FieldNote: Big red button at the data center
Story 1: One day, a maintenance worker went downstairs to perform some work in the company’s data center. He walked up to the door, saw a big red button, with no label, and assumed it was the way to open the door. Why not have automatic doors that need a button? He pushed it, the door didn’t open, but every single electronic device in the data center instantly turned off. Oh well, he still needed to get into the room to do work. At least it was quite!
There is now a cover over the big red button. No sign yet, but at least a cover will protect against any more accidental pushing of the button.
Second story, similar tale, the big red button was on the inside of the data center, and sure enough, the maintenance worker pushed it to get out! It suddenly got very quiet in the room. It still didn’t open the door, but the worker eventually did get out. You can’t make this stuff up!
So please, make sure there is a large sign explaining what the big red button is for, ensure there is a protective cover, and try to let everyone that is near the door know, what the button is used for. That way, no one makes a potentially mass disruption to your company’s infrastructure.
Mike
