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High Tech Vending Machines Transform IT Support At Facebook
Hugh Pickens writes "While getting power cords, replacement keyboards, and other sundry computer accessories to employees who need them sounds easy enough, at many companies the process requires filling out order forms that can take IT departments days to fulfill. That's why Facebook CIO Tim Campos decided to take a more user-friendly approach to this common problem, installing custom-made vending machines around the Facebook campus that dispense computer accessories instead of snacks and sodas. When Facebook engineers spill coffee on their keyboard (a common mishap), they head to a nearby vending machine instead of hitting up their IT guy or just grabbing a replacement from a nearby cabinet. They swipe their badge, key in their selection and voila — a brand new keyboard drops down for them to take. According to Campos, they've reduced the cost of managing replacement accessories by about 35%. While products found in the vending machines are free, items are clearly marked with price tags so employees can see the retail value of each accessory they take. The new vending machines also require all employees to swipe their badge before making a selection. That means each and every power cord, keyboard and screen wipe they take can be traced back to their name, ensuring that the system won't be abused. 'I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing,' writes Alexis Madrigal. 'The swipe means that everyone's requests are tracked and I'm sure some algorithm somewhere is constantly sorting the data to see if anyone has pulled 10 sets of headphones out of the system.'"
Do employees have to trek across campus to get the vending machine they like that stocks their particular favored model of headset, mouse or keyboard?(Model M preferably)
Do they sometime get stuck requiring quickly looking around to make sure no one is looking then banging the machine a few times?
Inquiring minds want to know!
You never realize how much manually made unmanaged "linked" lists suck, till you have src.link.link.link.link...
Going through IT for every goofy little peripheral isn't terribly sensible(and IT generally doesn't love spending time being the supply cabinet); but I'd be curious to know whether the additional complexity and cost of the vending machines are sufficiently defrayed by the 'surveillance effect' and inventory tracking they provide.
'Just have a supply closet' is not a sexy strategy; but it sure is KISS-compliant.
Intel has been using these, at least in our campus, for a few years now.
The price tag idea is fantastic, I can steal Frank's badge, and grab myself 10 of everything. List it on ebay at the tagged price and make a nice bonus every week.
how do they track jam's and double drops?
At least it's free so you have some kicking the shit out of it when it eats your cash.
Have a supply closet behind a locked door so you need your badge to open it up and a motion activated camera taking shots of you while you take whatever you want.
If inventory starts to drop then look at the photos to see if anyone is abusing the system.
and in many offices they just stack the stuff on racks with an honor system to take whatever you need...
"Reduced the cost of managing replacement accessories by about 35%."
They are reducing the overhead of talking to a support person, them getting a part off the shelf, marking down that it has been removed by whom for whom for what reason, and all the rest. Something mentioned in the summary.
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'
What are the employees supposed to do with their old keyboards, cables, etc.?
Vending Machines, hmm?
How long until the vending system gets a Facebook page? Then when everyone orders Such&Such keyboard and headphones, the machine can post "Joe Smith Likes this!" Then they can sell that data to advertisers!
Do Vending Machines have Friends?
The fun never stops!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Great, I guess the keyboard or whatever shitty peripheral will get stuck and then after beating and shaking the vending machine for 10 fucking minutes you'll end-up calling help-desk to complain that you swiped and you never got your item so they'll send out an vending service guy and spend $400/hr to fix the fucking crappy vending machine rather keep a stack of $2 dollar keyboards in a closet next to the receptionist or secretary. Then again It's Facebook, so I guess their developers/admins must jiz a lot all over their keyboards while they porn surf through user profiles of hot bitches.
'I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing,' writes Alexis Madrigal. 'The swipe means that everyone's requests are tracked and I'm sure some algorithm somewhere is constantly sorting the data to see if anyone has pulled 10 sets of headphones out of the system.'
I do not think that the word "assumption" means what Alexis thinks it means.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
If they're smart, they probably do some kind of vendor managed inventory and just like the way soda machines are stocked, some dude from the computer parts supply place comes in and makes sure its full of stuff. The vendor owns the inventory and they have an incentive to keep it stocked so that there's product to be bought. I think office supply companies like Staples and Office Max offer services like this for traditional office supplies.
The dumb way would be to have someone in IT manage the vending machine and spending their time ordering things in ones and twos to keep the machine stocked.
Everyone gets the same computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and choice of supported OS so IT has a limited set of hardware/OS combinations to support. You break something, you get your ass to Fry's and buy the replacement on your own dime. You want something new and cool to try? You pay for it out of your own pocket. Need something different for a new project? You get your boss to budget it and work up a PO or buy it from Fry's and expense it on petty cash. You can save buy not having vending machines and paying IT staff to supply trinkets.
when people spill coffee on their keyboard to dock their pay for destruction
people stop spilling coffee, course I come from a time when computers and time cost money, and drinking coffee at your desk is prohibited if your a dumbass spilling your drink on a production machine.
Mountain Dew, Hot pockets and Xena DVDs. For the geek reference on the last two refer to the movie "The Core.
phones and PCs seem like some that the older way works better and a keypad / touch screen is not the best to fill out a report on why you need or to get a sign off that you need it for project X.
Also stocking PC's when it's easier to keep them the older way so you can add ram bigger HDD's without having a vending system with different 4-10+ configs and if your needs are not part of the system then you going the older way is not at X2-4 of the time it used to take.
"Want to see something hilarious? Get Tim the intern to check out a Monster HDMI cable; he's only $400 away from tripping the employee-theft algorithm."
Seriously though, interns will have much larger "bills" on these machines.
so some outside vender can control hardware and change it at will and only have the configs / parts they want to sell.
Just thing of dell or some other 3rd part selling a 4GB to 16GB ram upgrade for $175 when you can buy 16GB ram kits for $100 = A $75+ base ram price of the build in ram markup.
and no you don't get to keep the base ram with upgrade.
also the dell ram is not the same as ram kit's at newegg.com.
'I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing,'
If only that assumption could be applied to the company itself.
The swipe means that everyone's requests are tracked and I'm sure some algorithm somewhere is constantly sorting the data to see if anyone has pulled 10 sets of headphones out of the system.'"
Ya, like Facebook can track user data... :-)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
When Facebook engineers spill coffee on their keyboard (a common mishap),
I've been a system programmer/administrator for over 25 years and routinely eat and drink at my desk and have *never* spilled anything on my equipment - computer or otherwise. What kind of monkeys do they hire at Facebook?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Ok. So I'm assuming this is for people that aren't supporting datacenter based equipment. Y'know the guys that have to plug in thousands of powercords...
So if you're outfitting your cube/desk area, how many keyboards and power cords do you go through? Also, do most FB employees standardize on the 'vending machine' keyboard, or do they have their own personal preference?
Fastenal uses the exact same vending machine (minus all the photos of course!).
I KUT J00 M4NG!!!
Facebook isn't being original here. Fastenall, which sells cutting tools, bolts, and other useful things used by people who make Real Stuff, has special vending machines for industrial plants. Employees use their employee badge or a PIN to get tools and supplies. The machines report back to Fastenall, and they restock the machines. The customer only pays for items when they're vended.
Here's the Youtube video. Fastenall vends electric drills and WD-40, rather than keyboards and cables. They have little machines for things like drill bits, and locker-sized bins for big items. So they're already doing what Facebook is only talking about.
Marking down who got what (same amount of info as a vending machine collects) can be accomplished by swiping the said id and product barcode. Takes two seconds.
'I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing,'
Does this guy actually believe that bullshit? All they've done is increase the monitoring (insert obligatory facebook derogatory tracking comment) - there is less assumption of doing the right thing in this system than there is a with a human IT department.
With a human from the IT department in the loop that human has discretion in accounting for the costs of the hardware. If he knows a group has a tight budget but really needs a replacement doohickey, he can fudge the reporting - push it to the next quarter or put on another group that's got a budget surplus. This system removes all slack.
Maybe right now while facebook is flush with cash it ain't economical to bother looking at the reports from these vending machines beyond crazy outliers that would indicate fraud. But when budgets get tight, this system has the potential to be be far more rigid than one with that extra layer of humans in it.
This way may be a good thing, but lying about its strengths is not a good sign. Don't roofie me and call it romance...
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
".. algorithm ... if anyone has pulled 10 sets of headphones out of the system"
If you they really need an algorithm to make that determination then they must have a shitload of engineers twirling their thumbs.
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The swipe means that everyone's requests are tracked and I'm sure some algorithm somewhere is constantly sorting the data ...
So there's a screen on the front of the vending machine that displays targeted advertising then?
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
There will, of course, be a vending machine vending machine, in case any of the vending machines break.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Marking down who got what (same amount of info as a vending machine collects) can be accomplished by swiping the said id and product barcode. Takes two seconds.
The problem here is that a keyboard is perfectly repairable after a coffee spill. The reason it's cheaper to just get a new one is that we do not have to pay the true costs of disposing of plastic waste. As long as you do not have to include the environmental cost of plastic products in their price, disposable is cheap and you get plastic spots in the world's oceans that are the size of nation states. We could solve alot of environmental problems by making manufacturers pay for the post disposal environmental costs of their products. It would motivate them to find improved bio degradable materials.
One could just "swipe" the desired accessory from someone else's desk. That would be much more difficult to track.
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
They are not "High Tech Vending Machines". They are normal vending machines loaded with computer accessories. "Facebook CIO Tim Campos decided to take a more user-friendly approach" should be "a computer support employee recommended using vending machines", according to the story.
Leave it to an AC to take a random sentence as a quote and start a rant totally unrelated to said sentence.
and you get plastic spots in the world's oceans that are the size of nation states.
Still, I do not how it occurred, but he just made me realize that it is the part that floats and that we do not see what has been dumped that doesn't.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
[QUOTE] 'I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing,' writes Alexis Madrigal.[/QUOTE] The system they have set up with recording the number of times a keyboard or mouse is replaced is NOT assuming employees will do the right thing. Rather, the assumption is made that an employee will abuse accessory replacements necessitating a system to record accessory replacement and track it down to the individual user. This system is in place precisely because the company does not trust its employees to do the right thing. If Facebook trusted its employees to do the right thing, they would have open bins for you to just grab a replacement mouse or keyboard. By the way, I hate corporate double speak. Don't put a system in place to benefit the company and then tell me how it's going to benefit me. Just be honest!
When Facebook engineers spill coffee on their keyboard
A company like Facebook doesn't need any engineers although some might work for them. Engineers typically work for companies like Intel, Cisco, etc.
I am a software architect but not an engineer by trade. The "engineer" term is abused a lot. The funniest thing I have heard is the "engineer" driving the locomotive on a railway train. His title is "engine man" in realty. Apparently, if you say it quickly enough many times, "engine man" becomes "engineer". Michael Schumacher should be called an "engineer" before anybody driving a train !
Just see how the following links do not add up if you believe a locomotive driver is an "engineer" and apply the same to Facebook engineers :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_engineer
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Hmm. Sidestepping that "GUI's mean you aren't doing work", my keyboard of choice for some 5+ years now has been a couple of Microsoft wireless keyboard-mice combos. (Just something about the layout and action speeds.) It's dirty as all get out, but the letters aren't wearing out. I think that's because mice don't show wear in the same fashion, so when your workflow all day consists of some mix of running reports off the accounting software, exporting the data into reports, and then on other days messing around with spreadsheets, you aren't pounding on the letters in the same sequence as typing proposals or maybe programming.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
When Facebook engineers spill coffee on their keyboard (a common mishap)
So instead of NOT drinking coffee over your keyboard or leaving your cup/mug right next to the keyboard, the solution is to let people randomly go to a machine to replace a part they broke/misused and get a free replacement.
If someone can't grasp the simple idea of NOT eating/drinking/cutting finger/toenails above a keyboard, one can only imagine what kind of work they do and how much they cost your organization.
Once again, we're using a technical solution to solve a human problem. Granted, we can't stop or breed out stupidity, but we should be able to use a bat upside the head to mitigate such things.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don't understand why everybody assumes that there's some kind of sinister going-ons behind having users ID themselves when getting equipment. Facebook is a data-driven company, why wouldn't they want to have this kind of data? You can automate procurement, so you effectively never run out of equipment. You can see what kind of equipment your users prefer. And the realization that you're not completely anonymous keeps people honest - not just as far as theft goes (and I can assure you, it doesn't matter how much people make, they will steal the most trite, insignificant crap), but general absentmindedness or practical jokes.
We have something very similar at NVIDIA, as well.
Seriosly. A cnn story from 2011. NEWS for nerds?!?
Tell your friends about xenu.net
The cost has got to be linked back to a PO with the proper authorizing procurement officer's signature. Then, it has to be allocated as an expense which comes out of the budget of the appropriate product group, then tracked down to the individual people manager for tracking purposes and other bureaucratic BS. Not to mention the logistics of finally getting the item delivered to the right person.
Nothing is simple in a large company. Last time I changed offices, I brought a piece of CAT5 cable from home because it wasn't worth the trouble of going through official channels. I like this idea of the vending machines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify
Also FB as a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to act responsibly with their investors hard earned cash. So I'll give FB a pass on this one
Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. -- Mark Harrold
Let's say that there are enough people in the office that this person services 10 requests per hour.
Assume they make minimum wage - $7.25/hour.
So that's 72.5 cents per transaction.
Yeah, you can potentially also fill that employee's spare time up with other tasks - but once they start multitasking, their productivity is compromised and they might not service replacement hardware requests as quickly.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
"I like the assumption that employees will do the right thing"
Tracing accessory use through badge swiping does not equal assuming employees will do the right thing. It's assuming they won't.
Hospitals have been using similar systems to dispense oft-used, non-controlled drugs and devices on hospital floors for the past dozen years or so. Many of the recording studios and practice spaces I've been in have used them to dispense strings, drumsticks, picks, etc. (these were cash/card operated). The concept just doesn't seem that unusual.
Besides, if you're a sizable shop, IT usually just has stacks of keyboards and mice taken from decommissioned systems sitting about anyway. Where I work, we just walk up and grab one.
And, finally, if you're hiring people who regularly dump coffee into their keyboard, classes and or training on basic hand-eye coordination might be in order.
That is all.
I used to suffer from migraines, and discovered that they were caused by Chocolate.
It took a long time to figure this out, because the migraine came 3 days later, so the correlation wasn't obvious. It's very accurate - I can time it to within about 2 hours. I've since found other triggers, such as the fumes from painting my house, but they're rare.
Perhaps making a log of food and environmental factors would turn up a trigger for your migraines. If you want a quick experiment, take a couple of vacation days in a spot that has few environmental triggers (Arizona, say) and eat bland things for the duration (rice, water, oatmeal - whatever is unseasoned and unsweetened).
You might get lucky, like I did.
Because people are still too scared to do this. Or haven't any idea where it goes. Same sort of people who actually spill coffee on the keyboards.
Maybe they have techs in the dispenser?
If Facebook is so high tech, how come the back button hardly ever takes you back to where you were?
What you wrote is incomprehensible.
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
Machine shops have been doing this with cutting tools for years.
There's a similar system here. When a keyboard or mouse becomes nonfunctional, the user will replace the functional accessory in one of the conference rooms with the broken one. This gets the user back online immediately, and eventually someone will notice and put a replacement on order for the broken one in the conference room.
Of course that isn't at all the way the system is supposed to work. But Life Finds a Way. If you have an end-of-day deadline and the helpdesk insists on a one to three week lead time for common accessories, the only choices are (a) buy it yourself (which violates some kind of rule involving approved vendors, so you may get in trouble when you try to get reimbursed) or (b) scrounge it from somewhere.
Consoles in the computer room are zip-tied to the desk to discourage this kind of "borrowing".
The high tech vending machine idea is cute and I can see value in it, but the *real* finding here is that the company stocks commonly used peripherals. This is incredibly valuable to maintaining workflow, something that a lot of companies do not understand.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Who rights the algorithm and manages the server? :) Trusting a computer system not to be abused by nerds capable in not responsible for building the system is a bit silly. It is just that the support cost is so much higher (and you are in a visible place so you might grab 1 extra set of headphones but not one for everyone in your family) that it works out in FB's favor.
My cheap employer has a better way for dealing with supplies. Mostly, the employees buy their own.
You figure out what you want, you go to Walmart or Staples or whatever and you buy it. That's it. No reimbursement either. You buy it. It's yours. You own it. You take it home at night if you want.
If somebody leaves or gets fired, the coworkers descend upon the desk and strip it of any goodies left behind. In this way, the desks are self-cleaned by ravenous office supply cravers.
Now the company will supply some very cheap pens, but they are crap nobody would want to use. So you are better off buying your own anyway.
Sig for hire.
I think it's quite a cool idea, but sadly it won't work just anywhere. I can tell you that no medical staffer where I work would be willing to swap anything out themselves, for fear of thinking they'll break something or end the world.