is a /problem/. A serious problem that > affects us more than we realize. > [devils_advocate] I don't think $government_representative really understands the job of an anesthesiologist, other than, "They knock you out before somebody cuts you open." ...not unless that individual has prior professional experience in the practice of medicine. I don't think they really understand the job of a general contractor, other than, "That's the guy I talk to when I want something built." ...not unless that individual has prior professional experience in the construction industry. So how is it any different that $government_representative only knows that the system administrator is the guy to talk to when the computer/network/copier doesn't work, or when they can't log in to Facebook or Twitter? [/devils_advocate] > IMHO there are 3 levels of problems: personal, organizational, as a > profession. The biggest problem (this is my opinion only) in each > area is: > * Personal: health and well-being. i.e. We're at risk of heart disease and > diabetes. We need to raise awareness so that people are motivated > to do something about it. ("LOPSA Biggest Loser" contest?) > * Organizational: un-even spread of knowledge. Why are some sites struggling > with problems that other sites consider "solved". Why does > a book like > TPOSANA, which doesn't say anything new to anyone that > regularly attends > LISA, still read like a new and foreign ideas when read by many > sites? > * As a profession: Invisibility and lack of credibility in the press > and in congress. Media > doesn't know how to contact us. Congress thinks that talking > to vendors is > good enough. > > What do these three problems have in common? They are all the kinds > of things that a single person can not solve; it requires community > action. This is why LOPSA is important. I'm _not_ proposing that LOPSA is unimportant. But as you noted, LOPSA does run a very high risk of spreading itself too thin. The first two levels, Personal and Organizational, I think are well within the scope of education and outreach. But your examples of problems for the profession still lack the specificity I'm trying to find. I realize that is only because you are trying to express the concept in broad terms but in few words, but I still think we need to do better than that to determine the best way to advocate appropriate change with our limited resources. Or at least it's not enough for me to feel comfortable with choosing one possible solution over another. And I do agree that invisibility and lack of credibility are an issue, but can we nail that down more? "Media doesn't know how to contact us." - Why do we want them to contact us? - ...about what? - ...and when? "Congress thinks that talking to vendors is good enough." - Again, about what? [joking] C'mon! We're system adminstrators! What's the problem? What are the solution requirements? What are the constraints? ;) [/joking] _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
