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The ICT Malaise
 The ICT Malaise
A Diagnosis and Cure for the
Dysfunctional Information and
Communication Technologies
Service-Delivery Workflow

Nadine Fruin

A PRODUCTIVITY PRESS BOOK

First edition published in 2019
by Routledge/Productivity Press
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, 11th Floor New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, UK

© 2019 by Nadine Fruin

Routledge/Productivity Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Printed on acid-free paper

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-367-22856-9 (Hardback)

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Fruin, Nadine, author.

Title: The ICT malaise : a diagnosis and cure for the dysfunctional
information and communication technologies service-delivery workflow /
Nadine Fruin.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019008127 (print) | LCCN 2019010501 (ebook) | ISBN
9780429277269 (e-Book) | ISBN 9780367228569 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Information technology--Management.
Classification: LCC HD30.2 (ebook) | LCC HD30.2 .F78 2019 (print) | DDC
384.3/3068--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008127

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
 To Uriel
With profound love and gratitude for being with me all the way
Thank You

To my parents
A heartfelt and loving thank you for teaching
me to have an independent mind

Aan Oma Dies

Lieve oma, dank voor de inspiratie. Voilà, zoals beloofd

In Memoriam
Lorenzo Cattani
13/1/1963 – 5/3/2019

Didn’t I tell you?

I am an ocean, you are a fish;
do not go to the dry land,
it is me, who is your comforting body of water.

Rumi

vii
Contents
Preface���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi
Acknowledgments������������������������������������������������������������������������������xvii
Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xix
Endorsements���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxi

Chapter 1 The Sorry State of Affairs�������������������������������������������������� 3

Information Makes the World Go around��������������������������������3
Methodologies, Models and Frameworks Galore������������������33
The ICT Bermuda Triangle: Service Providers,
Customers and Suppliers�����������������������������������������������������������45

Chapter 2 The Hallelujah Anglo Saxon Capitalist Model�������������� 61

Money, Money, Money … but We Do It for the Customer!������61
Winners & Losers, Us & Them������������������������������������������������ 80
Not Humans, but Human Resources, Stupid!������������������������89
Doing the Right Thing, Right, the First Time����������������������� 99
Moral Split���������������������������������������������������������������������������������104

Chapter 3 The Fear Factor�������������������������������������������������������������� 115

Dancing to the Tune of the Pied Piper����������������������������������115
Professionals versus Zombies��������������������������������������������������125
Moral Burnout and Ethical Obsolescence����������������������������132

Chapter 4 The Way Forward����������������������������������������������������������� 145

Imagine, a Value-Based Economic Business Model������������145
Psychological Waste�����������������������������������������������������������������164
What to Do with all These Frameworks and Models����������170
Responsibility and Accountability … Oh Dear��������������������180

Chapter 5 Conclusion���������������������������������������������������������������������� 187

Bibliography......................................................................................... 191
Index..................................................................................................... 197

ix
Preface
Everything ICT-related is considered special, magical, full of promise
and opportunity. With the help of ICT, we create a better world; we are
more efficient, more productive and happier. The ICT infrastructure and
environment are stable and flexible; there are few service disruptions and
ICT projects are an example of skill, organization and great management,
right? In reality, ICT is in an unedifying state, on all fronts.
It is quite clear that ICT has evolved from having a supporting part in
businesses to occupying a major if not core role within any kind of organi-
zation, whether profit or non-profit. The rapidly succeeding technological
developments and innovations with associated financial implications have
led to outsourcing ICT functions to companies specialised in the provi-
sion of products and services: the service providers. The word service pro-
vider implies a service is provided to someone. It has a very positive ring to
it. The customer receives the service and is satisfied. At least, considering
the ad infinitum repeated mantra of customer satisfaction, we assume and
presume they are satisfied. But it couldn’t be less the case.
From ICT projects perpetually going past agreed delivery dates, being
out of budget, out of scope and in general, out of touch with the customer,
to the day-to-day routine operations mostly being about putting out big
and small fires, service providers seem to have a talent for not delivering
what they are supposedly experts at.
There are many examples of disastrously ill-managed ICT projects cost-
ing millions, governmental or commercial, spanning national borders and
every single person working in ICT or being on the receiving end will
have had at least one experience of a mega failure. There are also plenty
of examples of nefarious service provider and customer interactions and
not-so-constructive service provider and supplier relationships resulting
in either a parting of ways, usually in a disagreeable manner, or a harden-
ing of positions which results in additional customer dissatisfaction.
If the ICT department has internal customers, they tend to be viewed
by the customer as expenditure; a black hole that swallows up funds and
seldom delivers the quality service their colleagues expect and hope for.
The external service provider is considered a necessary evil with a lim-
itless appetite for trouble and an equally limitless appetite for money to

xi
xii • Preface

solve the trouble they created themselves. Throw the various suppliers into
the mix with their own agendas when supporting the service provider in
its customer satisfying endeavour and we have a considerable technologi-
cal and organizational complex reality to understand and manage.
The expansion of ICT presence in companies requires increasing need
for structure and organization to enable these companies to manage the
multiple phases of ICT service delivery: planning, design, development,
build, test, support and maintenance.
In parallel with technological growth methods, methodologies and
frameworks are developed to obtain and to keep a grip on the ever-
increasing complexities ICT presents to the internal or external service
provider, customer and supplier: how do we organise the customer facing
functions? How do we organise the back office? How do we ensure quality?
Keep costs under control? Manage the suppliers? Respect our agreement?
How can we be efficient and effective? How do we make money? How do
we ensure customer satisfaction?
Approaches to the management of the various phases of ICT product
and service delivery were presented and formalised in the late eighties and
early nineties of the past century, updated and new ones are continuously
introduced. Professionals working in the ICT environment all know or
have heard of ITIL, COBIT, Lean IT, Agile, Scrum, CMMI, DevOps, IT
Governance and let us not forget the ISO standard, with its roots in 1947.
State of the art project management methodologies such as PMI/
PMBOK, XP, Kanban, Waterfall, Prince 2, to name a few, are used world-
wide to help companies manage their ICT projects, on time of course
and within budget. Naturally the new optimized project management
approach will be even better, faster and more effective and efficient.
Anything that is missed is handled with continuous improvement ini-
tiatives; in cycles, with 180 loops, 360 loops, with day boards, week boards
and ultimately by The Board. We Plan, we Do, we Check and we Act furi-
ously in our hamster wheel.
The focus tends to be heavily placed on implementing and improving
processes. ITIL is a process-oriented approach to service management.
Lean IT includes multiple dimensions needed to be focused on, processes
a very emphasised one and COBIT 5, although having a very holistic
approach, has also directed its attention primarily to processes. In fact, it
is the most developed area with dedicated books. When implementing or
optimizing this approach processes receive the most and frequently, the
only attention. The idea is if we optimize processes, become more efficient
 Preface • xiii

and streamlined, we perform better, faster and the customer will be satis-
fied. In essence there is nothing wrong with this, because organising your
workflows well is crucial for obtaining the performance you need to pro-
vide to the customer as a service provider or supplier.
Unfortunately, this focus hasn’t achieved the result we had hoped.
Notwithstanding all the optimizing, streamlining and becoming faster
we still have problems, human beings a major one. Apart from the cus-
tomers and suppliers, humans within the service provider organisation
must be managed as well. Humans imply trouble. They are not bits and
bytes, cannot just be clicked away. Let’s be honest: the human part of ICT
is not what technology focused people tend to be very good at or inter-
ested in.
With time we have come to realize that we cannot ignore the cumber-
some human factor within ICT. We do have a customer after all, and
uncomfortable customer surveys are published. ITIL introduced the “How
to implement Service Management guide,” with focus on how to overcome
and manage resistance to the standardized process-oriented way of work-
ing and the importance of the cultural climate.
ITIL even includes specific roles for handling the relationship with
and the satisfaction of the customer: the business relationship manager.
COBIT 5 addresses the human aspect with the enablers: Culture, Ethics
and Behaviour and People, Skills and Competencies. Lean IT places the
Behaviour and Attitude dimension right at the core of the five dimensions
crucial for an efficient and effective performing organisation.
This plethora of best practices, methodologies, methods and frame-
works offer valuable guidelines, organizational tools and instruments to
make sense out of the ICT service delivery landscape. But have me made
sense out of it? Are we more in control now? Are the companies that have
implemented, fine-tuned and optimized their ways of working, processes
and IT-business alignment better off? Are they doing things better? Have
we gained more understanding now that we have implemented numerous
frameworks, one more holistic than the other?
We keep focusing on the same elements and forget or avoid—take your
pick—to look a bit more closely if the approach we have adopted is really
for our and the customer’s benefit and if we really address the issues we
must solve. And if we are focusing on the right things. Einstein’s state-
ment about what insanity is comes to mind: doing the same things over
and over and expecting different results. We just do it faster now.
xiv • Preface

I don’t think we are doing a good job. With 20 years of experience in

the ICT sector in a variety of roles related to service management, process
and project management and as a professional in management of orga-
nizational change, I think we are on the wrong track. I don’t see more
customer satisfaction, I don’t see better service delivery. I don’t see enough
healthy constructive business relationships. Instead I see frustrated and
unhappy customers, I see poor quality products and services, I see choices
being made that are always solely money driven, never quality driven,
and I see a lot of so-called leaders and managers opting out of honest and
authentic leadership and management. I see a lot of money making.
The purpose of this book is to delve into how we got into the above-
described situation and question the premises and assumptions about the
goals we should be aiming for as service providers, customers and suppli-
ers. It shines its light on the good, the bad and the ugly of ICT business
practices. It addresses human (business) interactions and relations and
how the above-mentioned parties treat their own employees and business
partners with the ensuing desired and undesired consequences.
It is a critical reflection on the technology push of ICT and the quality
of their delivery and support to the receiving parties and individuals. ICT
companies don’t produce products and provide services for fun or to add
value; what drives them is to make money and add value to their own
coffers. The message that they are doing it for the benefit of the customer
is a nicely packaged marketing slogan. They even manage to make us
customers believe we asked for it ourselves. Customers and users should
understand this and keep a cool head when making important ICT related
decisions. They are not just a passive party that has to accept every innova-
tion and development as an undeniable reality and they needn’t run at the
same panting pace as the ICT companies.
This book’s intention is to pause for a moment; instead of just racing
full-speed down the path ICT companies are wanting us to go, let’s rein
in our horses and take a breath and then another, look behind us, assess
where we are now and decide which road we want to take, how we want to
do that and at what speed.
The structure of the book is as follows. Chapter 1 briefly traces the origin
and development of ICT service provision, the challenges service provid-
ers face internally and externally and the ongoing disastrously executed
ICT projects. It reminds us that the service provider’s core business con-
sists of facilitating and managing the information flow. The method-
ologies, best practice approaches, methods and frameworks created, and
 Preface • xv

communication flows established to enable ICT delivery are put under the
loop to define the situation we are in now, and how (un)happy all parties
seemingly are with it.
Chapter 2 explains the causes of the current deplorable ICT service
delivery reality and how we all breathlessly race along with innovation and
money blinders on, but without enough critical questioning. It looks at the
impact and effect of that chosen way of working on employees, partners,
customers and suppliers. It deals with the human aspect of technology.
Not with artificial intelligence or robots but with actual human beings.
Chapter 3 discusses fear. It dwells on the ethical and moral dilemmas
ICT professionals face, the impact it has on them often resulting in stress,
rise of sick leave, burn out, disillusionment, leaving the company or turn-
ing into a zombie, the walking corporate dead. The culture of fear is often
consciously cultivated by management. It is something we should elimi-
nate if we desire to have constructive and successful business interactions
and outcomes.
Chapter 4 describes how we can do things differently. It gives guidelines
on the necessary mental and organizational uncluttering. It is not enough
to just put your house in order with optimized processes but some thor-
ough mental spring-cleaning needs to be done. It is time to get rid of psy-
chological waste. It invites us to take a hard look at ourselves, be aware of
the corporate and business dynamics and make conscious well-informed
decisions for the benefit of all: customers, service providers, suppliers
and for all the people who work there. Of course, my suggestions can be
ignored or absorbed and acted upon. Personally, I think we can and must
do much better than we are doing now. The book ends with a short conclu-
sion with some final thoughts and musings.
Users of ICT and ICT professionals, in the role of either service provider,
supplier or customer are invited to put their feet up on their desks, lean
back and do a little soul searching and reflection: on how they handle their
affairs, if they feel good about them and about how they handle the most
challenging affair of all: themselves.
Acknowledgments
Although writing itself is a solitary enterprise, everything that leads up
to actually putting ideas on paper is done within a social context, with
colleagues, professionals from all those companies I worked for and with;
with students, friends, and family, as well as strangers who have crossed
my path and with whom I have shared animated conversations that trig-
ger a new thought process. I thank all those people, also the ones who are
not here anymore or who are no longer in my life, but who endure in their
writings, in verbal and nonverbal expressions, and in spirit.
I would like to give very special thanks to my mother who has endured
the whole writing adventure up close and only the way mothers can: sup-
portive, with admirable patience, and participating actively. She got into
the groove of the book and provided me with interesting articles and use-
ful ideas. Thank you for putting up with my endless monologues and for
sharing the drama, as well as the fun.
Another heartfelt thank you is for JC. Your advice, not only in relation
to the book, but to life in general, and your generosity to take the time to
listen to me with such grace and understanding made all the difference
and will stay with me forever. Thank you.
A big thank you goes to Dr. Plácido Moreno Felices, illustration wizard,
both in design and in speed. My simple sketches were transformed into
beautiful figures and you were able to translate my ideas into pictures. I
am also grateful for your kind words during the writing process. Gracias.

xvii
Author
Nadine Fruin is an independent ICT consultant and trainer and works
internationally as owner of Fruin Consultancy & Training, based in
the Netherlands. She holds a Master degree in Organizational Change
Management from the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. She was Master
Trainer Lean IT for ITpreneurs in 2016 and 2017, giving numerous ses-
sions on behalf of the Lean IT Association in English and Spanish for pro-
fessionals worldwide.
She is the creator of the Galileo Service Management Framework, devel-
oped in 2016–2017 for Spaceopal GmbH, which successfully secured the
bid to be the Galileo Service Operator with the European GNSS Agency
as customer. She is a consultant and trainer for Shipley Associates, a com-
pany with international presence which helps and enables companies
worldwide with the preparation of complex bids with training, coaching
or taking over parts of the tender preparation.
Over the past 20 years she has fulfilled a variety of roles such as pro-
cess and service manager, trainer, coach, organizational change manager
and business developer in multiple organizations worldwide, covering all
types of private and public institutions on the service provider, supplier
and customer side of business.

xix
Endorsements
“A valuable, practical guide for navigating through ICT turbulence and
dynamics. A lighthouse for the human side of ICT.”

—Erik van de Loo

Director Executive Masters in Change,
INSEAD Professor of Organisational
Behaviour, INSEAD Business School

“The ICT Malaise is a different and thorough point of view on the dys-
functional approach the world has taken to information and technology.
In an era of exponential changes where humans are rendered obsolete at
the same pace of technology, it is fundamental to go back to basics on why
we lead and innovate in the first place.”

—Silvio Rugolo
VP, Global Sales, BMC Software,
Digital Service Operations

xxi
If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow,
we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also
leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked
when we got through with it.

Lyndon B. Johnson
1
The Sorry State of Affairs

Information makes the world go around

Methodologies, models and frameworks galore
The ICT Bermuda Triangle: Service Providers, Customers and Suppliers

INFORMATION MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND

The eighties and nineties were exciting times. For those involved in
technology this was nothing new; they were aware something big was
coming. The non-technology-minded individuals and companies were
getting an inkling of intriguing new possibilities and were only just
beginning to enter this new reality we find completely normal nowadays.
We went from the introduction in the professional world of e-mail, word
processing, files and folders, to internet and the digitization of information
and communication. If you aren’t digitized, if you’re not on the web, you
don’t exist.
The introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
into the professional environment and the ensuing enablement of faster
and easier business interactions meant that this new aspect of business had
to be managed and supported. Computer experts who understood this
mysterious world of technology made things happen, solved problems and
helped the often technology-ignorant user get back on track and online
so that he could continue working. They were our colleagues, part of
the new ICT department and reachable via the help desk, often situated
right there on the work floor with us. ICT evolved, the customer business
saw its advantages and potential benefits and so demand for IT products

3
4 • The ICT Malaise

increased. The first years of ICT were an adventure, full of promise and
the excitement of discovering a whole new world. Indeed, the World Wide
Web.
Initially ICT departments were focused on technology, uptime and
upgrades and they needed to react to cries of help from the users when
there were problems. But customers needed more than having their
problems solved; they needed ICT to answer their questions, understand
their business issues, come up with solutions and anticipate needs.
A reactive helpdesk wasn’t enough anymore: the provision of services
required a much broader and completer way of handling, managing
and approaching ICT. Service providers, whether internal or external,
came into being and their scope was the information flow, facilitated
by technology.
This shift in focus meant going from a technology-oriented approach
to an information flow one, from being primarily reactive to (trying to
be) more proactive, not just providing support but delivering services,
not aligning ICT to business, but integrating ICT with business. It is
now considered a strategic asset. We have chief information officers
(CIOs) who assist chief executives with defining and shaping strategy.
ICT has become the business. It also means that the environment we must
manage has gone from a relatively simple one initially to a very complex
reality currently with multiple interdependencies, relationships and
stakeholders. And let’s not forget the promise of disruptive innovations
that mesmerize us in no small measure and the potential of Big Data and
Artificial Intelligence.
To understand the current situation service providers, customers and
suppliers are in and the challenges they face considering the future and
most importantly, if they are up to the task, we will have a look at how they
have handled their affairs so far. The term lessons learned was coined as
such for a reason.
In the rest of this chapter I will raise issues regarding the ICT service
provider, supplier and customer relations, based on my 21 years of
experience working in different capacities for all three mentioned parties
and based on reports, surveys and papers on the subjects by other
experts in their respective fields. I aim to identify problem areas and raise
questions as food for thought. Certainly, there are service providers and
suppliers who have their affairs in order and there will be customers who
are satisfied with the service they receive. However, although there will
 The Sorry State of Affairs • 5

be areas which function relatively well, there are always aspects which
are overlooked, or which don’t get (enough) attention. I focus on those
areas, on the ones not functioning well or which are not addressed at
all. These have unfortunate consequences and make our (business) lives
more difficult than necessary. Overall, I consider there is still much work
to be done; I focus on that work in this first chapter. In the following
chapters I will zoom in on the causes of the dynamics I describe here and
present ideas about the way forward.

From Reactive to Proactive and from Supporting to Delivering

The best practice approach to managing services, ITIL (Information
Technology Infrastructure Library), uses the terms reactive and proactive
when describing the activities of several of its defined processes.
They make this distinction to clarify the differences e.g. when there
are monitoring activities being performed as part of the Availability or
Capacity Management processes and when these processes are in the
phase of planning for the coming year, as described in the respective
Availability and Capacity plans, being in these instances proactive.
Problem Management usually starts out reactive, helping Incident
management, and develops into a more proactive process, investigating
trends in incidents and removing the errors that cause them, thus
avoiding new ones from occurring.
These concepts can also be applied to understanding the development of
ICT itself as a whole, particularly the position and role of ICT departments
as internal service providers and later also to understand the outsourced
functions to external service providers.
As described previously when ICT became part of the day-to-day business
activities for professionals, the ICT department was primarily in a support-
ing role. The trigger for action was the customer needing help; the service
provider focused on getting the service up and running again and respecting
the response times as defined in SLAs (Service Level Agreements). The first
and most needed activities and processes implemented for that purpose are
the operation-oriented ones, such as incident, service request and access
management and of course the service desk as first point of contact.
Additionally, all kinds of activities were going on in the background,
unknown and unseen to the customer but necessary to ensure a stable
ICT infrastructure. The customer didn’t really care how they did it, as
6 • The ICT Malaise

long as it worked and didn’t cost too much. If a VIP called, the service
desk would spring into action and not following the procedure was a
minor detail.
However, only supporting the customer when asked for help wasn’t
enough considering the ever-increasing potential negative impact of
non-well organized, planned and anticipated demand for ICT products
and services. The service provider’s proactive demeanor would permit
a clear picture of the customer requirements, ICT projects delivered
on time and within budget and generally, being in control. Proactive
service provision leads to their infrastructure being sound and healthy
and their pro-activeness results in satisfied customers. Or at least,
that’s the idea.
This transformation from helping to servicing, clearly expressed in the
change of names from help desk to service desk, not only meant a different
way for service providers to organize themselves but required a change in
relating to the customer and specifically in the (IT) mindset.
Whereas principally the focus was on technology, now the situation
demanded looking up from behind your screen and dealing with a
person and anticipating his needs. You are required to not be solely happy
because you solved an ICT riddle but because you satisfied a customer’s
need for help. You are required to put yourself in the customer’s position
and emphasize with them. And because of that you can respond to the
demand of the customer.
Why do people work in ICT? Professionals are attracted to IT
because they like it, they studied it because they find it fascinating and
interesting and see possibilities. They like building something new and
coming up with solutions. They like delving into its depths and shining
their light on what they perceive as challenging issues. IT people
are primarily technology oriented and adventurous obstacle takers.
They are appreciated by non-technical oriented or interested beings
because they help them out and solve their problems. When your car is
broken down, the mechanic makes your day when he fixes it and you
can drive into the sunset.
Customer orientation is perceived the most and in the most direct form
when the customer needs help and contacts the service desk. The failure
has already occurred, the work interruption is already there and a rescue
operation is called for. The service provider scores points when he addresses
the customer and the issue at hand in a decent, understanding way, is polite
to the person on the other end of the line, mail or chat and when he solves
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upon such and such Sorts; so that the Boxes that holds those Sorts
ought to be most capacious.
His care in the choice of these Cases is, That the Wood they are
made of be well-season’d Stuff.
That the Partitions be strong, and true let into one another, and that
the ends fill up and stand firm in the Grooves of the Frame and
middle Rail of the Case.
There is an inconvenience that often happens, these thin Partitions,
especially if they be made of unseason’d Stuff, viz. as the Stuff dries
it shrinks in the Grooves of the Frame, and so not only grows loose,
but sometimes starts out above the top of the Frame. To prevent this
inconvenience, I have of late caused the ends of these thin partitions
to be made Male-Duf-tails, broadest on the under-side, and have
them fitted into Female-Duf-tails in the Frame of the Case, and
middle Rail before the bottom Boards are nailed on.
That the Partitions be full an English Body thick.
That the Partitions lye close to the bottom of the Case, that so the
Letters slide not through an upper into an under Box, when the
Papers of the Boxes may be worn.

§. 4. Of Frames to set the Cases on.

Frames are in most Printing-Houses made of thick Deal-board
Battens, having their several Rails Tennanted into the Stiles: but
these sorts of Frames are, in respect of their matter (viz. Fir) so
weak, and in respect of their substance (viz. little above an Inch
thick) so slight, that experience teaches us, when they are even new
made, they tremble and totter, and having lasted a little while, the
thinness of their Tennants being a little above a quarter of an Inch
thick, according to the Rules of Joynery, as I have shewn in Numb.
5. §. 17. They Craze, their Tennants break, or Mortesses split, and
put the Master-Printer to a fresh Charge.
It is rationally to be imagined that the Frames should be designed to
last as long as the Printing-house; and therefore our Master-Printer
ought to take care that they be made of matter strong enough, and of
substance big enough to do the Service they are intended for; that
they stand substantial and firm in their place, so as a small Jostle
against them shake them not, which often reiterated weakens the
Frame-work, and at that present is subject to shake the Letter in the
Galley down.
I shall not offer to impose Rules upon any here, especially since I
have no Authority from Prescript or Custom; yet I shall set down the
Scantlings that I my self thought fit to use on this occasion. A
Delineation of the Frames are in Plate 1. at C.

a a a a The Fore-Rails.
b b b b The Hind-Rails.
c The Top Fore-Rail.
d The Bottom Fore-Rail.
e The Top Hind-Rail.
f The Bottom Hind-Rail.
g g g g The End-Rail.
h h h h Cross-Bearers.

I made the Rails and Stiles of well-seasoned fine Oak, clean, (that is
free from Knots and Shakes) the Stiles and Rails two Inches and an
half square, the Top and Bottom Fore-Rails and the Bottom Hind-Rail
four Foot three Inches long, besides their Tennants; And the Top
Hind-Rail five Foot three Inches long. The two Fore-Rails and
Bottom Hind-Rail had Iron Female-Screws let into them, which,
through an hole made in the Stiles, received a Male-Screw with a
long shank, and a Sholder at the end of it to screw them tight and
firm together, even as the Rails of a Bedsted are screwed into the
Mortesses of a Bed-Post.
Each Back-Stile was four Foot one Inch and an half high besides
their Tennants, and each Fore-Stile three Foot three Inches high,
each Fore and Back-Stile had two Rails one Foot seven Inches long,
besides their Tennants Tennanted and Pin’d into them, because not
intended to be taken assunder.
It must be considered, that the Fore-stiles be of a convenient height
for the pitch of an ordinary Man to stand and work at, which the
heighth aforesaid is; And that the Hind stiles be so much higher than
the Fore-stiles, that when the Cross-Bearers are laid upon the upper
Fore and Hind-Rail, and the Cases laid on them, the Cases may
have a convenient declivity from the upper-side the Upper-Case, to
the lower side the Lower-Case.
The Reason of this declivity is, because the Cases standing thus
before the Workman, the farther Boxes of the Upper-Case are more
ready and easie to come at, than if they lay flat; they being in this
position somewhat nearer the hand, and the Letters in those Boxes
somewhat easier seen.
If the Workman prove taller than Ordinary, he lays another or two
pair of Cases under the Cases he uses, to mount them: If the
Workman be short, as Lads, &c. He lays a Paper-board (or
sometimes two) on the floor by the Fore-side of the Frame, and
standing to work on it, mounts himself.
The Bearers are made of Slit-Deal, about two Inches broad, and so
long as to reach from the Fore-Rail through the Upper-Rail, and are
let in, so as to lye even with the superficies of the Fore and Hind-
Rail, and at such a distance on both the Rails, as you may see in the
Figure.
 Plate 2.

On the Superficies of the Fore-Rail, even with its Fore-Edge is nailed

a small Riglet about half an Inch high, and a quarter and half quarter
of an Inch thick, that the Cases set on the Frame having the
aforesaid declivity, may by it be stop’t from sliding off.

§. 5. Of the Galley.
Our Master-Printer is also to provide Galleys of different sizes, That
the Compositer may be suited with small ones when he Composes
small Pages, and with great ones for great Pages.
The Galley is marked A in Plate 2.

a b c The Sides or Frame of the Galley.

d The Slice.

These Galleys are commonly made of two flat Wainscot Boards,

each about a quarter and half quarter of an Inch thick, the uppermost
to slide in Grooves of the Frame, close down to the undermost,
though for small Pages a single Board with two sides for the Frame
may serve well enough: Those Wainscot Boards are an Oblong
Square, having its length longer than its breadth, even as the form of
a Page hath. The three Sides of the Frame are fixed fast and square
down on the upper Plain of the undermost Board, to stand about
three fifth parts of the height of the Letter above the superficies of
the Slice. The Sides of the Frame must be broad enough to admit of
a pretty many good strong Oaken Pins along the Sides, to be drove
hard into the Bottom Board, and almost quite through the Sides of
the Frame, that the Frame may be firmly fixed to it: But by no means
must they be Glewed on to the Bottom Board, because the
Compositer may sometimes have occasion to wet the Page in the
Galley, and then (the Galley standing aslope upon the Case) the
Water will soak between the sides of the Frame, and under Board,
and quickly loosen it.

§. 6. Of the Correcting-stone.
The Correcting-Stone marked B in Plate 2. is made of Marble,
Purbeck, or any other Stone that may be made flat and smooth: But
yet the harder the Stone is the better; wherefore Marble is more
preferable than Purbeck. First, Because it is a more compact Stone,
having fewer and smaller Pores in it than Purbeck. And Secondly,
because it is harder, and therefore less subject to be prick’d with the
corners of a Chase, if through carelessness (as it sometimes
happens) it be pitch’d on the Face of the Stone.
It is necessary to have it capacious, viz. large enough to hold two
Chases and more, that the Compositer may sometimes for his
convenience, set some Pages by on it ready to Impose, though two
Chases lye on the Stone: Therefore a Stone of about Four Foot and
an half long, and Two Foot broad is a convenient size for the
generality of Work.
This Stone is to be laid upon a strong Oaken-wood Frame, made like
the Frame of a common Table, so high, that the Face of the Stone
may lye about three Foot and an Inch above the Floor: And under
the upper Rail of the Frame may be fitted a Row or two of Draw-
Boxes, as at a a a a a a and b b b on each of its longest Sides to
hold Flowers, Brass-Rules, Braces, Quotations, small Scabbords,
&c.

§. 7. Of Letter-Boards, and Paper-Boards.

Letter-Boards are Oblong Squares, about two Foot long, eighteen
Inches broad, and an Inch and a quarter thick. They ought to be
made of clean and well-season’d Stuff, and all of one piece: Their
upper-side is to be Plained very flat and smooth, and their under-
side is Clamped with pieces about two Inches square, and within
about four Inches of either end, as well to keep them from Warping,
as to bear them off the Ground or any other Flat they stand on, that
the Fingers of the Compositer may come at the bottom of the Board
to remove it whither he will: They are commonly made of Fir, though
not so thick as I have mentioned, or all of one Piece: Deal-Boards of
this breadth may serve to make them of; but Joyners commonly put
Master-Printers off with ordinary Deal-Boards, which not being broad
enough, they joyn two together; for which cause they frequently
shrink, so as the joynt comes assunder, and the Board becomes
useless, unless it be to serve for a Paper-Board afterwards: For
small and thin Letters will, when the Form is open, drop through, so
as the Compositer cannot use the Board.
I us’d to make them of Sugar-Chest; That Stuff being commonly well-
season’d, by the long lying of the Sugar in it, and is besides a fine
hard Wood, and therefore less subject to be injured by the end of the
Shooting-Stick when a Form is Unlocking.
Paper-Boards are made just like the Letter-Boards, though seldom
so large, unless for great Work: Nor need such strict care be taken in
making them so exactly smooth: their Office being only to set Heaps
of Paper on, and to Press the Paper with.

§. 8. Of Furniture, Quoyns, Scabbord, &c.

By Furniture is meant the Head-sticks, Foot-sticks, Side-sticks,
Gutter-sticks, Riglets, Scabbords and Quoyns.
Head-sticks and all other Furniture, except Scabbord, are made of
dry Wainscot, that they may not shrink when the Form stands by;
They are Quadrat high, straight, and of an equal thickness all the
length: They are made of several thicknesses for several Works, viz.
from a Brevier which serves for some Quarto’s to six or eight Pica
thick, which is many times us’d to Folio’s: And many of the Head-
sticks may also serve to make Inner Side-sticks of; for the Master-
Printer provides them of lengths long enough for the Compositer to
cut to convenient Scantlins or Lengths, they being commonly about a
Yard long when they come from the Joyners. And Note, that the
Head and Side-sicks are called Riglets, if they exceed not an English
thick.
Outer Side-sticks and Foot-sticks marked C in Plate 2. are of the
same heighth of the Head-sticks, viz. Quadrat high, and are by the
Joyner cut to the given length, and to the breadth of the particular
Pages that are to be Imposed: The Side-sticks are placed against
the outer-side of the Page, and the Foot-sticks against the foot or
bottom of the Page: The outer-sides of these Side and Foot-sticks
are bevil’d or sloped from the further to the hither end.
Gutter-sticks marked D in Plate 2. are as the former, Quadrat high,
and are used to set between Pages on either side the Crosses, as in
Octavo’s, Twelves, Sixteens, and Forms upwards; They are made of
an equal thickness their whole length, like Head-sticks; but they have
a Groove, or Gutter laid on the upper-side of them, as well that the
Water may drain away when the Form is Washed or Rinced, as that
they should not Print, when through the tenderness of the Tinpan,
the Plattin presses it and the Paper lower than ordinary.
Scabbord is that sort of Scale commonly sold by some Iron-mongers
in Bundles; And of which, the Scabbords for Swords are made: The
Compositer cuts it Quadrat high, and to his Length.
The Master-Printer is to provide both Thick and Thin Scabbord, that
the Compositer may use either when different Bodied Letter happens
in a Page, to justifie the Page to a true length; And also that the
Press-man may chuse Thick or Thin to make truer Register, as shall
be shewed in proper place.
Quoyns are also Quadrat high, and have one of their sides Bevil’d
away to comply with the Bevil of the Side and Foot-sticks; they are of
different Lengths, and different Breadths: The great Quoyns about
three Inches square, except the Bevil on one side as aforesaid; and
these sizes deminish downwards to an Inch and an half in length,
and half an Inch in breadth.
Of these Quoyns our Master-Printer provides several hundreds, and
should provide them of at the least ten different Breadths between
the aforesaid sizes, that the Compositer may chuse such as will best
fit the Chase and Furniture.
The Office of these Quoyns are to Lock up the Form, viz. to wedge it
up (by force of a Mallet and Shooting-stick) so close together, both
on the sides and between Head and Foot of the Page, that every
Letter bearing hard against every next Letter, the whole Form may
Rise; as shall be shewed hereafter.
Their farther Office is to make Register at the Press.

§. 9. ¶. 1. Of the Mallet, Shooting-stick and

Dressing-Block, Composing-sticks, Bodkin, and
Chase. &c.
Printers Mallets have a Cilindrick Head, and a round Handle; The
Head somewhat bigger, and the Handle somewhat longer than those
Joyners commonly use; Yet neither shape or size different for any
reason to be given: But only a Custom always used to have them so.
The Head is commonly made of Beech.

¶. 2. Of the Shooting-stick.

The Shooting-stick must be made of Box, which Wood being very

hard, and withal tough, will best and longest endure the knocking
against the Quoyns. Its shape is a perfect Wedge about six Inches
long, and its thicker end two Inches broad, and an Inch and an half
thick; and its thin end about an Inch and an half broad, and half an
Inch thick.
 ¶. 3. Of the Dressing-Block.

The Dressing-Block should be made of Pear-tree, Because it is a

soft wood, and therefore less subject to injure the Face of the Letter;
it is commonly about three Inches square, and an Inch high. Its
Office is to run over the Face of the Form, and whilst it is thus
running over, to be gently knock’t upon with the Head of the Shooting
stick, that such Letters as may chance to stand up higher than the
rest may be pressed down.
Our Master-Printer must also provide a pair of Sheers, such as
Taylors use, for the cutting of Brass-Rules, Scabbords, &c.
A large Spunge or two, or more, he must also provide, one for the
Compositers use, and for every Press one.
Pretty fine Packthread to tye up Pages with; But this is often chosen
(or at least directed) by the Compositer, either finer or courser,
according to the great or small Letter he works upon.

¶. 4. Of the Composing-stick.

Though every Compositer by Custom is to provide himself a

Composing-stick, yet our Master-Printer ought to furnish his House
with these Tools also, and such a number of them as is suitable to
the size of his House; Because we will suppose our Master-Printer
intends to keep some Apprentices, and they, unless by contract or
courtesie, are not used to provide themselves Composing-sticks:
And besides, when several Compositers work upon the same Book,
their Measures are all set alike, and their Titles by reason of Notes or
Quotations broader than their common Measure, So that a
Composing-stick is kept on purpose for the Titles, which must
therefore be common to all the Compositers that work upon that
Work; And no one of them is obliged to provide a Composing-stick in
common for them all: Therefore it becomes our Master-Printers task
to provide them.
It is delineated in Plate 2. at E.

a The Head.
b b The Bottom.
c c The Back.
d The lower Sliding-Measure, or Cheek.
e The upper Sliding-Measure, or Cheek.
f f The Male-Screw.
g The Female-Screw.

These Composing-sticks are made of Iron Plate about the thickness

of a thin Scabbord, and about ten Inches long doubled up square; so
as the Bottom may be half an Inch and half a quarter broad, and the
Back about an whole Inch broad. On the further end of this Iron Plate
thus doubled up, as at a is Soldered on an Iron Head about a Long-
Primmer thick; But hath all its outer-edges Basil’d and Fil’d away into
a Molding: This Iron Head must be so let into the Plate, and
Soldered on to it, that it may stand truly square with the bottom, and
also truly square with the Back, which may be known by applying the
outer-sides of a square to the Back and Bottom; as I shewed, Numb.
3. Fol. 38, 39. About two Inches from the Head, in the Bottom, is
begun a row of round holes about an Inch assunder, to receive the
shank of the Male-Screw that screws the Sliding-Measures fast
down to the Bottom; so that the Sliding-Measures may be set nearer
or further from the Head, as the Measure of a Page may require.
The lower Sliding-Measure marked d is an Iron Plate a thick
Scabbord thick, and of the Breadth of the inside of the Bottom; It is
about four Inches long, and in its middle hath a Groove through it
within half an Inch of the Fore-end, and three quarters of an Inch of
the hinder end. This Groove is so wide all the way, that it may
receive the Shank of the Screw. On the Fore-end of this Plate stands
square upright another Iron Head about a Brevier thick, and reaches
so high as the top of the Back.
The upper Sliding-Measure is made just like the lower, only it is
about three quarters of an Inch shorter.
Between these two Sliding-Measures, Marginal Notes are
Composed to any Width.
Compositers commonly examine the Truth of their Stick by applying
the head of the Sliding-Measure to the inside of the Head of the
Stick; and if they comply, they think they are square and true made:
But this Rule only holds when the Head it self is square. But if it be
not, ’tis easy to file the Sliding-Measures to comply with them:
Therefore, as aforesaid, the square is the only way to examine them
by.

¶. 5. Of the Bodkin.

The Bodkin is delineated in Plate 2. at F Its Blade is made of Steel,

and well tempered, its shape is round, and stands about two Inches
without the Shank of the Handle. The Handle is turned of soft wood
as Alder, Maple, &c. that when Compositers knock the Head of the
Bodkin upon the Face of a Single Letter when it stands too high, it
may not batter the Face.

¶. 6. Of Chases, marked G on the Correcting-Stone, Plate 2.

A Chase is an Iron Frame about two and twenty Inches long,

eighteen Inches broad, and half Inch half quarter thick; and the
breadth of Iron on every side is three quarters of an Inch: But an
whole Inch is much better, because stronger. All its sides must stand
exactly square to each other; And when it is laid on the Correcting-
Stone it must lye exactly flat, viz. equally bearing on all its sides and
Angles: The outside and inside must be Filed straight and smooth. It
hath two Crosses belonging to it, viz. A Short-Cross marked a a and
a Long-Cross marked b b: These two Crosses have on each end a
Male Duftail Filed Bevil away from the under to the upper-side of the
Cross, so that the under-side of the Duftail is narrower than the
upper-side of the Duftail. These Male-Duftails are fitted into Female-
Duftails, Filed in the inside of the Chase, which are also wider on the
upper side of the Chase than on the under-side; because the upper-
side of the Cross should not fall through the lower side. These
Crosses are called the Short and the Long-Cross.
The Short-Cross is Duftail’d in as aforesaid, just in the middle of the
Chase as at c c, and the Long-Cross in the middle of the other sides
the Chase, as at d d. The Short-Cross is also Duftail’d into Female-
Duftails, made as aforesaid, about three Inches and an half from the
middle, as at e e: So that the Short-Cross may be put into either of
the Female-Duftails as occasion serves. The middle of these two
Crosses are Filed or notched half way through, one on its upper, the
other on its under-side to let into one another, viz. the Short-Cross is
Filed from the upper towards the under-side half way, and the Long-
Cross is Filed from the lower towards the upper-side half way: The
Crosses are also thus let into each other, where they meet at f, when
the Short-Cross is laid into the other Female-Duftails fitted to it at e
e.
In the middle, between the two edges of the upper side of the Short-
Cross, is made two Grooves parallel to the sides of the Cross,
beginning at about two Inches from each end, and ending at about
seven Inches from each end: It is made about half an Inch deep all
the way, and about a quarter of an Inch broad, that the Points may
fall into them. The Short-Cross is about three quarters of an Inch
thick, and the Long-Cross about half that thickness. All their sides
must be Fil’d straight and smooth, and they must be all the way of an
equal thickness.
Hitherto our Master-Printer hath provided Materials and Implements
only for the Compositers use; But he must provide Machines and
Tools for the Press-mans to use too: which (because I am loath to
discourage my Customers with a swelling price at the first reviving of
these Papers) I shall (though against my interest) leave for the
subject of the next succeeding Exercises.

ADVERTISEMENTS.
THe first Volumne of Mechanick Exercises, Treating of the Smiths,
the Joyners, the Carpenters, and the Turners Trades, containing
37½ sheets, and 18 Copper Cuts, are to be had by the Author.
Joseph Moxon. Price 9s. 3d. in Quires.
THe first Volumne of the Monthly Collection of Letters for
Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, containing Twenty four
Sheets with an Index, is now finished, and the second is carrying on:
By John Haughton,
Fellow
of the Royal
Society.
Plate 3.
 MECHANICK EXERCISES:
Or, the Doctrine of

Handy-works.
Applied to the Art of

Printing.
§. 10. Of the Press.
THere are two sorts of Presses in use, viz. the old fashion and the
new fashion; The old fashion is generally used here in England; but I
think for no other reason, than because many Press-men have
scarce Reason enough to distinguish between an excellently
improved Invention, and a make-shift slovenly contrivance, practiced
in the minority of this Art.
The New-fashion’d Presses are used generally throughout all the
Low-Countries; yet because the Old-fashion’d Presses are used
here in England (and for no other Reason) I have in Plate 3. given
you a delineation of them; But though I give you a draft of them; yet
the demensions of every particular Member I shall omit, referring
those that think it worth their while, to the Joyners and Smiths that
work to Printers: But I shall give a full description of the New-
fashion’d Press, because it is not well known here in England; and if
possible, I would for Publick benefit introduce it.
But before I proceed, I think it not amiss to let you know who was the
Inventer of this New-fashion’d Press, accounting my self so much
oblig’d to his Ingeniety for the curiosity of this contrivance, that
should I pass by this oppertunity without nameing him, I should be
injurious to his Memory.
It was Willem Jansen Blaew of Amsterdam: a Man as well famous
for good and great Printing, as for his many Astronomical and
Geographical exhibitions to the World. In his Youth he was bred up
to Joynery, and having learn’d his Trade, betook himself (according
to the mode of Holland) to Travel, and his fortune leading him to
Denmark, when the noble Tycho Brahe was about setting up his
Astronomical Observatory, was entertain’d into his service for the
making his Mathematical-Instruments to Observe withal; in which
Instrument-making he shew’d himself so intelligent and curious, that
according to the general report of many of his personal
acquaintance, all or most of the Syderal Observations set forth in
Tycho’s name, he was intrusted to make, as well as the Instruments.
 Plate 4.
And before these Observations were publish’d to the World, Tycho,
to gratify Blaew, gave him the Copies of them, with which he came
away to Amsterdam, and betook himself to the making of Globes,
according to those Observations. But as his Trade increased, he
found it necessary to deal in Geographical Maps and Books also,
and grew so curious in Engraving, that many of his best Globes and
Maps were Engraved by his own Hands; and by his conversation in
Printing of Books at other Printing-houses, got such insight in this
Art, that he set up a Printing-house of his own. And now finding
inconveniencies in the obsolete Invention of the Press, He contrived
a remedy to every inconvenience, and fabricated nine of these New-
fashioned Presses, set them all on a row in his Printing-house, and
call’d each Press by the name of one of the Muses.
This short History of this excellent Man is, I confess forraign to my
Title; But I hope my Reader will excuse the digression, considering it
tends only to the commemoration of a Person that hath deserved
well of Posterity, and whose worth without this small Monument,
might else perhaps have slid into Oblivion.
The Press is a Machine consisting of many Members; it is delineated
in Plate 4.

a a The Feet.
b b The Cheeks.
c The Cap.
d The Winter.
e The Head.
f The Till.
g g The Hose. In the Cross-Iron of which, encompassing
the Spindle, is the Garter.
h h h h The Hooks on the Hose the Plattin hangs on.
i k l m n The Spindle.
i Part of the Worm below the Head, whose upper part lies in
the Nut in the Head.
k l The Eye of the Spindle.
m The Shank of the Spindle.