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Who Plays the 'Blame the Tech' Game?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work for a marketing services company, and it is my department's role to develop and maintain reporting systems for all the data we collect. When a department manager sees a dip (or rise) in one of there KPI's the first thing they do is ask me to 'check out the reporting', because '[they] think there is a problem'? It's this just the culture of my company or have other readers experienced a 'blame the technology first, ask questions later mentality'?"
It's pretty simple. People always blame others first, and since the IT department is the closest thing to a scapegoat in the office... Well, you just need more red staplers i think.
:(" (which, by coincidence, is one of the first things new workers call for).
Also, if you're a computer-illiterate person, you get quite used to call the IT dept. as often as you can with problems which seem "strange" to you, so very soon it just goes as your natural reflex. In my opinion though, it has nothing to do with mentality, just the lack of computer experience. For example: "OH NOES, my mail client can't connect to the mailserver! Plz help me, IT Department!
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams [...]."
It's everyone's fault. Users distrust software because there is a lot of untrustworthy software.
My users do the same. Before I verify a report is accurate, I make them go back and verify the data they entered is correct. Oftentimes, its user error, a missing field, or in my last case, a slight change in business practices, where a field used to be required, but now wasn't, which the report somewhat expected to be there. After they think they've verified the data, I'll go into the database and verify it by hand. Sometimes the report is wrong, but usually it's just displaying something different than what the user expects. 90% user error, 10% system error -- if you don't let anyone report problems, you'll never catch those 10%.
I try to give my users as many reports as possible and encourage them to pull multiple reports and cross-reference themselves. I don't hesitate to add reports, either, since they really take little time to adapt from other reports, even if it is just to help out that 55-year-old sales guy on the third floor that doesn't sell much but everyone likes because he's been there for 20 years. It gets me major kudos (and free lunches) from other staff who see a new report, run it, and realize that they could use it, too. "You're reading my mind, man! You just saved me 3 hours of work a week! How's about some lunch on me?!"
In other words: it's your job, now STFU & GBTW.
Trying being an Oracle DBA maintaining databases of testing results and data for engineers that were plagued with Ingres for decades. Every time they screw up a query and get zero results, the call comes in to check something relating to Ingres that Oracle doesn't have or need. Either that or the servers get bogged down because the network group refuses to admit that there might be a problem with the network and that I need to "check my settings". Nevermind that all interfaces are either set to auto-negotiate or forced to maximum performance.
Anyway, I digress.
I have experienced it before and it comes and goes as the people in charge move up the ladder and others take thier places. Often times it can be incredibly difficult to get past it. However, that is one of the challenges of being in IT. Convincing people that the technology isn't the problem is difficult. I think the difficulty lies in the fact that as an IT professional, if you are doing your job correctly, your work should be invisible to the users. They should think that you do nothing all day. If that is the case then you have already done your job effectivly unless they are complaining about something. Then, of course, you have to fix it.
However, users are funny creatures. They will not notice the systems and immerse themselves completely in the computing environment...until something goes wrong. Then it's like The Matrix is skipping a beat and Agent Smith jumps in and gives them the stink eye. Then the phones start ringing and you, you slackass, you ain't doin' nuthin'! Since they never realize the good because it works the way they have come accustomed to it working, problems that boot them out of the environmental warm-fuzzy are glaring. It's not only a work stopage but it's like waking someone up by dumping a bucket of water on thier face. It's jarring to them and leaves as much of an emotional/mental impact as a work stopage leaves a physical impact.
The reaction then becomes more of a fight or flight type deal. A work stopage or less then rosy data results can be devasating to anyone. When these people you are dealing with see thier numbers come up less desireable that expected, the first thing they tend to do is panic. The blame starts flying every which way to get them back to thier non-panic striken happy place.
You will never solve the "blame techonology" problem because it isn't really rooted in a lack of education. It's human nature to find a scapegoat to accept blame to avoid the pain, physical or emotional, of dropping the ball and getting called on it. About the only thing you can do is do you job as best as you can. If they call asking about the reporting program, be professional and calm and work through thier problem with them. Afterall, you know things are OK on your side and things aren't ok on thier side. They don't know that though. They are just trying to follow every path as quickly as possible to find out what is wrong so that they can get a handle on it and maybe put a stop to the downward slide, quickly.
Above all, don't take it personal, you likely do not report to them. If they become unmanagable, refer them to your management and have your manager act as the intermediary. If you are the management then it is your responsibility to find an amiacable solution.
Maybe they're just trying to hint to you to use the new coversheet format.
Xbox reviews.. We think they're funny.
Right now I'm going through a big cluster f*** at work with respect to a new, bloated, and slow web app that's about to be rolled out. Of course, it must be *my* fault that he app is slow, because it's the "network".
It can't possibly be because the web app unloads a 1/4 MByte steaming pile of Javascript into the user's browser on first page load, can it?
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
The problem is that it is usually just an excuse, but the masses believe it. At the dawn of the computer age people believed it because computers were knew and they had no point of reference to believe otherwise. In the 80's and 90's more people had contact with PCs, however the software and OS was shoddy to say the least. All the reboots, freezes and BSoDs made them believe it even more. Unfortunately, until you have answered the request with a "Checks out AOK!" 50-100 times until they are confident in the results, it will continue. Human nature I am afraid.
If the problem isn't the reporting algorithims, it's in the data - maybe you need to check validation on the front end.
Garbage in, garbage out. Even validation won't solve your garbage in problems. For some reason our line operaters got it in their head that all they had to type was 123456 in a field when prompted. 123456 is a valid value and within the realm of possibilities, so it validates fine and the system accepts it. Then a manager actually wanted a report involving that field. The report was useless. And so began back and forth. This report can't be right. It's right, everything checks out and that is the data that's in the database.
Eventually we walked said manager out to the line and had an operator demonstrate data entry procedures. "On this field we just enter 1234546." Manager flips out. Operator calmly pulls out his manual, flips to the document describing the procedure. Sure enough 123456 is part of the procedure. Document created by: Manager who is flipping out.
Nothing like someone shooting themselves in the foot to make a report writer's day.
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
So what's the problem? They're blaming the reporting, not you - and, after all, it is your job to "check out the reporting", isn't it?
Sorry, maybe I'm just a bit narky on this subject. I had a job a while ago where week after week, month after month, year after year I'd get pulled up because the coversheets on my timesheet and job accounting reports were literally a sea of red, marking out dozens of supposed violations every day. Every time I got hauled up about this, I turned the page over to the actual reports and located the raw data for every single supposed "violation", showed how they were due to errors and incorrect assumptions in the incoming data and report generation, exactly where and how the errors were occurring, and exactly how to fix the data collection and reporting - or, failing that, the one thing they could do to prevent making the incorrect assumptions.
Their suggestion? To fiddle the system (which in fact broke other, less important, reports!) with the effect of slowing down my workrate, just so these particular reports came out "correct".
When I left that position 2 years later, it was still going on...
The problem, y'see, was the opposite to yours. In my case, the management's assumption was that the whole process of data collection and report generation was infallible. Despite repeatedly proving and explaining at least 100 times why it wasn't, it was still considered to be so.
Stop being so sensitive, and do your damned job.
What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?