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Five Things Your IT Guy Wants You to Know
1. You aren’t an auto-mechanic, either…
… but you know how to drive your car. That’s why we call you “users”: because you use the computer and that doesn’t mean you have to be a computer expert. Some things you should know how to do: find an application that isn’t on your desktop, create a shortcut, know the difference between copying files and moving files, clear jammed paper from a printer. It isn’t our job to teach you to use Excel. If you don’t know how vlookup works, consult Google. We don’t use excel, except once a year to calculate 1.5% of $21.
2. There’s nothing you can break…
… that we can’t fix. So try new things. We promise you, if you break it, we can fix it. And if we can’t fix it, it probably wasn’t you that broke it. So click around on stuff. Figure out how it works. We like users who know what they are doing, and are willing to figure stuff out on their own. In fact, this is why we often don’t get back to you on simple stuff. Because we know you’ll get tired of waiting, and just figure it out.
3. We don’t care…
… what your brother-in-law (or insert any family member here) said about how to fix whatever problem it is that you have. We also don’t care how they did it at the last place you worked. They have their network, and we have ours. And while there may be some things similar, there are always a great many differences. So just sit back, check Facebook on your phone, and you’ll be back to checking Facebook and Ricochet on your work computer in no time.
4. Which brings me to…
Yes, we actually have the time to sit and monitor what you do on the Internet. Just kidding. We don’t. And it isn’t our web filter. It is management’s web filter. Nine times out of ten — no strike that: ten times out of ten — when your boss brings you a report saying you spend too much time on Facebook at work, it’s because your boss thinks you spend too much time on Facebook at work. And he asked us for a report. Which we hate, because it takes time away from us checking Face… um … checking for updated drivers for “the server”.
5. The problem with 5 is …
… there are actually a million other things we want you to know. Like, the fact that disk space isn’t cheap. That backups are tough. That the network isn’t slow. That, if we had all the money in the world, we’d buy you whatever computer you think you need but we don’t, and that you don’t get administrative rights to your computer because — if you did — you’d install software that infects your computer, causing more work for us …
Published in Culture
OK, I appreciate the clarification.
To be clear – I love my IT department and they do a stellar job. What I do encounter, and what annoys me, is an attitude that treats people who don’t know these things as somehow lesser. I encounter resistance to even showing someone how to do something even one time (this is mostly from younger IT professionals).
If only for their own internal benefit. I remember reading long ago that one year World Wildlife Fund posted 96% of revenue going to Administrative and Overhead. And that Sierra Club was snickered at for having the fanciest digs on K Street.
Taxpayers are a delightful source of revenue.
No. I am assuming that a great many things that users claim they cannot know without being a “computer expert” they actually can know, and they would be better employees if they did know it.
I recognize that your average executive doesn’t have time to unclog a printer. But I bet that super secret thing he wants printed (to his little deskjet printer that he absolutely must have because his stuff is so super secret that he has to have his own printer and which must be color because “MSN” and which has to be inkjet because he’s too cheap to buy a laser) would get in his hot hands faster if he did know how to unclog his own printer.
Boss: I hear you were complaining about my favourite employee’s lack of computer skills. ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY HIRING JUDGEMENT?!?!
See this is the attitude I was talking about.
Who are you to know what the needs of the executive are?
You are right, and I try to eliminate this attitude from the people I hire.
But the other side of the coin is the user who refuses to learn a simple thing. Most users aren’t this way, and it’s the ones who are that I’m railing against.
Like the gal who called the Help Desk just the other day because she couldn’t find a hi-res photo of her dog to be used as her wallpaper…
You are right when you say that paying attention to PC (or other computer) skills is important.
But I think one of the ‘gaps’ between management and IT and end occurs when people forget that computers are merely tools to help us do our jobs better. For the most part, they don’t do the jobs for us.
Hiring someone who can’t do accounting, and then giving him a computer with the latest version of Excel on it, doesn’t fix anything. Even if he’s a fairly accomplished PC user, he’s still only going to be a mediocre accountant.
Hiring someone who’s a terrific accountant, but a lousy PC user, means that that person’s probably not going to be able to provide his or her boss with the reports and presentations that are expected, unless everyone’s willing to sit down with a pencil and paper, or unless he’s willing to invest significant time in learning how to use a new tool.
IMHO, a lot of the tension that develops between IT and ‘users’ has nothing to do with one or the other going into the encounter with an attitude of superiority.
It has to do with a lack of understanding of the boundaries of each other’s jobs.
No matter how good I am with computers (and I’m really good), I can’t turn you into an accountant just because I’m better at using Excel than you are. I can’t turn you into a better doctor or a scheduling whiz just because I installed your practice management system, or set up your network. If you’re a wonderful nurse, and you resent every moment that you have to spend with a keyboard, because it takes you away from face-to-face patient contact, that isn’t my fault. Your job now requires that you wrestle with, and come to grips with, some computer expertise, because I don’t know what the difference is between things like “staff view” and “check-in/check-out view.” That’s on you to understand.
You take care of understanding how to do your job, and I’ll take care of understanding how to do mine. And we all need to understand that all our jobs are changing, and we all need to adapt. I really do think it’s as simple as that.
But there was still revenue, and still people responsible for bringing in that revenue.
Well, because he called and said it was super urgent that he get his MSN article printed. I just figure if it’s so urgent, then why wait for IT to show up?
Isn’t the other side of this the attitude that you are too good or smart to unjam a printer? It’s not that I don’t want to unjam it. It’s that you could do it just as easy and fast as me, faster really, because you could do it in the time it took you to call me and ask me to do it.
To be honest, the number of times I’ve attempted to fix a hardware issue and caused further issues are greater than the number of times I’ve actually fixed the issue. I have the attitude of “ask IT before I make it worse”.
That’s good because I have no idea what the hell you are talking about….but I can take care of a printer jam thank you very much. :)
Depends on how you define “important”.
Many, many years ago, we were about a week away from go-live on a new ERP system for the manufacturing company where I worked (you’ve heard of it). I was the sole DBA supporting the system.
I still remember the moment as I was sitting in my office looking at a stack of backup tapes on the table and realizing that once we were on that system, if I screwed up badly enough, I could single-handedly put the company out of business.
An accountant, a production planner, a salesman or an engineer could make a bad decision and hurt the company but probably not put it out of business. The President and CEO could screw up a decision and put the company out of business in a few years.
I could knock it out in less than a week.
The funny thing is, in my nearly 30 years at this, the accounting department is the only department I’ve seen that regularly tests applicants for their skill at key tools, like excel. I’ve never known and accounting manager to hire someone who can’t demonstrate proficiency.
Okay this I undertand. Sounds more like an issued of being young than being in IT.
Yeah, I’m not asking you to know how to swap a hard drive or add RAM. You cannot tell me that your rule of thumb for a printer jam is “I might make it worse.”
I know that feeling…
As luck would have it…
The second day after go-live, the system crashed in early afternoon and the database wouldn’t open up thanks to some corrupted logs.
I was on the phone with support for about two hours while I had my boss and a VP [who was one of the more intimidating men I’d ever met] standing on the other side of my desk with theirs arms folded across their chests. Towards the end of that two hours there was a serious conversation going on between them about when we would make the decision to roll back to the old system [which was still an option since we’d only been up for a day and a half].
One of the best moments of my professional life was when I got that database open while they were standing there. And I impressed the VP enough with my ability to work under pressure that I was well-rewarded down the line.
I still wouldn’t want to go through those few hours again though.
Spin, you haven’t met some of the thumbs I’ve known.
It was years ago, and was even about a paper jam. This guy opened the first (unlatched) door of the copier. He saw the edge of the piece of paper and began to pull hard on the part covering the paper. He didn’t seem aware (or care) that part had to be unlatched. Fortunately, rapid intervention prevented a call to the (outside) copier contractor.
When I’m having one of those days where I’m ready to strangle to death the many computer-illiterate morons who outrank me in the pecking order, I ask myself a very simple question: “If I’m so smart, how come I’m not in charge?”
The answer reminds me of my place, and I slink back into my salariman’s funk.
I’ve broken a printer or two.
Because you work for a corruption-ridden bureaucracy that values where you went to school and who your father is over actual smarts?
I am in IT and have been on both sides of the divide. I have called vendors with problems that turned out to be a stupid error on my part. What I have found is that it is easier to empathize with the user than to create an adversarial relationship.
I still have to deal with those few users who test my patience (it doesn’t work and I didn’t change a thing!!!!). I also have more fun now being on the user’s side and mock complaining about the silly computers. Most users, when they know I am on their side, will admit to (possibly) causing the problem.
Other possibilities:
;-)
Well, if you choose a professional career over an executive career, a little advice based on experience. Choose your profession carefully.
An advantage of a career flying airplanes, besides from not having to actually work, is dealing with problem executives or passengers. For those moments when a passenger gets overly cantankerous – flying inverted for a couple of minutes gets them over their bad attitude 100% of the time. Makes for high levels of job satisfaction.
As a teacher in Seattle Schools, I was the first level of tech support for the people in my building. When someone, from principal to custodial engineer, had a problem they would call me first. Everyone of the five statements above are absolutely true. I would add just one more since I dealt with it at least once a month.
6- Check your power supply. If someone has accidentally kicked the switch on your surge protector or knocked the plug out of the wall it is highly unlikely that your computer and monitor will boot up.
This list and thread highlight some the reasons that my (real) Twitter profile reads “recovering” CIO.
It’s good to be back on the revenue-generating side again.
Or perhaps you are indeed smart enough to run the joint, but instead of working 90 hours a week you want a life.
No. That’s not it.