Posts by JTUK 6 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Oct 2013
Yep. I totally feel for this guy, but as the IT manager he should have got more involved. If a HR manager says they've got an IT installation project in hand then alarm bells should be ringing. Two sides to every story. He might have come across as wanting to be involved with the design when he should have been asking to see where the IT kit was going and if he needed to order anything.
Can't remember where I saw it, but there was a long list of reasons posted by the Gov as to why this wasn't possible. e.g. Walls, open spaces, train carriages, metal. Causing contacts to seem either further away or closer, with obvious disastrous effects either way.
It's no real surprise that Google/Apple have a simpler and more limited set of distance values and don't try to estimate it, because you can't.
I can however see why they've got themselves tied up in this knot. A de-centralised anonymous approach means it's harder to issue a strict instruction to self-isolate and test. It's not a tool for contact tracing, it can only really serve a contact awareness role.
It'll only take a handful of people receiving notifications to self isolate who know for sure they haven't been within 2 meters for the word to get out that the app gets it wrong, then no one will take it seriously at all.
The only tech I can see useful is an app that tracks movement and attempts to gauge contacts as an alternative for full isolation for traced contacts and similar tech may have a role as a quarantine alternative.
To be fair, that job shouldn't have taken 2 hours+. Being charged 2 hours labor to replace a £5 is the sort of thing you associate with dodgy mechanics and rip off TV shows.
I had a similar job back nearer 2000. There had been a lightning storm and since then a home PC's sound had failed. I arrived and within 2 minutes of arrival figured out that the speaker was unplugged. Plug in the speaker, sound working. In and out in under 10 minutes with £20 in my pocket. I'm sure if the mouse had been diagnosed in 10 minutes then he'd be pretty pleased with the easy £20 he could of made.
Having worked in large and small organisations, I can tell you that support of your manager means more than organisation size or any other factor. If you recap this article, Office Politics are the greatest risk, there are far less politics in smaller companies. In a 30 man company, there may only be 2-4 managers.
If you have a good aspie who is applying his intrinsic interest to your workplace, supported by a good manger then he can really shine in a small company. Having an expert who can apply his skills successfully can make or break a small business.
JT
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