Why I Hate The Managers of My Department!! (Warning: IT Rant Ahead!)

[Yavin4]

I manage an IT support department.

In my dept., we have junior analysts and senior analysts.

The difference is that Jr. Analysts are primarily entry level workers. They have some skills, but little overall experience dealing with users. The position is designed for primarily entry-level people, and they are there to support the Sr. Analysts only, not the users.

The users are supposed to go to the more experienced Sr. Analysts for their requests. However, we have extremely impatient users who go to the Jr. Analysts, and in the past, they have botched some of their requests, even though their mistakes were relatively minor.

The users complained to me about the performance of the Jr. Analysts.

So, today, in a meeting with my managers, I proposed that we limit contact between the Jr. Analysts and the users, even taking their names out of the company phone directory and out of the e-mail directory. My brilliant bosses shot down my proposal because it would then seem like we're closing ourselves off to the users.

I then countered with then if the users go to Jr. people, they cannot complain that their requests were not addressed correctly. My brilliant bosses then said, no, we cannot say that to them either.

Then, I said, you're putting me in a no-win situation. To which, they said.....Nothing.

That's why on April 27th, I am putting in my notice of resignation. Life is too short to deal with these kinds of idiots.

[Little Wing]

1. Your plan seems opposite to my way of thinking

Nobody should directly bother the Sr. Analysts, all traffic should start with the Jrs, and if they can't handle it they should escalate it, get the answer, and then communicate that back to the user. That way they learn something, and build up their own knowledge base and can eventually get to the Sr. level where they deal with more important stuff than "How do I print?"

:)

[Yavin4]

2. It's A Little Different

I had to leave out a lot of details. We're not a pure IT dept. in the strictest sense. Our involvement with the users is a lot more in-depth than a typical IT dept. The requests that come in require experience with the user and their request. Also, our users are not patient. They will harass the Jr. people until they perform the request.

The job requires making a lot of judgment calls in a short amount of time which requires a knowledge about the users' objective as well as departmental knowledge.

As an example, think of a new cab driver. Passenger tells him where to go, and that cab driver may have to look at a map, but over time will learn the streets. That would be your take. In my world, that cab driver would have to know where the passenger wanted to go, but he would have to know what that passenger was trying to do once he got there and if that was the best place to go for what he wanted to do. Also, if there was a better route to take.

IOW, it's never a simple request fulfillment, even though sometimes it may appear to be that way. I've had instances where the Jr. Analyst fulfilled the request exactly, but it was still incorrect because the Jr. Analyst didn't ask and probe the user as to what they wanted to do.

[Little Wing]

3. Fair enough

Your users sound like assholes - are they perhaps purchasing agents or banker/money types?

No offense to any purchasing agents or bankers reading this of course

[Yavin4]

5. Actually, It's Really Two Users Who Complain

And it's really because they're totally incompetent, but my bosses are too afraid to stand up to them.

[Little Wing]

9. Sounds like a smaller operation than I had in mind, possibly

Then again, 20% of the people make 80% of the noise

[undeterred]

4. well, I'm a level two tech person with fantastic customer service skills

I am one of the few who actually loves dealing with "stupid end users"... and I was recently fired for lets see 1. using too many sticky notes and 2. looking at the hr managers outlook calendar, which is open to the whole company and 3. not kissing the ass of the IT manager who used me as his scapegoat for everything he didn't know how to do in his new job. The only people left in the department are people who hate end users and love hardware. The mission is to improve customer service, so they started by getting rid of one of the few people who actually likes it and is good at it.

So, go figure. Maybe my idiots and your idiots should get together.

[Yavin4]

6. Again, It's Not A Pure IT HelpDesk Situation

It goes like this:

User asks Jr. Analyst for X.

Jr. Analyst gives user X.

User looks at X and realizes that it should have been Y.

User then blames Jr. Analysts for not asking the User enough questions so that they'd get Y instead of X.

Users complain in front of me and my bosses that Jr. Analysts don't communicate well because they don't ask enough questions about the Users' request, even though User seems sure about what they're asking for and didn't say that they weren't sure.

I am flabbergasted.

Bosses agree with the Users.

I give my notice of resignation on April 27th even though I don't have another job to go to.

[undeterred]

7. Many IT Managers are idiots who can't solve practical problems.

Technical expertise may get them the job, but it doesn't help them implement solutions.

[Yavin4]

8. EXACTLY

They won't define what my department is responsible for. They avoid conflict when it cannot be avoided. They have to tell the users to go to the right people or don't complain if they're requests are not fulfilled correctly. It's that damn simple.

[undeterred]

10. IT is full of conflict avoiding men

My supervisor was such a weenie. I spent 40 hours a week with him, but instead of giving me negative feedback when something happened he would tell our manager and I would hear about it 3 months later. The day I was terminated, he left at 11am and refused to return my phone calls or emails all day (although he said he would), but he left the sticky note reminder on his desk to turn off my account. So I left and when I got home my account was turned off. I called him and he wouldn't talk to me. I emailed him from my home account and called him a coward. He wants to be a manager! SHEESH, what a big baby! Nobody ever called and told me I was terminated, I had to call corporate headquarters and ASK for a letter of dismissal.