[wellylug] Linux admin advice

[Cliff Pratt]

Brent Wood wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I just had 2x 500Mhz desktops with Linux, apache, tomcat,
 > php, Postgres & Postgis supplied for a project.
> 
> The people supplying them were free to choose the distro
 > they felt appropriate, and are competent Linux/Unix admins.
> 
> I am concerned over the amount of time they are claiming
 > for this work. Obviously I have a preconceived idea of
 > what is reasonable, but would like other's opinions.
> 
IMHO, you should be talking to THEM. Say that you think that 
they are being overgenerous with the time that they are 
claiming and ask them to justify it. If you want to work 
harmoniously with these people there should be few "secrets" 
between you.

When they give you the schedule of work, and if you still 
reckon it is too much, ask them if they would mind if you 
had the estimates checked by a third party. They should not 
object.

What are you going to do if you get answers from this group 
that reinforce your view? Are you then going to confront 
them with this information? If I was them and I found out 
that you had been double checking their numbers via a 
mailing list, even this one, I'd be pretty ticked off.

PS You'd better hope that they don't subscribe to this list!

Cheers,

Cliff