Privileged Position

I'm very much convinced that non-profits do lack self-respect because I feel, from my IT Manager's perspective, the they do not see themselves as a real business. This is unfortunate because the no-brainer is that their inefficiencies only hurt them from doing what they set out to do. This appears to be changing as more support-type business focus on non-profits and more technology related grants are offered. Still, not many non-profit organizations proactively seek upgrades to their network systems. Only through extra funding or dire need do the non-technologist in administration consider their infrastructure.

In my previous non-profit job it took some convincing to upgrade the servers from P2s to Xeons, and from NT 4.0 to Win 2000 (in 2003). With the help of grants the project was funded and approved. Of course only after the upgrades did the non-technical administration understand the benefits of upgrades they thought they did not need. "Yes, Boss, Outlook Web Access IS nice!" An uphill battle it was -- a victory nonetheless. So funding from grants helps non-technical people get motivated to make changes. Noted.

So then there is dire need. It is what my current organization is going through. My attempts to get budget details for an overhaul were met with significant resistance today. It wasn't until the end of the day that the Boss vocalized his intentions. He told me, essentially, that I'm in a privileged position. That he wants me to come up with a plan that will fix their entire mess. That I should consider this project having unlimited funding and that he will do everything he can to come up with the money. I "simply" must justify to him why we must do what I propose.

There is a caveat here somewhere, most likely in the justification part, but right now these are tears of joy. Day two ended in such stark contrast to day one. Yes, yes, I know. I too believe this is all too good to be true.