Long-term (hours+) solution for power outage: PBX, lights, and computers

[Ben Scott]

On 9/3/06, Ted Roche <tedroche at tedroche.com> wrote:
> Spoken as a true engineer.

  Hah!  I resemble that remark!

  And, really, it's not just engineering that requires that kind of
cold thought, but business.  Business decisions always come to down to
money.  When you drag in non-money considerations, things just get
muddy, but money always wins the argument.  Decomposing everything to
cash values should be the goal.

> However. long-term costs are fuzzier ... they can lose reputation,
> industry standing and very large long-term contracts.

  Absolutely.  In the school of thought I subscribe to, the hardest
aspect of business is quantizing those "fuzzy costs".  How much is
reputation worth?  (Bought a Ford Pinto lately?  How about a Firestone
tire?  Flown on any zeppelins?)  What about employee morale?  The
ability to sleep at night?

  Fortunately, being an engineer, I can simply shift those hard
questions to other departments.  "Possible damage to our reputation?
Hmmm, better ask Sales."  ;-)

  But seriously: One has to start somewhere.  Start by getting the
numbers one *does* have down on paper, in concise form.  The Powers
That Be will then have all the information you can give them, to make
their decisions.

> Portions of this this equation are surely not completely rational, but that's how
> you get to be the boss.

  Indeed.  Many times, business (and life) comes down to luck.  With
all the information available, the answer still becomes, "We cannot
know."  So the person in charge picks an arbitrary answer.  If the
answer turns out to be right, we shower them in riches and call them
business geniuses.  If it turns out to be wrong, they are hated by
their employees and forgotten by history.

  Life is hard.

-- Ben