Not On My Watch- Change Management During Mercury Retrograde

A couple of months ago, I lost a friend to Cancer. Although closer to my mothers’ age than mine, I had worked with this lady on and off for 15 years. Not only was she a lovely person, but quite possibly the best Change Manager I had ever come across. Nothing, and I mean nothing, ever went wrong on her watch.

In recent years I had taken to sending her the dates for the Full Moon (anyone who has worked in IT for any length of time knows that support issues increase at the Full Moon) and the dates when Mercury is retrograde. Although she (for obvious reasons) kept it quiet in the office, she built these dates into her Change Calendar. The 3 or 4 business days around each station (when Mercury stationed retrograde and then again direct) were, to my friend, unofficial change freeze dates- she knew that all things Mercurial were at their most unpredictable on those days.

No IT change- software or hardware- was implemented during a Mercury retrograde unless it was absolutely unavoidable- and then she would test and re-test and test again...just in case. She would also check and re-check the documentation and the operating procedures and the instructions in the Change Control...then she would test those instructions. Nothing ever went wrong on her watch.

We all know that there are times when we have to do things, implement things, sign things, buy things that we are simply “not supposed to do” under a Mercury Retrograde. But, as we know, life doesn’t stop for 3 or 4 weeks a few times a year. So, we test, we review, we revise, we back up our computers, take copies of travel documents and insure our luggage. Just like my friend we do all this to ensure that nothing goes wrong on our watch either.