On Jun 6, 2012, at 7:37 AM, Leonard, Matthew wrote:
> Nick, Tell them one word...GOOGLE!
>
> The main thing here is the person must contain the skillset to be able to
> "troubleshoot" an issue. Some people in IT do not contain this Skill which
> is difficult to have them move past. But if there is an issue that I am
> having trouble with, almost any issue I can find some type of hint/resolution
> by simply typing the error or Tivoli error code into Google. We actually
> have a troubleshooting checklist which I recommend you create which contains
> all of the basic techniques that should be followed. Before something gets
> "punted" up, have them go through the "troubleshooting" checklist.
No, no, no, a thousand times, no! Google only gives a good answer for your
problem if you ask the right question.
True story, the story that got me on this kick:
One of the contractors, allegedly TSM certified, escalates a case to me on a
Saturday, and forwards to me an e-mail chain. The initial request is why, after
a client was moved to a different TSM server, was the schedule to archive files
in one directory once a week not reinstated for that client? The contractor
wants to reinstate the schedule but isn't sure he is allowed to.
In the middle of the e-mail stream is a note from someone, not the original
user, that they tried doing the archive manually and it didn't work, either, so
they really need the schedule put back in place.
OK, everyone, say it with me: if the archive doesn't work manually, it won't
work on a managed schedule, either. But our contractor missed that. He blindly
repeated the user original question instead of realizing there was a big
stinking clue in the middle of the e-mail chain.
If he had Googled "How do I schedule an archive of a directory?", he'd have
gotten an answer. But it would have been the answer to the wrong question!
On Jun 6, 2012, at 8:07 AM, Richard Sims wrote:
> 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
Aye, that is the challenge. I don't know how much of it is cultural -- our
contractors are "off shore," where day is night and night is day, and that
probably is part of the problem.
On Jun 6, 2012, at 8:49 AM, Schaub, Steve wrote:
> Amen!
> The root of this problem is not a lack of skills, but of character.
"Do not ascribe to malice that which is attributable to ignorance." Richard J.
Hanlon, maybe.
I'm not ready to make it a character issue. That implies they know better but
don't dig deeper anyway. I'm worried that something in them just doesn't click
in a way that makes them ask themselves, "Have I seen everything there is to
see here?"
On Jun 6, 2012, at 2:17 PM, Steven Langdale wrote:
> Whilst the guys have come up with some good suggestions there, I notice you
> said "contractors". Maybe it's just me after a long day, but I'd be back
> to the agency and get some new contractors.
I love your sense of humor, Steve! Maybe my company is just too cheap to hire
the right consulting companies (I know, we wouldn't have this problem if Wanda
was our contractor, would we? :-) :-) ), but most of the allegedly
TSM-knowledgeable people our contracting agencies send us are painfully
inadequate. On-shore, off-shore, it doesn't matter. We consider ourselves lucky
to get someone who doesn't keep using Netbackup terms with us. From there, we
can tune up their knowledge of TSM details, but I haven't figured out yet how
to teach them to think critically, which is what it's been called in a couple
of venues.
The best suggestion I heard in another venue was to get people to think of
mystery novels they've read. Not just in that there's a consequence if they're
wrong, but also in that the first clue is never the last clue you need, and
sometimes a clue is a red herring, not a link to the next clue between you and
the solution. I just don't know if this batch of off-shore contractors will
know what I'm talking about. (That's another thing: they always try to bluff
their way rather than admit ignorance, but that's another issue.)
Well, I have a name for what I'm trying to teach: "critical thinking." Now I
just need a few different ways to try to teach it, until I find enough that
work for this group.
Nick
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