The Informal Economy of Favors

Eighty-two percent of all technical resolutions in a modern office occur outside of the official ticketing system. This number is a flat fact of organizational life. The statistic represents the informal economy of favors. It represents the “I will do this for you if you do that for me” culture of IT departments.

Most people do not talk about this economy. Managers often do not see this economy. But the economy keeps the servers running. The economy keeps the users happy. When a company decides to lock down permissions, the company often kills this economy. The company calls this “security hardening.” The employees call this a “bottleneck.”

The Spider and the Shoe: A Lesson in Friction

I saw a spider on the wall earlier today. The spider was near the lamp. I took off my left shoe. I hit the spider with the sole of the shoe. The spider fell behind the desk. The spider is dead now. The wall has a small mark. I do not like spiders.

I do not like unnecessary friction in a network either. The spider was friction. The shoe was the solution. In a server environment, the “shoe” is often a small favor from a colleague with admin rights.

Fluidity in Motion: Mike and Sarah

Before the lockdown, the system was fluid. An administrator named Mike needed to add five users to the Remote Desktop environment. Mike did not have the specific permission to install licenses. Mike called an administrator named Sarah. Sarah had the permissions.

Sarah liked Mike. Mike had helped Sarah with a printer issue last week. Sarah opened the licensing console. Sarah added the licenses. The task took four minutes. The users started their work. The company made money. This is how the informal network functions. The informal network is a distributed order. The order is based on trust. The order is based on mutual help.

The Arrival of the Auditors

Then the security audit happened. The auditors arrived in the morning. The auditors wore professional clothing. The auditors looked at the permission matrix. The auditors said the matrix was too loose. The auditors said too many people had the keys to the kingdom.

The auditors wrote a report. The report said the company needed “Least Privilege Access.” The report said Sarah should not be able to help Mike. The report said only two people in the whole company should touch the licensing server. The management read the report. The management liked the report. The management restricted the permissions.

The Rational Order as a Wall

Now the administrator named Mike needs to add five users. Mike calls Sarah. Sarah says she cannot help. Sarah says her account no longer has the rights. Sarah tells Mike to open a ticket. Mike opens the ticketing system. Mike fills out the form. Mike describes the problem.

Mike clicks submit. The ticket goes into a queue. The queue has four hundred other tickets. The ticket waits. The users wait. The company stops making money for those five users. This is the “rational” order. The rational order is a clean matrix. The rational order is also a wall.

The average IT ticket spends 14 hours waiting for a person with the correct permission to click a single button. This is a reframed statistic. It means that for 14 hours, nothing happens. It means the work stops. A human being is ready to work.

The server is ready to host the work. The license is the only thing missing. But the person who can apply the license is in a meeting. Or the person is at lunch. Or the person is on vacation in a place with no internet. The informal network is gone. The favor is dead. The bottleneck is the new reality.

The RDS Ecosystem: A Technical Hard Stop

The Remote Desktop Services environment is sensitive. The environment relies on Client Access Licenses. These are called RDS CALs. A server needs these licenses to allow users to connect.

Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2025 require specific licenses. Windows Server 2019 and 2016 also require them. There are User CALs. There are Device CALs. If the licenses are not there, the grace period begins. The grace period lasts 120 days. When the grace period ends, the users cannot log in. The screen says there are no licenses available. This is a hard stop.

Concentration and Shadow IT

The lockdown makes this hard stop more frequent. In the old system, someone always had a spare key. Someone always knew how to fix the licensing error. Now, the knowledge is concentrated. The power is concentrated. Concentration creates a single point of failure.

If the primary admin is sick, the licensing stays broken. The security is better on paper. The security is worse in practice. People start looking for ways to bypass the system. People look for “shadow IT” solutions. They look for ways to get what they need without waiting 14 hours.

The Emergent Solution

When the internal team cannot provide a license because of a permission block, the administrator often seeks an external source. The administrator needs a fast solution. The administrator needs to bypass the internal queue.

The administrator visits the

RDS CAL Store

to obtain the necessary licenses. This store provides official Microsoft licenses. The store provides them in 15 minutes.

The users can log in again. The administrator has recreated the favor economy. The administrator has used an external tool to fix an internal failure.

The Paradox of Risk

The company wanted to reduce risk. The company increased the risk of downtime. This is a paradox. The company optimized for a clean audit. The company did not optimize for a functioning server. The administrator repeats the process.

The administrator buys the 5-pack of User CALs. The administrator buys the 20-pack of Device CALs. The administrator follows the setup guidance. The administrator fixes the server. The management does not know the server was broken. The management thinks the lockdown is working perfectly.

The informal reciprocity of the office was a resilient system. It was a distributed system. If one person was busy, another person was available. If one person did not know the answer, another person did. The lockdown replaced this with a hierarchy.

Hierarchies are fragile. Hierarchies depend on every link in the chain. If one link breaks, the chain fails. The administrator sees the failure every day. The administrator sees the red icons in the console. The administrator sees the emails from frustrated users.

Miniature Lockdown

I am looking at the spot on the wall. The spot where the spider died. I should clean the spot. I do not have the cleaning spray. The cleaning spray is in the cabinet. The cabinet is locked. The office manager has the key.

The office manager is not here today. I cannot clean the spot. I must look at the spot. This is the permission lockdown in miniature. I have the hand. I have the paper towel. I do not have the spray. The spot stays on the wall.

Safety vs. Delay

Organizations think they are buying safety. They are actually buying delay. They are buying frustration. They are buying a system where the “main admin” becomes a god. No one should be a god in an IT department.

Everyone should be a mechanic. Mechanics need tools. Mechanics need the ability to use the tools. When you take the tools away, the mechanic becomes a spectator. The mechanic watches the machine break. The mechanic waits for the ticket to move.

The New Informal Economy

The RDS environment requires constant attention. Users change. Devices change. The company grows. The company needs 10 more seats for the new marketing team. The marketing team needs to work now. The marketing team does not want to wait for the next fiscal quarter.

The administrator knows this. The administrator knows that the

RDS CAL Store

has the licenses for Windows Server 2022. The administrator knows the delivery is instant. The administrator knows the licenses are perpetual. They do not expire. This knowledge is the new informal economy.

The Emergent Order

The administrator buys the licenses. The administrator installs the licenses. The marketing team logs in. The work begins. The lockdown remains in place. The audit remains clean. The reality on the ground is different from the reality in the report.

The report says the system is secure. The reality is that the system is only running because the administrator found a way around the system. This is the emergent order. It is a messy order. It is an unofficial order. It is the only order that works.

Respect for the Unblockers

We should respect the informal favors. We should respect the people who know how to unblock a server. Security is important. Hardening is important. But a server that no one can use is the most secure server in the world. It is also a paperweight.

A paperweight does not help the company. A paperweight does not pay the salary of the administrator. The goal is a working server. The goal is a productive user. If the permissions prevent the goal, the permissions are the problem.

The spider is still behind the desk. I can see a leg. The leg is still. The shoe is back on my foot. The server is humming in the other room. The licenses are active. The users are working.

I will find a way to get the cleaning spray later. I will find someone who has a spare key. I will do a favor for that person. Then they will give me the spray. The spot will be gone. The economy will continue.

The administrator must choose. The administrator can follow the rules and fail. The administrator can break the rules and succeed. Most good administrators choose success. They choose the path of least resistance. They choose the informal network.

They buy the licenses they need from a reliable source. They keep the business moving. The company thinks it is secure. The company is actually just lucky. The company is lucky to have administrators who care more about the work than the matrix.

The lesson is simple. Do not break the things that are already working. Do not replace trust with a ticket. If you must lock the door, give a key to the people who need to go inside. If you do not give them a key, do not be surprised when they find another way into the room.

The room must be used. The work must be done. The licenses must be installed. The server must remain online. The administrator clicks the button. The administrator closes the window. The task is finished. The administrator goes back to work.

There are no more spiders on the wall. There are no more users in the queue. The day is a success.