The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

provocative maintenance
 n.

    [common ironic mutation of preventive maintenance] Actions performed upon a
    machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains
    in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a 
    field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such ?maintenance? often
    induces problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an un
    usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey
    .


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

provocative maintenance

   [Common ironic mutation of "preventive maintenance"] Actions
   performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to
   ensure that the system remains in a usable state.  So called
   because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who
   doesn't know what he is doing; such "maintenance" often
   *induces* problems, or otherwise results in the machine's
   remaining in an *un*usable state for an indeterminate amount
   of time.  See also scratch monkey.

   [Jargon File]