10 things your IT guy wants you to know.

http://www.javameblog.com/2007/08/10-things-your-it-guy-wants-you-to-know.html

by edw519 • 18 years ago

9 10 18 years ago

Now why won't my boss let me put this on the support page? :)

lethain• 18 years ago

By the author's admission, this was apparently reposted without permission. As he doesn't mention any license permitting his posting, I get the uncomfortable vibe of content theft.

jwilliams2• 18 years ago

I've seen this around before - but basically this article is a good example of how not to communicate to users... The tone is wrong, it's condescending and it's elitist...

If you take that blog entry, and instead of being the IT guy - imagine this is a Doctor... You'd be appalled if this was "10 things your Medical guy wants you to know".

joestrickler3• 18 years ago

It's frustrated comedy. I'm sure doctors have a "10 things we want our patients to know" inside joke about us, too.

jwilliams2• 18 years ago

Yeah true - Although - I have seen cultures that take this as more than a joke.

silentbicycle3• 18 years ago

But they probably do a better job of saving it for when they're talking with other doctors, rather than posting it on the internet where everyone can see it.

Also: Spending most of your time complaining about how stupid users are, etc., makes it a lot harder to empathize with them and not sound like a standoffish IT guy. (Most people are probably not as good at compartmentalizing as they believe.)

If memory serves, _Time Management for System Administrators_ (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596007836/) has a good chapter about how to be helpful and reasonably polite with non-technical people when you're being constantly interrupted and the server closet is on fire (with an emphasis on little things that show you're actually trying to fix things and not just blowing people off, since many people won't necessarily recognize e.g. scowling at firewall logs as working on their problem).

"Frustration comedy" is a good term, by the way.

10 things your IT guy wants you to know.

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