Avoiding outages (part 2): Trying harder is not enough

A previous Uptime Intelligence Note suggested that avoiding data center outages might be as simple as trying harder. The Note suggested that management failures are the main reason that enterprises continue to experience downtime incidents, even in fault tolerant facilities. “The Intelligence Trap,” a new book by David Robson, sheds light on why management mistakes continue to plague data center operations. The book suggests that management must be aware of its own limitations if it is going to properly staff operations, develop training programs and evaluate risk. Robson also notes that modern education practices, especially for children in the US and Europe, have created notions about intelligence that eventually undermine management efforts and also inform opposing and intractable political arguments about wider societal issues such as climate change and the anti-vaccination movement.

Citing dozens of anecdotes and psychological studies, Robson carefully examines how the intelligence trap ensnares almost everyone, including notables such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Albert Einstein and other famous, high IQ individuals — even Nobel laureates. Brilliant as they are, many fall prey to a variety of hoaxes. Some believe a wide variety of conspiracy theories and junk science, in many cases persuading others to join them.