Shark Tank

Opinion

Hey, he DID ask!

Computer reseller gets a call one morning from the IT director at a nearby public school system. The problem: Every PC in one school's computer lab has gone silent.

08/14/18

Opinion

Why IT contractors get gray

Pilot fish is sent to a customer site to deal with a routine issue: getting a terminal controller to do what the customer wants. But that's not quite all that's going on.

08/13/18

Opinion

Just another day in the IT life

IT pilot fish is sent to a customer site in New York City, and the trip starts fine with a ride there in a company plane and a helicopter. Then it gets interesting.

08/10/18

Opinion

Throwback Thursday: Back to Plan A

It's a scorching summer day at this manufacturing plant and the heat on the shop floor is almost intolerable, when suddenly the network goes down -- and tempers rise.

08/09/18

Opinion

Welcome to your new career!

It's July when this IT pilot fish and a co-worker are sent to a customer's site to deal with an issue-plagued system -- but they'll be home by Christmas, right?

08/08/18

Opinion

Grand Theft IT? Not quite

This company's sales team is getting new laptops, and they're being upgraded 80 at a time -- but that isn't the only reason not much is lost when thieves break in.

08/07/18

Opinion

Whatever happened to taking a test drive?

It's the early 1980s, and this corporate department decides to replace its old minicomputers with a low-mileage, previously owned IBM System/38 -- from a seller in Japan.

08/06/18

Opinion

The Genius

This data center is run by a tech who thinks very highly of himself, and makes sure everyone else knows it. Then comes the day when he needs help with a small problem...

08/03/18

Opinion

Throwback Thursday: Pop quiz

Support pilot fish divides users into two groups -- the ones who will help diagnose problems and the ones who won't -- and he has a way to figure out which is which.

08/02/18

Opinion

Another successful development project!

This pilot fish is tapped to lead development of a critical application, and after some training it's time to answer a key question: How soon can the new app roll out?

08/01/18

Opinion

Forget the facts -- we want something to blame!

This data center relies heavily on one major IT vendor, but the company's CEO is having second thoughts about that situation -- and thinks he knows what to do about it.

07/31/18

Opinion

Never mind that it works, think how it LOOKS!

Flashback a couple decades to the days when this IT pilot fish at a big company has databases to administer, 100-plus PCs to maintain -- and a freshly sprained ankle.

07/30/18

Opinion

How to negotiate (Extreme Clarity edition)

This small software vendor pitches its system to a sales prospect whose CEO is particularly hard nosed -- and a very tough negotiator who gets straight to the point.

07/27/18

Opinion

Throwback Thursday: Is this the end for Y2K?

It's early 2008 when this systems support pilot fish starts getting reports that a special Y2K tool has stopped working -- and that turns out to be a big problem.

07/26/18

Opinion

Unique, redefined

Engineering group at this manufacturer comes up with a new quality-control initiative: Assign a unique identifier to each part. And there's just one potential hitch...

07/25/18

Opinion

No good deed goes unpunished -- for anyone involved

This hospital's computer room has a history of intermittent and hard-to-pin-down issues -- and while a consultant has the cure, he tries to be just a bit too helpful.

07/24/18

Opinion

Nice to know our financial world is in safe hands

This company is the target of a pretty conventional spear-phishing attack, but it doesn't actually get very far -- largely thanks to employees just paying attention.

07/23/18

Opinion

It was a JOKE, OK?

This company is upgrading to use smart cards, but one pilot fish isn't thinking about that when he sees a pop-up message about an update that strikes him as odd.

07/20/18

Opinion

Throwback Thursday: How to guarantee business will grow

It's early 2005, and this pilot fish works for an online retailer where a software developer is sure the business will never need a large database to run the business.

07/19/18

Opinion

Internet meets tornado. Guess who wins?

IT pilot fish living just outside a small town can't get broadband or DSL, but he does manage to acquire internet service -- and then a tornado comes roaring his way.

07/18/18