Blame

“So, when are you going to fix it…?”

That was a question from one of my customers related to a systems issue that began on Monday this week. One system not supported by me had been updated and a system that receives data from it, also not supported by me has gone wrong. I support the bit in the middle, the layer that authenticates, encrypts and transports the data between the two.

As with a lot of these types of issues, I am the middle man. I can see the data as it arrives and goes to each system, can read the responses and highlight the issues. But I am also the one facing off to the customers of these systems, so I get the blame and am expected to fix it.

Luckily, there is a workaround the customers can use for now, but it is more time consuming for them, so it still needs fixing.

I have provided the evidence of the problem to the system that receives and incorrectly processes the data, but I also know that the sending system has probably changed the format of that data slightly without telling anyone. But in their defence, the receiving system should be able to process everything it is sent, regardless of whether it has an extra value or not.

I am off work next week for 8 days, so I will probably miss the goings on and if it gets properly resolved or not. I might have to keep my eye on my emails just in case I need to give some input. Hopefully, my colleagues will handle it all for me.