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Troubleshooter 1
To the Travel Sector Account Manager, Mr Jones, I must apologise that this initial narrative report is hand-written. My detailed findings follow by e-mail. The omens were not good when I arrived at BritBreak. You’d think that a hotel and travel group could manage accommodation, but not only have I neither phone nor PC, there was not even an office ready. If the IT department is equally disorganised, there’s plenty for me to do. My first meeting with the department heads went well, even though the third floor gents’ toilet is not an ideal venue. Facilities assure me that they will find a real office by Friday, or failing that, get a phone installed in one of the cubicles. I mentioned my lack of a PC to the Desktop Manager. It seems I’ll have one real soon now, but a 23 page form has to be approved by six individuals and three committees - an obvious target for improvement. They seemed a friendly bunch, with little interest in internal politics. My first visit was to the Advanced Technology Group. I found six people in tears. It seems that the Desktop Manager shut them down as a waste of budget. I am shocked - at a time when technology is changing so fast, research should be expanding. Apparently they have upset the DP Manager by letting users know what is possible, rather than what the DP Manager can deliver. Another one to look into. The same day I sat in on a procurement meeting between the Networks Manager and TVR software. BritBreak is days away from signing a contract for a new, company-wide e-mail system. After the meeting, I pointed out to the Networks Manager that Nanoware Mail is much more user friendly. He seemed baffled. What have features got to do with it, he argued? Price and support are the key issues - only users worry about features, and what do they know? The next port of call was the data centre, buried ten metres down in an immense concrete bunker. I was frisked twice - they take security very seriously. Perhaps it’s the artificial light, but everyone seemed to be in a daze. For instance, I mentioned how few PCs I had seen in the centre. My guide looked blank for a few moments, then muttered something like “oh, yes, those VDUs with FDDs - they’ll never catch on.” Everything appeared very efficient, but whenever I asked “why” I was unable to get a satisfactory answer. Final stop was the programming group. Modern management techniques have obviously been adopted, as project managers sit in the open plan office. My approval faded a little when I mentioned this to a nearby programmer (he must have been a programmer: no-one else could wear a Jasper Carrott T-shirt) and he pointed out that it doesn’t make much difference, as the project managers spend all their time in meetings. Definitely a challenging assignment. Copyright © Creativity
Unleashed Limited 2006 |
The Troubleshooter column relates the experiences of a fictional consultant. Although the context is made up, many of the experiences related in Troubleshooter have happened in real UK businesses. Take a break from the creative pressures with Troubleshooter and return to your creativity refreshed. Originally published in PC Week magazine.
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