Wednesday, March 08, 2006

the care and feeding of IT folks

**
** The Care and Feeding
** of IT folks
**


* Use 'please' and 'thank you'.

We are doing our jobs the best we can, just like you.
A little bit of politeness can go a long way. And the
nicer you are, the nicer we will be. Honestly.


* Get the wording and details of any error messages.

As much as we'd like to be, we aren't clairvoyant. Saying
"it gave some error" just means we have to spend more of
your time troubleshooting. Giving as much information as
you can will help us research the answer that much faster
for you.


* Remember that you aren't our only customer.

We support an entire company full of people, all of whom
need IT assistance. Please understand if someone else's
emergency has to be dealt with first.


* Be patient.

Like you, we are juggling a thousand different things. If
we aren't able to get to your request immediately, trust
us, we *will* get to it as soon as we can.


* Our priorities have to be different sometimes.

We know that any IT issue you encounter is very important
to you, but sometimes other issues have to be dealt with
first. In IT, we have to do triage on user issues,
constantly reshuffling our caseload to deal with the
changing severity. A major network outage will always come
first; a user with a completely dead machine will have to
be addressed before one with a printing problem.


* We do try to be flexible.

Even when our hands are tied, we still try our best. We
really do understand how important it is that you get
things done at end of month or before that big meeting,
and we will do what we can. Explain nicely and we'll try.


* Rank does have its privileges.

No one likes to admit it, but if the CEO calls while we
are working on your issue, we are often going to have to
take care of them. It is nothing personal.


* Be considerate when interrupting.

Just because we are staring at our computer doesn't mean
we aren't working. Often we are elbows deep into someone's
problem and heavy in thought. Be gentle when interrupting;
remember, it might be *your* issue we are working on when
someone else interrupts.


* IT folks are people too.

Contrary to rumor, we have feelings, we like our jobs
[usually], and we enjoy doing what we do. We have bad days
just like you; we also have good days, hectic days, and
amazingly productive days. We are all in this
together...common courtesy and a bit of empathy will
really make things go smoother.


(c) 2006 - stacey gladman

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