Amen!
The root of this problem is not a lack of skills, but of character.
-steve schaub

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Richard Sims
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 9:08 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Teaching Problem Solving?

This is a universal problem in information technology (and other technology 
domains). It seems to derive from life conditioning which began in youth, where 
going to one's parent and proclaiming "Broken!" will result in the sympathetic 
parent fixing the problem. Those who had to fend for themselves in early life 
tend to be more self-reliant and pursue solutions themselves, up to reasonable 
limits.

Shops with ITIL structuring and the usual tiered arrangement of help desk, 
operations, sysadmin, engineering, and architecture are not immune to this 
situation, where lower support levels will often superficially react to a 
reported problem and just pass it on to the next level, with attendant 
resolution delays for the user as the bureaucracy grinds. Commonly, the 
passed-on ticket contains little or no useful information as to what the 
problem actually is, as in "My email doesn't work."

An approach to dealing with this is to not readily accept a passed-on problem, 
but to insist:
Have you gathered all needed information to ascertain the actual problem?
What analysis have you performed on the situation?
Have you tried reproducing the problem as a means of pursuing it?
Has the user been using this function successfully for some time and now has 
this problem, or is this the first time the user tried using it?
Have others been having this same problem, or is it just this user?
Is the user trying to use the function with all requisites in place, and per 
our online instructions?
Have you referred to vendor documentation regarding function usage to assure 
correctness?
Is there a coincident system change recorded in our organization's tracking 
system which might explain the problem?
Are there historic records of this problem having occurred here before, with 
accompanying solutions?
Have you sought a solution or at least perspective in a Web search?

The key is to challenge people, in a good way, to do what they are supposed to 
do, and get out of the self-limiting habit of looking to others to always fix 
things for them.

    Richard Sims, at Boston University
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