As a CIO, I rarely if ever do basic technology troubleshooting. Not because I don’t want too, but my staff usually discourages me from touching things these days.
Yesterday was an unusually slow day for me. So I decided to catch up on some personal housekeeping and organizing. So I decided to move my computer and to relocate to a new jack which was not lit.
Since it was a slow day and my techs were busy, I took it upon myself to patch my own jack. Something I haven’t done in a very long time. I saw it as an opportunity to get back to my roots.
In the data center I discovered a nest of cables and miss labels. Poor cable management to say the least. I wasn’t happy but after 2 hours I was able to trace my cable and patch to the new jack.
Afterwards, I had a short conversation with my network manager about this situation.
Needless to say, I should have been more attentive to such details instead of relying on staff.
In the future, I’ll be making more unannounced visits to the datacenter and maybe elsewhere.
A CIO's Voice 