| Ludicrous abstraction story. I was once managing a few large file servers, with bog standard users as well as devs using a pretty complex directory tree of "assets". There was a pretty high-up, specific directory level, which was where the ZFS file servers were given their different loads to handle. This was a directory level where new directories were created rarely (99% at the start of the project). For reasons of money as well as speed, I asked that the server admins (ie. me) be the ones to create any further directories needed at that particular level. The head dev refused to entertain the idea of not being able to create directories anywhere he wanted at any time, and therefore, a new system was brought in at five-figure costs in order to make the file servers into a large abstracted blob that users never had to think about the complexities of managing. I was given an opportunity to exit the IT dept and become a Python dev and I took it, shortly before that system came in, because it caused many problems which were much worse than needing to have an admin create a directory for you maybe once or twice, and the evident ignorance of everyone I spoke to at the vendor made it very clear ahead of time that it would. This was not the only such massive expenditure on a toxic boondoggle in the name of "simplicity" that I witnessed. |