Stability vs. Cutting Edge

We would all like to think of ourselves as bleeding edge, top of the line tech managers, staff or whatever your range of business.
But reality kicks in sometimes.

I know, I'm a Miami Dolphins fan and right now, there are
many questions, few answers. The biggest, how did a great team hit rock bottom?

In the IT world, it's easier sometimes to see the slide coming because the signs are there and no one is reading them, usually because we have no time.

Last post I showed a graphic of a Lotus Domino server which ran, without fail or stoppage for 177 days. Which is cool, great and impressive from a stability perspective.
BUT, what if that is a bad sign from an operations perspective?

If you can't answer these questions well enough for your CXO, maybe you should revisit what you are doing for your clients and/or employers.

Does this imply my client is adverse to change or was I told not to do something?
Is change control systems (if you use them) threatening your advancement and opportunities ?
Did we/me not manage their servers properly?
Who should have upgraded the Lotus server application level
Who should have upgraded the Windows server Operating System level?
Are we missing something we could benefit from either of these 2 upgrades, do we even know what?
Quarterly updates come out almost regularly for Lotus and IBM software, why did these not get installed?
Microsoft releases updates monthly usually, evidently these were turned off since usually we have to reboot the server once the patches are installed, are we open to security vulnerabilities now?
Do we do IT Audits in our company? If so, why did they not say anything to us about this as well?
Are we a leadership organization or a follower? Take a look at our competitors market cap or stock price or recent quarter/annual numbers and see, you may not like the answer.

If IT is essential, why are we not treating it that way?

Your car needs oil and an oil change or it will come to a grinding halt, your server may be more forgiving, or not, but the marketplace is not and rewards those that advance or live on the cutting edge.

So in the end which are you really?