How to succeed with your IT department | Hacker News Reader

How to succeed with your IT department

marcusblankenship.com

27 pointsmarcuscreo42 comments

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).

Agreed, nothing says "I Love You" like a clear, reproducible support ticket! Scott was always willing and able to help the IT folks understand the value of what was being done, which energized everyone.

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.

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?

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.

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.

"On the subject of tickets, the thing that will earn you IT gratitude is to file good tickets."

Writing a good problem description takes time, but in my experience it almost always pays off.

Another thing I learned over the years: I also always try to ensure that I have only one ticket open for a given issue. This takes effort, especially when (first level) support is payed per ticket, but multiple tickets too often lead to chaos.

Always ask for the ticket number when you file a ticket, always first tell the ticket number in subsequent requests and insist that they add to the original ticket instead of opening a new one. Helped me a lot.

Yeah, these are great keys. I wish people outside IT could sit in our shoes for a few minutes and see how difficult it is to interpret "My computer isn't working when I access ASIGH". I mean, WTH? :-)

It is a fact of life, but still one that amazes me, how unclear most people are in their communication. And it is at least partly my issue, because I've worked with many very successful people whose written requests strike me as one step above randomly mashing the keyboard.

;limasdfo;ijasd .asdfn

lol ;-)

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.

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.

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.

Schmoozing with the people on the front lines creates a pretty big change in how projects are communicated.

Among other things, it means that issues with that manager's jobs get taken directly to him, rather than ran up past another layer of management, with the resulting extra sugar coating.

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! ;-)

> 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Sorry, I'm not inferring you need friends. I am inferring that treating IT folks as human beings will being more success over treating them like cogs in a machine you hate to deal with.

Are you really saying that people with disrespectful and derisive attitudes don't bother you, and you do your best work for them?

Nowhere did I say that. Respond to the comment I made, not the straw man that you've created.

To restate my point: While you shouldn't be a jerk, friendship as described in the article is unnecessary. Clarity is more important, and often lacking.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It's not. They do their job anyhow. But they have 100 things to care about today, do you want to be one of them?

And do you want people to perform their job for you, or do want them to care about the quality and outcomes of the work? I want the second, not the first...

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.

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

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.

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"?

You actually hit on an interesting point, and there's some truth to that! People who didn't work the personal angle often felt "left out" or "ignored", especially in light of how much Scott got done. But, they never actually figured out that if they simply were kind & generous with praise/credit, they would get the same treatment.

So yes, it was a problem for the losers in the equation.

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

Shocking.

Shocking, but unusual in my experience...

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

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

Reply on news.ycombinator.com