> It's clear that the industry best practice is to use a real time source, but > there is a flip side: If you deviate from the industry best practice, how > much do you risk? When instructed to deviate from best practice, should you > be upset and insist that your boss put the request in writing, creating > friction between yourself and him/her? Should you refuse to do it completely? > Should you just roll with it? > > If you have a specific need, then it's important to cater to that need, and > you might have to insist against deviation from best practice. But if > instead, all you have to worry about is AD remaining functional, and > approximate correct timestamps on files and such, and users knowing the > correct time to show up at meetings, then your need is much less strict.
Edward, Remember that "industry best practice" truly is "practice". These are generally accepted ways of doing things that have a high probability of working well. However, almost everyone needs to deviate from these practices in some manner due to local needs. The real question isn't "do I deviate from best practice?" but instead "how do I deal with the need to deviate from best practices in a manner that fits my organization, our tolerance for risk and the business culture?". For example, I've found it advisable to: 1. Research best practice 2. Identify where we will need to deviate and why 3. Document specifically why we need to deviate [this is a form of risk assessment] 4. Verify with my supervisors that thy agree with my risk assessment, modifying the assessment if needed I would NEVER recommend refusing to do something unless you're also prepared to find a different employer. However, nothing prevents you from documenting your risk assessment and ensuring that affected parties are on the same page. Tony _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
