One Simple Thing #5 – Don’t Jump to the End
Craig Shibley, MBA, CTS
Normally One Simple Thing articles are tech tips for end users. And while this can work for end-users as well, I’m writing this more for tech managers and their teams.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to fix an issue the moment you see one symptom. The issue may be similar to things you’ve seen before and you want to go to your surefire fix. Maybe the event is about to begin (or, dreadfully, has already begun) and the rush to get things working can get you to make some assumptions about what the problem is. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for temporary solutions to get something up and running, but don’t let not fully diagnosing lead you into a false sense of fixing the issue. One of the worst things is to have an end-user (professors generally in my case) run into the same issue more than once.
There have been many times when my tech team, made up of very wonderful student workers, will come back from a call and say “we need to fix X” or “X isn’t working.” We then address those things only to realize things are still not working as desired. The same may happen with an end-user telling us that “X” is the problem. My team, in turn, myself, and the end-user have made the mistake of jumping to what they think is the problem without going through the process.
One step we have implemented to help this is when getting information from an end user is to make sure we are reporting the symptoms. A report of “the projector doesn’t work” is very different from “there is no image being displayed from the projector.”
The first calls for a replacement of the projector, the second calls for a diagnosis of where the fault in the signal chain is. The same is true for student workers reporting issues. Before they can issue their diagnosis, I make sure I run through all symptoms and the testing checklist. I am happy to let them solve issues on their own, but only after the proper vetting. A lot of time can be saved by not trying to get to the end of the problem so fast and doing it right the first time.
It can get tedious, and they want to solve issues quickly is good. It is also important to remember to stick to a process yourself and implement that process with those you work with to ensure that problems get solved right the first time.
Get to Know Craig Shibley
Craig Shibley has been in the AV industry for twenty years, and in higher education for ten. He currently serves as the Director of Multimedia Services for California Baptist University in Riverside, CA. Craig is a HETMA steering committee member and the founder of CheckMyAV.com, an all-in-one AV testing resource and blog. He holds an MBA from California Baptist University and CTS certification from AVIXA. Connect with Craig through the social links below.
checkmyAV was started in order to give AV techs a quick and easy resource to check their audio-visual systems. Tired of going to video sites and dealing with ads embedded in videos and inconsistent content, checkmyAV was created to give techs useful video and audio files to check their setup while being ad-free and user friendly. checkmyAV content is created by Craig Shibley.