Hectic Week at Work


This past week started with news from one of our resellers that they could no longer get a critical piece of hardware from Dell, and that it had been discontinued. And this came just a few weeks after I received assurances from Dell that this wouldn't happen until April at the earliest. So I rushed to test and approve a comparable part from HP. Unfortunately, the HP model costs 50% more than the Dell model, mostly because it is overkill for our needs. Calls to Dell confirmed that we couldn't get the unit anymore. But I couldn't get them to definitively confirm it had been discontinued. This back and forth with Dell went on for two days. They weren't telling me the whole story. I had an investigation on my hands.

I emailed some close associates of mine in other companies that also contribute technology to our product. One of them called me back within two hours:

Him: David, regarding the discontinued product from Dell?
Me: Yes?
Him: You need to press them harder about it.
Me: Oh really?
Him: Yes, question them more.
Me: Hmm ... Well now I'm upset.
Him: I can understand that.
Me: Can you tell how many more months I should question them for?
Him: <laugh> No, I don't know that answer. I just know that right now you should.
Me: Well, thank you. I owe you one.
Him: No problem.

The investigation will continue next week.

Posted: Sat - January 17, 2004 at 09:49 PM        

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