So much to address but here are some of the low lights:
Lack of Skill in Development:
With the constant bug fixes, these are major fixes, mostly due to data corruption, one wonders if the code which is promoted to production is reviewed. The answer is no. Most the time code is reviewed on the basis of, "it looks okay". No actual functional testing. The reason for this lies in the fact most the developers lack the skill set to write enterprise level code. The previous is especially true on the Database side(Microsoft SQL Server). Most of database coding talent and experience resides on the operations side. Which make sense, as Operations has constantly bailed out developer mistakes every time.
Lack of Core Infrastructure:
If you are professional in Operations or Development and are expecting a Data Dictionary, an Entity Relationship Diagram or even a SCM which properly factored, you are out of luck. If you are looking a Disaster Recovery Plan, proper Hardware Resources for sustainability or even opportunity implement any aspects of the above, you are out of luck. Case in point, recently a major production database had been severely corrupted. Operations attempted to restore to a point of two days prior. However, upon examination of the tape backup it was found the same tape backup had failed and Manager of the Team responsible did not care nor did he feel the need to notify anyone. Next, there are several applications which require more disk drive room but rather than have money to do so, Management chooses to spend money on untested and poorly implemented applications.
Lack of Planning:
The company has adopted the model of pushing more features to market faster. However, there was no planning sessions on how to do this effectively. It appears someone in upper Management woke one day and said Getty needs to have super fast Time To Market. And each release to Production reflects this as there are atleast 20 patches deployed afterwards. And all suggestions from the sustainers, those in Operations, are ignored on purpose.
