Risk Management and Computer system

As a computer system administrator, while I may not be in charge of any critical systems, I believe I have an understanding of managing complex systems and trying to merge that responsibility with the demands of my management for and on those systems. In my experience, I have come to believe that the best-run systems are those which have as little interference on management's part.

I can understand the need for rules and regulations (in my world, it's more along the lines of documentation, systems patching, and backup, the most dreary parts of administration) and while they are important, those can easily become the sole focus of systems management, forgetting the role these machines are supposed to be playing--providing a particular service.

This topic is and has always been interesting to me. Michael Crichton has a treatise on complex systems management in one of his latest novels. I'm attempting to finish reading the book, Sources Of Power, that attempts to understand human responses to emergency management.

To cut to the quick of the matter, as a professional, pilot or system administrator (or whatever), management should and must recognize they hired these people to do a job. Let them do it. It works in economics, it should work in complex systems management.
Frederic Gaspoz Frederic Gaspoz Frederic Gaspoz Gaspoz Frederic Gaspoz Frédéric Gaspoz