Recently in the PowerShell community on Google Plus, there was a discussion about software for creating graphical PowerShell scripts. This is a discussion I've seen many times over the years and extends beyond something to create graphical PowerShell tools. Sadly, the root issue of this discussion centers on the mind-set of today's IT Pro, and probably by extension to management of these professionals. Here's my two cents on the subject based on years of experience as an IT Pro and my involvement with the IT Pro and PowerShell communities over the last 10 years or so.
ManageEngine ADManager Plus - Download Free Trial
Exclusive offer on ADManager Plus for US and UK regions. Claim now!
The general argument is that an IT Pro wants a tool to help them do their job but don't want to spend that much (if any money). In PowerShell this discussion most likely is centered on products from SAPIEN Technologies. [Disclaimer: While I have worked for SAPIEN in the past, and am a fan of their products, this article is my unsolicited opinion alone.] Compared to other products in the market, SAPIEN solutions appear to be expensive when looking at the total in your shopping cart. But it could be application "Great Balls of Awesomeness" from Vandelay Industries. It doesn't really matter.
What often happens is that the IT Pro says while they like product X, it really needs to cost half as much or they are looking for a free alternative. Don't get me wrong, I like free as much as the next professional, but realize you are still "paying" something. Often you are "paying" in the way of limited features and/or limited (if any) support. Sure, they may get the job done, but do they accomplish everything you need? How often is the product upgraded? What can you do when you run into a problem?
The larger issue in my opinion, is that IT Pros have been "trained" to get by with very little. Whether it is a piece of software that can make them more productive or a little training. If an IT Pro wants something, they often need to find an inexpensive, usually free, alternative. Contrast this with what I've seen and heard about in the developer community. If a developer needs a piece of software for their job or need to get some training it seems to me they have a much easier task. I don't mean to pit IT Pro against Developer. I'm merely pointing out that there appear to be cultural differences which I can only attribute to respective management layers. Perhaps, in many organizations developers are seen as adding value and IT Pros are a fixed cost. I can only hope that as the DevOps culture spreads, this will change.
Since I can't do anything about your corporate culture let's look at this from another angle. My Mom always said, "You get what you pay for" and I've generally found that to be true. Yes, Great Balls of Awesomeness or PowerShell Studio may command a larger asking price than you think you want to spend. In this case you need to take the time to calculate your own ROI. I'm amazed at how many IT Pros (and probably managers) look at the dollar sign and immediately dismiss it as "too expensive". Don't be that person.
In terms of software, most products offer a free trial period. In SAPIEN's case it is 45 days. And that is usually 45 days of complete functionality. Take advantage of it. Install the product and explore all of the features. Are there features you would take advantage of that perhaps you weren't aware of at first glance? What features do you not need. If the latter list is greater than the first, then this probably isn't the right product for you. But then take it a step further. I'm assuming you are looking at a product to solve some problem or task. Let's take PowerShell Studio as an example. While it is a very feature rich program, many PowerShell pros are looking at it to help create graphical scripts.
First, create a simple graphical PowerShell script manually or using other free or less expensive tools. How long did it take and what is the quality of the result? Repeat the process using PowerShell Studio. Compare how long it tool and the quality of the end result. In this scenario, based on my own experience I'm betting you could easily spend 4 hours working on a script manually yet accomplish the same result with PowerShell Studio in about an hour. Now do the math. To keep the numbers easy let's say your time is worth $50 an hour. This means you spent $200 creating something manually. Using PowerShell Studio only cost you $50 or a savings of $150. Rounding up you spent $500 for the product and support. By the 3 or 4th script the product has paid for itself. Plus you now have 3 hours to devote to something else! While I was using PowerShell Studio as an example you plug in any product.
But I don't want you to take my word for it. Take the time to do your own research. Come up with hard numbers especially in dollars or euros or whatever. If you don't take the time to recognize the value to your work, you are probably working much harder than you need. This type of ROI testing should also make it an easier "sell" to management.
IT Pros have long shown a reluctance or inability to spend money for tools and services that can make them more productive and save the company money. This is something that needs to change. I hope you'll do your part.
So…am I totally out of touch with reality? What do you think? I hope you'll let me know
I think it boils down to the fact that, while IT Pros may *save* money, Developers *make* money. As an IT Pro, the company has already paid for me and my time. If some tool would let me do a task faster or more consistently, that’s extra money spent. Sure, it creates time, but they’ve already paid for my time. Sure, I can do more work and show more value in that newly freed time, but they expect me to do that on my own anyway, without the added expense of extra tools. Unless you have a good boss, who understands the value of your time (like my current one does), you’re stuck. After years of no funding, I’ve been trained and I still look for free solutions before even thinking of asking to spend money.
I agree with that assessment and this is where DevOps may make a difference. Saving and making money at the same time seems like a no-brainer to me. Although one could argue a developer has been paid for their time as well yet nobody seems to begrudge them the tools and training they need. I guess I see all of this as antiquated and we may need an entirely new generation of IT management to see any change.
Hey Jeff,
A very interesting article indeed and I find myself in this struggle as well as IT Pro.
Personally my main preference for free solutions lies in the fact that it’s easy to apply in multiple situations, so for multiple customers without having to pay for software in each case.
But in the case of PowerShell, while the free solution is widely available, tools such as PowerShell Studio and in my case ISE Steroids v2 can really help improve efficiency, thus saving time [and indirectly money].
I think one of the more annoying thing as an IT Pro is is that you aren’t able to make those decisions on purchasing tools yourself, you always need approval from your superior.
In such a case you need to “defend” your reasoning, which can be annoying when you’re also having to do that for other things such as training etc.
While at first the investment might not be as appealing because you also have to find out what the program does, how it does it etc [and this also takes time, which of course equals money], in the long run it will come to show that there’s not just increased efficiency, but also options that were never available to you in a traditional solution.
Just like the constant training required as an IT Pro, investing in the right tools can be just as valuable as investing in knowledge..
Thanks for your thoughts. I’m glad you mentioned ISE Steroids. That’s another product that costs money but based on what I’ve heard from others, I’ve not put it through its paces myself, is worth the investment.
Perhaps another discussion completely, but which tools do you prefer?
Do you use PowerShell Studio on a regular basis?
Or perhaps something else, or a combination of tools?
Whenever I need to GUI-fy something absolutely PowerShell Studio. But because I jump back and forth between virtual machines and a few laptops, I usually stick with the ISE because it is everywhere and has just what I need. Most of the PowerShell I’m working on isn’t that complicated and I have years of snippets and scripts to work from.
Your article really puts it into perspective Jeffery. I am very fortunate and it was a really easy sell for me to get my boss to spend the money on Powershell studio. It’s very intuitive especially if you have any experience with Visual Studio. I also recommend WMI Explorer 2014 another tool I can’t live without from Sapien. I am a huge fan of the Sapien tools and they would be a deal at twice the price.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m curious about how you presented the case to your boss and if you have any insights as to what the boss was looking at.
In general I get any tool that makes sense for the business, a simple justification that I spend this much time and for this investment I will spend this much time works well, as does this much down time cost this much and this tool will reduce this by so much time because of these improvements, if you can use real examples of downtime. This is the way the business does its business and everyone understands. You build credibility by documenting the results achieved and show you know what you are talking about. Many, many times I have got tools for administrators by simple proposals.
Ignore people who sit around complaining that those above don’t care, these are folks to avoid, It might take awhile to build some examples and learn the proper way to take to the approvers, but making the business run better through investment is fundamental.
I’m all for that and it sounds like common sense to me. Unfortunately we seem to have an IT Pro culture that can’t or won’t see that.
It’s true that the Dev people seem to have more access to training and tools than IT Pro’s and infrastructure people. It’s always struck my as odd because would they do any work without an infrastructure to operate against? Most Devs I have met, even the really good ones, no almost nothing about AD, Exchange etc.
Infrastructure IT pro’s are often treated as plumbers or electricians i.e. no one talks to them or notices them unless something is busted.
TechEd, in at least in my region, for my years exhibited the same bias where a fairly high percentage of the sessions were on dev topics.
Hopefully the rise of Dev-Ops, which I think is a very good idea, will level the playing field.
I also think that it’s cased by the fact that most Dev’s report to someone who was or is still a developer/software architect whilst IT Pro’s are more likely to report a more general manager who seems to have, in general, far less experience and knowledge than the team he his managing.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Tools are just a means to an end…
“The larger issue in my opinion, is that IT Pros have been “trained” to get by with very little.”
True… I’ve found that having to get “by” with very little has helped enormously in creativity. Having the right tool doesn’t (always) automatically translate in higher productivity or better end results. Much like having a state-of-the-art Food processor, doesn’t make one a professional cook… 🙂
PowerShell & GUI are just two terms that shouldn’t mix… 😉 “Real men don’t click” Hehe… I kid of course… Yes, when it comes to creating GUI’s, SAPIEN is a godsend. But when it comes to Automating Processes/Tasks, GUI isn’t your friend… I’ve had this discussion with a colleague who is a fan of creating GUI tools. “Have at it, just as long as your tool can also accept CLI parameters… “
I’ve used SAPIEN Primalscript back in the heyday primarily for VBS Scripting. These days I’m all about PowerShell :-). PowerShell ISE with ISE Steroids is my go to scripting tool for PowerShell. I Enjoy ISE Steroids for the simple fact that it integrates with ISE. Truth be told at this point I’m probably only using 30% of its features. I invested personally in it, didn’t feel like going through the hassle… The price was right. I especially enjoy the refactoring feature. It cleans up my scripts nicely!!!
If the tool will increase your efficiency and productivity, then by all means invest in it. Success comes from selecting the right tool pertaining to the level of your skills. It’s just a means and never an end…
I’ve used Powershell Studio 2014 for the past 5 months.
I’ve already created a machine info script for regular users to give us information.
Created an OSD front end.
Created a Remote Support GUI that cuts my time finding Computers, Users and Groups in AD down. I’m often connected to a machine by the time the user is done telling me their computer name. Lets me see group membership, office location, machine info, etc. I can also launch psexec, event viewer, a remote powershell session, etc.
I’ve definitely gotten more use out of it than what we paid for it.
Did you have to justify the expense to anyone and if so how? That seems to be the issue. Many IT Pros and managers look at the sticker (and it could be anything not just a SAPIEN product) and immediately dismiss it without taking the time to determine if it would be a worthy investment.
Yes, my boss tried to make a GUI after seeing one I borrowed. He saw the value in it right there. But, our budget consists of justify it and you’ll probably get it.
Dismissing things because they cost money is hard thing to unlearn. My previous job anything that wasn’t free was outside the scope of our budget. I can see how that attitude might stick with some people because they were able to create a workable solution despite the time it took. Time being the last thing a majority of IT people consider a resource.
Thanks for sharing. I also think for some IT Pros they take it as a point of personal pride (or martrydom?) that they solved a problem on their own without spending any money. Of course there are some IT Pros who can pull this off, but I think for many others they are selling themselves short.
The Internet is NOT free, quality hardware is not free and quality software is not free. I am no IT Pro here…. but our Mom is correct you get what you pay for! I equate this to the tourons that walk in the motel where I work at #1 beach town in USA, direct Gulf front views on Americas #1 beach. Nice clean rooms…. and I understand that they don’t understand. They want to pay 49.00 a night – and honestly believe they should get that kind of price. Of course I am the jerk now responsible for ruining their Florida vacation because we don’t have 49.00 rooms and the Internet is full of lies by the vacation/ hotel web marketers like Priceline… “Name Your Price” well not here…. I just tell them to get back on the Interstate and round about Georgia in some off the interstate hovel they might find that price.
My belief is that the IT pro field is evolving with the addition of mobile devices entering the workplace. I’ve been focusing on making tools which synch data between the servers and the web so users can use mobile devices more efficiently while in the field. Extending our secured work environment beyond our firewall allows users to stay where they make money. Selling these types of solutions allows me to get the resources I need — including support software and training. BTW – I love the PS &CMD command line; so much faster than a GUI plus they’re both native to any Windows machine I visit.