How to Communicate With IT Without Becoming a Problem Ticket
Before You Contact IT
If something goes wrong, collect as much information as you can before the evidence disappears.
Take a screenshot of the error message, if the computer still responds.
Write down what you were doing immediately before the problem occurred. Also note what happened afterward.
If possible, save your work.
If the screen freezes, stop clicking. Repeatedly clicking everything will not frighten the computer into cooperating. Give it a few minutes to respond.
If it is still frozen, go get a cup of coffee or make some copies. This gives the computer time to reconsider its behavior—and gives you time to reconsider yours.
If the computer begins responding again, save your work immediately.
If it still does not respond, try opening the security screen:
Windows: Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete.
Mac: Press Command + Option + Escape.
If you can access the Start menu or Apple menu, restart the computer normally.
If nothing responds, perform a manual shutdown by holding down the power button. This is the last resort because you may lose anything that was not saved.
After restarting, check whether the problem happens again. If it does, contact IT and include your screenshot, the exact error message, and what you were doing when it happened.
Approaching the IT Department
Please do not attempt to stop an IT worker who is in mid-migration. We are very unpredictable creatures, although we operate in highly structured environments.
Just as you may be evaluated by how many sales you make, invoices you process, customers you assist, or students who pass an assessment, IT workers are often evaluated partly by the number of support tickets they resolve.
This means that the person rushing past you with three laptops, two cables, and the expression of someone defusing a bomb may not be ignoring you personally. Your undocumented hallway question is competing with twelve documented problems that have clocks attached to them.
Submit a ticket whenever possible.
Questions That Will Not Frighten IT
You may safely ask:
“Is something happening with the network? I can’t print.”
“Is something happening with the network? I can’t connect to the internet.”
“Did you receive the new ______ for my computer yet?”
“How was your weekend?”
“Did you catch the game last night?”
“Is that shirt Ralph Lauren?”
For technical questions, it helps to tell us:
Which computer, printer, or program you were using
Where you were when the problem occurred
The exact error message
Whether anyone else is having the same problem
Whether the problem happened once or keeps happening
What you already tried
“Everything is broken” is not a diagnostic description.
A Final Warning From Steve
If you bother the technology staff too often—especially without submitting tickets—we may begin doing our best to avoid you.
You may then find yourself playing a game of Tick-Tech-Toe: you tick off the tech person, and your only chance of holding one stationary long enough to ask a question is by the toe.
Please submit a ticket. It is safer for everyone.
Image by: Sebastian Herrmann