Parts is Parts

Wally Bock has a great post that illustrates how silly management can be in general, and specifically in the area of tech support.  It’s a pretty extreme scenario, but to me it’s completely believable.

In brief, if you don’t want to read gray text on white (I select it all for better contrast), a tech guy realizes on the phone that the problem is probably a specific part.  He wants to take the part so he has it when he goes on-site.  The boss condescendingly reminds him that his job is to diagnose in person, then make a second two hour drive with the part if it happens to be needed.  Of course he was right, so he has to do eight hours of driving instead of four.  How stupid is it to prevent an employee from making things that much more efficient?  How hard could it be to send a part along the first time just in case?  Tech guy quits afterward, which is fine with the boss as tech guys are totally available and interchangable (ha!), and ultimately ends up in a prime, opposite kind of job where minds are appreciated and people aren’t mere cogs.

That specific scenario is so insane on the part of management that, though I can imagine it happening, even the places I worked that treated people similarly would probably not have wanted to waste all those hours of a support person’s time.  They’d have sent the likely spare part(s), because they’d have wanted the guy back in the office and taking calls ASAP!  At the same time, they’d have happily hired anyone off the street, figuring anyone could be trained in no time to do the needed support adequately.  Parts is parts.

That post was found via this week’s CotC, over at 800-CEO-READ Blog.

1. There is an electrician company here that always brings a quote to your house along with the parts.  They charge about 10% more than anyone else, but they bring you the quote and say “I have the parts with me and can fix it right now.” Most people say yes and pay the extra just to avoid the hassle of scheduling the repair.

   Posted by Rob  on  05/22  at  11:13 AM  from 
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