I find it funny that this month’s theme is “checking on your value” and I decided that this month I would get back to writing. The reason I find this funny is I always found writing these articles to be a way to provide value. I never considered myself a writer until now. When I would be on The AV Life podcast, part of my intro would be ‘writer of the IT in AV’ and I no longer say that. Since I stopped saying that I have felt that a part of me has been missing which led me to the decision of getting back into writing. Now that is enough about me and why I am writing again, and it is time to write this month’s column.
As we enter the season of annual reviews I want to turn the focus from us, personally, to the equipment we support. Each year we should sit down and do a review of our work and our growth. We should also sit down and do a review of our equipment and the services we provide. We should review our designs, equipment settings, and users’ needs.
Designs
Let’s face it, we work in the field of technology that is always changing. The systems we designed a year ago might not be the way we would design them today. This is not saying that our designs are wrong; it is just saying that we have learned, grown, and newer technology has come out. Each year you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this design the best design for our current users to have the best user experience?
- If I had to design this system, from scratch, today, how would it look?
- Is this design the most cost-effective design?
These questions will allow you to look at your system objectively. I always like to say that people are like water, following the path of least resistance. In system design, that can mean we become too compliant in our designs simply because it is easy. Just because it is easy does not mean it is the best way of doing things.
Equipment Settings
Each year we should review our equipment and its current settings.
- Was a setting missed during installation?
- Do all the systems have the same settings?
- Are you leaving your environment at risk due to misconfiguration?
These are just some of the questions we should be asking ourselves about our equipment. If the equipment settings are not set correctly then they are not providing the best value to your environment.
Users’ Needs
Without the users, then our systems have no value at all. This means we need to make sure we are meeting their needs. We could put the best system in and make sure all the settings are set correctly, but if our users do not use the equipment then it is not providing value and in fact costing more than just the price tag of installing the equipment. Each year we should meet with key stakeholders to see if the equipment is meeting their needs. Here are some examples of ways to get this information.
- Sitting in during a class
- Sending out surveys
- Reviewing the past year’s trouble tickets
- ‘Water cooler talk’: stop by some of your users’ offices and ask them how things are going
Reviewing these three sections each year is not easy. Just like doing our self-evaluations, it’s hard to take a close look at what we are doing. Being hard is what makes this worth the time you put into it. The more of an honest look into our systems the better we are at determining if our systems are providing value to our users. If we can determine if our systems are providing value, we can use that to show our value during our annual reviews.
