

How to succeed with your IT department - marcuscreo
http://marcusblankenship.com/post/55659546590/how-to-be-20-times-as-successful-with-your-it

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caw
Corporate IT guy here, and I think the general idea of the post is right, but
maybe not the way of going about it.

He's right that IT consists of people too, and not automatons. It's not
through sheer malice that we don't answer your support tickets, it's because
there's 100 other support tickets also up in the air. There's very few IT
people dedicated to projects, most of us have to mix our projects with the
cries for help. The more interrupts we get, the harder it is to do productive
work.

On the subject of tickets, the thing that will earn you IT gratitude is to
file good tickets. The difference between "I'm getting X when I do Y" and "Is
Y broken?" is immense. I explained it once to a user that if you went to the
auto mechanic with "My car makes a noise", they'll be more than happy to find
your noise, and they'll charge you for the time they spent finding it. If you
add just a little bit more detail, they can get you on your way faster. The
only difference is that you're not paying me out of pocket like you would the
mechanic, so you can't tell how much time I spend tracking down nothing.

If you make it easy to work with IT, we'll make it easy to work with you. We
want to work together, not against each other. If you're constantly demanding,
not making clear requests, changing requirements, or dropping bureaucracy on
us, then we'll concentrate our limited time on other projects with higher ROI
unless there's been some kind of edict from above. With Marcus's Scott
example, we want to work on his projects since they historically demonstrate
high ROI. It's a win-win all around (Scott, the IT guy, and the business).

~~~
hvs
As a developer/manager I completely agree with you and have always had good
relationships with IT for this specific reason.

However, I think many non-technical people (and let's be honest, they are the
ones causing a lot of the issues) simply assume that "the computer guys know
what's going on" because they just assume it's all magic anyway. The idea that
we aren't wizards and actually have to figure stuff out may not even occur to
them.

That, and some people are just dicks.

~~~
marcuscreo
hvs, I think both are true. I'm interesting in helping the first group (well
intentioned, but clueless) learn how to use IT better. Have you ever been able
to do that?

~~~
caw
That's why I brought up the car analogy with the user. Most people aren't car
experts either.

I haven't found the perfect answer, other than refusing to work on the ticket
until more detail is provided (of course, sending them a nice note asking them
to explain more).

Maybe in the ticketing system you could have 2 explicit text fields, "What are
you seeing?" and "When do you see it?". The what are you seeing could let them
type or upload a screenshot, since people like sending screenshots.

~~~
marcuscreo
I think FogCreek does a really good job of this. When entering a ticket, they
asked three simple questions:

1\. What did you do? 2\. What did you expect? 3\. What happened instead?

Just these three questions really help focus the task of entering a problem
ticket.

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dsr_
This proposed plan has two major issues:

First, it doesn't solve the underlying root problems for everyone, it just
gets someone special attention. It's a workaround, not a solution.

Second, you should strive to have good professional relationships with
everyone in your company. The odds are high that even if you work with
thousands of people, you really only work with a tribe's worth in any given
year. Take the time to get to know all of them. It's much more valuable in
terms of building cross-connections and sharing insights than it is in terms
of cronyism and special favors.

~~~
marcuscreo
dsr, that's true. It is a workaround. But I wasn't writing to IS Management
who can change the system, I'm writing to those trapped (on both sides) of a
broken system.

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grimtrigger
So... schmooze? It may be part of the answer, but it seems awfully
condescending. It implies that the IT department could always do a better job,
they simply don't care about you that much. Again, this is a hypothetical IT
department, so it may sometimes be true.

Nowhere did I see suggestion for a change in how projects are communicated,
which I would assume is the #1 issue.

~~~
marcuscreo
If you choose to see it as schmoozing, you missed the point. It's about
valuing the people you depend upon, and making an effort to be humble,
thankful, and to get to know them.

If you're only doing this to get better service, stop doing it. That's an
douchebag move.

Hmm... maybe I need to add that to the post! ;-)

~~~
grimtrigger
> If you're only doing this to get better service, stop doing it

But... the whole point of the article is how to get better service from your
IT department.

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johnjhayes
I already have too many people coming by and trying to talk and be my friend.
That just prevents me from getting work done. Of course being nice to people
is always a good thing to do, but it's not going to solve IT problems.

Here is what you can do: understand your needs, communicate them clearly and
have realistic goals. That's it.

~~~
marcuscreo
Do you know non-technical people that can do this well and consistently? How
do they do it?

~~~
johnjhayes
Yes, a few. They do it by being competent and aware. The point I'm trying to
make is that if you don't understand what you need an IT person isn't going to
be able to solve your problems by just throwing technology against a wall. You
don't need to understand the technology, but you have to have a very clear
understanding of what you need to accomplish and then communicate that
clearly.

Everyone should try to be friendly and professional, and clearly being rude
won't win you any favors, but you shouldn't get moved to the front of the line
because you stopped by to talk about last nights game or how my kids are
doing. That's not a solution that can scale.

~~~
marcuscreo
Everyone should, I agree. And maybe I'm delivering IT a backhanded-compliment,
which I don't intend.

My have tremendous fondness for people that work in Corporate IT. I've worked
there in the lowest levels, managed them, protected them, fought for them, and
ultimately have seen that the larger system at play works against them. I
believe they are usually the smartest, hardest-working, most creative, most
driven people in the company.

I should have set the context of my comments for those working within
dysfunctional companies where IT is at the bottom of the pecking order. In my
experience, this is when the need for strong relationships will go the
farthest.

If things in an IT org are great, professionalism is key. Otherwise, I stand
by the idea that being _nice_ is more important than being _clear_.

~~~
johnjhayes
I get where you are coming from, however, if being nice gets you better
service from IT then, yes, you work at a dysfunctional company. Maybe changing
the culture of the company would be a good idea. From my perspective what you
are doing is a workaround to the dysfunction, not something that will solve
the problem long term.

~~~
marcuscreo
John, I agree. It's a hack for sure.

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johngalt
Try not to be a jerk but we don't need to be friends. Most IT staff are
professional enough to do their jobs. Personally I value clarity over
attitude.

How to work with IT: Communicate your needs properly and get buy in from
people who write the checks. Make it so your IT staff only has to solve
technology problems not political ones.

~~~
nhance
This is overly idealistic. Some part of working in a business situation (no
matter the industry) is dealing with other people. You might be able to get
pretty far, but you won't be able to avoid politics forever.

I think the advice in here is solid and is something that's been forgotten by
too many. While the "jocks" in high school were getting this right, the
"nerds" never had to learn. This is great advice for those of us where it
doesn't come naturally.

~~~
marcuscreo
Thanks! As a nerd, I know I had to learn it the hard way.

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WestCoastJustin
This pains me to even mention it, but conducting yourself in a professional
manner around the office, will not only help you succeed with your IT
department, but the entire company! This should not be news to anyone.
However, I think this advice needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I have
been on the receiving end of someone trying to jump the work queue by slipping
in some simple and then gradually bigger requests. Is this professional on a
continuing basis? Sure, everyone wants to help people out by putting in that
extra effort, but don't abuse the system. Use the golden rule once and a while
;) Do not make your lack of planning my problem! This applies to all
departments.

~~~
marcuscreo
Lol, do you have a sign that says "Your lack of planning does not constitute
an emergency for me."? I think if people feel someone is gaming the system, it
will work against them. It has to be sincere, and holistic in approach.

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sopooneo
I had a hard time gleaning the tone of this piece. At first I thought it was
facetious, since the list of purportedly annoying responses from IT actually
seemed quite reasonable. The last one in particular, “You never said that is
what you really wanted. We did what you asked for.”, seems hard to argue
against.

Yet the rest of the piece is clearly sincere. Perhaps that just goes to show
how wide the chasm is.

~~~
marcuscreo
Great point. When I was in IT, I said these things. Yet when I left there, I
heard people complaining about getting these responses. I believe the chasm is
great, and most non-IT folks feel 100% of the fault lies with IT.

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LandoCalrissian
You should obviously be as nice as possible to people and treat them with
respect, but that shouldn't be a prerequisite for them performing their jobs.

~~~
omegaham
In a perfect world, this would be the case. Unfortunately, you end up working
with people who are both secure in their position and lazy. They can do the
job, and you need them to do the job, but they don't really feel like doing
it.

I have such a person in my own job. She's perfectly capable, but she gives
zero fucks and is happy to let it pile up until someone orders her to do her
job.

My remedy? Show up, in person, with the request form in my hand and say hi.
Chat with her, ask about her day, etc. She deals with idiots on the phone all
day faxing things and then calling ten minutes later complaining that they
aren't done. By showing up and chatting, I get my work pushed straight up to
the top of the queue.

Personally, I wish that I could fax my stuff in and get my response back
promptly. Instead, I make do with what I have.

Unfortunately, this leads to my boss calling her my girlfriend and joking
about the hot steamy affair I'm having whenever I go over to her office.

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dan__yall
Sounds like no one else could get anything done because everyone was too busy
working on stuff for Scott.

~~~
stuff4ben
works in IT, would do more for someone who gives me donuts and makes me look
good in front of my boss. The rest of you can queue and go through normal
channels.

Sorry, I'm a person, not a robot (who likes donuts and coffee if you can spare
it). I do my job and do it damn well, but I'll make time for you if you treat
me nicer. I might even work evenings and weekends, but that might require
steak and beer.

~~~
marcuscreo
Exactly! Stuff4ben, does it motivate to you to know you're "helping save the
company $1M" or to feel like "your digging the same ditch, different day"?

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blhack
The best way to get your IT staff to do things for you is to treat them like
human beings?

Shocking.

~~~
marcuscreo
Shocking, but unusual in my experience...

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jmomo
Sadly, nobody outside of IT will ever read this article.

~~~
marcuscreo
Agreed. Where should I post it? Somewhere that those hair-gel-using, dockers-
wearing, matching-socks douches in Marketing can find it? :-)

