Re: Getting much higher than that (98 or 99 percent on a regular basis), however, involves ferreting out deep issues that may only surface under unusual circumstances. It takes discipline and focus to get there, and metrics can really help.

I agree 100%.

Re: Metrics should never be used as a defense.

I believe it’s important to empathize with the IT client so I agree with your points when talking to clients (terrific analogy BTW).

I think, however, it’s important to use measurements in discussions with the clients’ management to put the availability trade-off into perspective. For instance, for your investment of $X, we can limit unavailability to 1% plus or minus 0.5%, which translates to 2,500 to 7,500 minutes of application unavailability each year. And saying something like, “here is an example (the measurements) on how that looked last year.” If that’s unacceptable, then for an additional investment of $Y we can reduce unavailability by minutes per year.

Availability is truly a trade-off proposition. If the clients’ management is absent from deciding what an acceptable return and for the money it’s willing to pay, then IT management is making that choice for the business. And that’s larceny.

Re: metrics should never be used to tell the world what a great job you are doing.

I like this insight. I think, however, the world is used to organizations constantly bragging and the receivers hear the announcements as noise.

I believe strongly that when metrics show the IT organization has met its goals or on its path to meeting its goals, a celebration is warranted. Why? Constantly signals to every member of the organization the importance of availability.

Celebrate both prevention (efforts that prevent previous outages from reoccurring or mitigate the risks of potential outages) and reaction (efforts the reduced the duration of outages). But don’t over emphasize reaction, which is the typical action. Too often IT organizations only celebrate the reactions, which, in my experience, creates unhealthy internal dynamics.

Wishing you zero outages. Best regards, -Steve

Real improvement involves integration and understanding, but not at the expense of user service. I never saw the ad Wally Bock spoke of…but it really put the spotlight on IBMs focus on real customer service. Too many groups serve only the top few percentage to keep them happy and ignore the ‘workers’ of the organization.