The Grass Isn't Always Greener

In fairness to the many posts I have read while following this semester's worth of blogging-at-will, I wish to post in support of all the IT and Network Help performers in the audience.

I come from that world, the person at the other end of the frantic phone call when technology fails you (as it undoubtedly will, most likely when you are at some critical juncture); the recipient of emails from frustrated users of software; I have met more than my share of angry, irritated, and totally pissed off users within a network. I have also met more than my share of current friends from responding to situations in which, through user error or machine failure, technology has introduced us in some way.

I would like to offer a few guidelines that I hope will smooth the rocky road of Tech Support personnel..

1.) The clearer your description of the problem, the better chance we have to solve the situation. Rather than, "The $$%$ thing's not working", say "My printer is not printing, and is blinking yellow", or, rather than "Please get right down here, nothing's happening with my computer! I need it for class right now!", try to give some detail, as in, "I was loading up my PowerPoint and everything's frozen - the mouse isn't moving, and the keyboard's not responding either"...

2) If you did *something*, please let us in on the secret. It may seriously speed up repair time. I will not yell at you! I will only get upset if you, for whatever reason, tried to uninstall, install, tweak, copy, fix, update, upload, etc. The range of tasks that people use computers/technology for is so huge, that any clue to help narrow down the issue is appreciated. Even if you can't exactly remember, please be assured that someone's probably had the same problem before, that you are not the only person in the world this has happened to. We all share technology horror stories.

3) If something is really important to you, please BACK IT UP SOMEWHERE! If you're not certain how to do this safely, please ask. I'd much rather spend time helping you to get this ability under your belt than see your frantic expression when it (inevitably) gets lost, deleted or corrupt.

4) Have an alternative plan in case technology fails you. If all the electricity goes out, do you have a backup plan? If you need to make a presentation, you can indeed do so without your computers, projectors, smartboards, iPods, but you need to plan ahead.

5) Oftentimes, the solution to a technical problem lies in the "easy" stuff. Is it plugged in? Cables connected? Power on? Paper in the printer? Have you rebooted? Rebooting can be an almost magical fix-all to many, many problems.



My goal, in general, is to not only solve the problem at hand, but to empower the user by showing the steps taken to "fix" whatever needs fixing.