By Eric Mathews, Founder – Obsidian Systems
If it’s quiet, you did your job right.
That used to be a truth in IT. But now? The industry has flipped it on its head.
Everywhere you look: dashboards screaming, agents beeping, metrics glowing.
Tools begging for attention, not because they need it, but because they’re trying to prove their worth.
Why? Because IT got loud.
Not because it had to. But because corporate structure demanded visibility.
IT became a line item. A cost center. A thing that had to justify its existence in QBRs, budget proposals, and dashboards that say, “Look at all we’re doing!”
And in the scramble to be seen, they forgot how to build systems that disappear.
The Noise Isn’t Just Security
Noise comes in many forms:
- Tools stacked for vendor points
- Alerts created to have metrics
- Dashboards built to fill screen space
- Change logs and reports no one asked for
Everyone’s addicted to noise because they’re afraid that if IT gets quiet, leadership might forget it’s there.
But that’s backward.
Quiet Systems Aren’t Passive — They’re Precise
At Obsidian Systems, we build quiet systems.
And that doesn’t mean silent, fragile, or reactive. It means:
- Minimal, intentional tooling
- Native configurations, not UI wrappers
- Clean architecture that doesn’t sprawl
- Signal without noise
- Dashboards with only the metrics that matter
Quiet systems don’t need constant validation. They just work.
Like PEX piping in your walls. Like your breaker box.
You’re not reminded daily that they exist. But you trust them completely.
That’s what infrastructure should feel like.
Most MSPs Got It Wrong — and They’re Not Alone
I've seen the trifold brochures, with 15 vendor logos, as if the more junk you install, the more secure you must be.
But that’s not design. That’s just reselling licenses with a few toggles flipped.
MSPs have become dealer networks, not builders.
They rely on fancy UI overlays to give the illusion of capability.
They buy what vendors tell them, stack on agents, and flood dashboards just to look busy.
But this isn’t just an MSP problem.
Internal IT departments do the same thing.
The pressure to “show value,” justify headcount, or mask capability gaps leads to tool-based dependency, where every challenge is met with another product, not better design.
Not because it improves outcomes, but because it’s safer than being exposed as underqualified.
They lean on tools as a crutch, rather than becoming fluent in the systems they manage.
But what happens when something breaks?They blame the old tool and swap in a new one.
That’s not architecture.
That’s duct tape with branding.
So, What Do I Mean by Quiet Systems?
When I say quiet systems, I don’t just mean fewer alerts.
I’m talking about systems that are:
- Deliberately minimal in tools and complexity
- Built natively with the platform's capabilities instead of layers of agents
- Alerting only when human action is needed
- Focused on uptime, clarity, and maintainability
These are systems that disappear into the background, not because they’re forgotten, but because they’re functioning exactly as designed.
Like PEX piping in your walls or the breaker box in your garage, they're not pinging you daily for attention.
You trust them because they just work. And you only think about them when something actually needs fixing.
Think of the plumbing in your house.
You don’t get an alert every time water flows.
You only notice when something’s wrong.
That’s how IT should feel.
Why I’m Writing This
I’m not here to pitch or sell.
I’m sharing what I see: the shift from intentional architecture to tool sprawl, the rise of dashboards as theater, and the quiet erosion of what infrastructure is supposed to be.
If this resonates with you, that’s enough for now.
You’re not alone in thinking it’s gotten too loud.
Let’s bring quiet back to IT and make design the loudest thing we never have to talk about.
Always earned. Never given.