Tech & End User Expectations

[palmerc]

Hey all!

We are an IT team of 10 in a school district, and there have been some recent (and not so recent) issues with techs being snarky, end users being snarky, etc.

We are trying to turn a new leaf, and want to come up with a set of expectations for the techs and the end users that we would include in each email from Spiceworks as work orders are opened.

Something along the lines of…

You can expect our technicians to…

Respond promptly. - 2 sentence description, blah blah

another thing

another thing

We can expect teachers to…

Be descriptive - 2 sentence description, blah blah

another thing

another thing

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Denis-Kelley]

blah blah

[palmerc]

It fits, right? haha

[Rod-IT]

What you expect from teachers and what the expectations from IT are, doesn’t change someone’s attitude or snarkiness.

I agree that collecting the relevant information and what to expect is handy and sets out a clear set of guides, but an attitude is still an attitude.

Is the attitude purely caused by the lack of information?

[palmerc]

We have several teachers who are very combative in their work orders. They come out the gate blaming the tech department for the issue as opposed to just asking for help. Wondering if one of the expectations for both parties could be courteous, or kind, etc. There are also times that there’s not enough information and when asked for additional information, they get huffy.

[dzee]

I think the outline you have should be as long as that message should be. Any longer, and nobody will read it.

Fill in the most important blah blah and maybe make a link to some other place with more details.

Frankly, the culture issue won’t be resolved with a paragraph on the ticket or submission page.

[machomanrandall]

I had a couple people like this at my old company out on the shop floor. The best thing to do is teach your staff how to “kill them with kindness”. Be so kind to the end user that they feel bad for treating your staff like lesser and then maybe the end users will also see how rude they are being in comparison.

Also try to help your staff relay the idea that questions and probing for more information on tickets isn’t meant to slow the process down or delay work being done on the issue, but more so to help the IT staff diagnose the issue effectively. Help end users understand that proper documentation can help resolve issues quicker and also possibly eliminate them in the future. Open ended (undescriptive) tickets don’t help anyone and just leave everyone scratching their heads.

Also, try to have your staff encourage end users to call the department to explain tickets rather then typing them (after they have submitted a ticket of course ). Many times end users just don’t understand how to explain the situation at hand because they are less tech savy. Seeing or hearing the issue can make for a quicker resolution.

[palmerc]

@machomanrandall ​ this is fantastic advice, I appreciate you! I am definitely the customer service cheerleader, so working on this!

[palmerc]

@dzee ​ I 100% agree and appreciate the suggestion to keep it brief.

[dzee]

I realize talking to teachers on a call about the problem vs written comments in tickets is problematic since they’re likely in class most of the time, but that may help.

Also, remind techs the teachers are confronted with kids that try their patience, plus all kinds of limits imposed by board of ed, parents, and laws, and they often pay for stuff out of pocket, all on a salary that could be less than IT make.

Bottom line is the snark from teachers may be really about something else and it’s important not to reflect it back. True in any workplace.

Maybe ask the teacher how the kids are today or how they’re doing and even let them vent a little. You’d be surprised how attitudes can change when people feel heard.

#1 thing is everyone has to be and feel they’re on the same team.

[tb33t]

It’s always important to be nice. It really is hard to help them when they come off with attitude or are just straight jerks. I’d bring it up with your supervisor, then they can drive home the point to the contentious teacher/user. You’re all employed by the same district so if it got really bad bring up these working conditions to HR. No one should have to be treated in such a hostile manner.

[Repairatrooper]

The reality is you are trying to address an HR or Union issue from IT. I don’t want to be negative, but good luck. Respect in the work place should be the norm, not something you try to coerce people into. I can also see that if it does not come from HR it will be viewed by some as a weaponized agenda.

[spiceuser-za0i3 (wasup)]

I feel like not only just in the school or education environment @palmerc ​ where when we IT ask either in person or via ticketing system for more info from the user they’ll get back to us with snarkiness.

In my team we notified each other of any ‘special’ user that requires special attention may that be their character or they may have certain disability (ie. past history of depression), then the IT team will try to ‘treat’ those special user with a different approach/response accordingly.

If we do get a phone call during class we know that means is super urgent and asking over the phone more than 2 questions if a waste of the teacher and student’s time. Sometimes the issue is simple such as how to move a window to another screen (secondary) or I’m not hearing the video the class unable to hear any audio coming from the video. IT came to the rescue and finds out the speaker was muted. We - IT - think that should be a very basic troubleshoot that any basic user should be able to figure out but again coming back in knowing who the end user and how they like to be treated helps both parties (IT and User). Sometimes we got nice thank you card after their class or even choc or other sweet treat to assist them and not embarrassed the teacher in front of the class.

In summary, keep educating the end user both in ticketing system as well as in person as you go along that suits your team and is reasonable and understandable with the end user. Keep repeating these process multiple times it will eventually help both ends to have a harmonised relationship between IT & End User

Keep it up and all the best!

[chivo243]

After 22 years in education I can safely say “Doctors are the worst patients, and Teachers are the worst learners” Too snarky? A few teachers really tried to work together, but others were an island…

[egp_dave]

If someone is being combative, it could be because you have set low expectations. When you fail to solve their problems (whether your fault or not) then don’t be surprised when they start off in the negative.

[kevinweller]

If the techs treat end users as customers or people who pay their salary the techs wont be snarky imo.

[copierguy310]

I work in a hospital. The computers are only here to frustrate and delay the doctors and nurses in saving lives…or so you’d think. Therefor we long ago gave up hoping for positive, respectful interaction between us and end users. It’s more like a “truce” where we need each other so we tolerate each other’s existence. I’m sure this is true in most situations where technology is not the end users main concern (and it often isn’t). So… neither side reports to HR unless a professional line is crossed (we recently had to report a violence threat from a doctor).

[corywilson2 (Lensflare)]

I think anything you can do to humanize both parties would be hugely beneficial. It may not be possible for every tech to know every staff member and vice versa, but having good relationships really goes a long way. I’m sure 90% of aggressive driving in traffic would go away if people were able/forced to make eye contact with the other drivers when driving on the offense. It’s easy to be snarky when you know you’ll never have to see that person or spend time with them.

[general-tsao]

I think it’s rather simple…you either ask IT nicely to assist, or IT does not assist (or prioritizes your request as “whenever we get around to it” status). They’ll figure it out rather quickly.

[it-monkey-mike]

To the OPs specific question:

We put the level of expectations in our Staff Handbook:

1. Teachers will submit tickets

2. Tech has X amount of time to acknowledge the ticket.

3. Tech has Y amount of time to respond to the ticket.

etc.

As for what Tech expects from Teachers, that gets handled in the annual new employee Tech Training session.

For the issue you’re dealing with; I agree with earlier posters:

1. You can’t change the behaviors of the Teachers towards Tech until you change how Tech behaves towards the Teachers. Be the “bigger person” and be the one to stop the cycle of snark.

2. “Killing them with kindness” is one approach. Using the principals of ITIL to treat the Teachers as your customers (keep them happy to keep their business) is another.

Depending upon your school culture/climate you may have other tools at your disposal. My school prioritizes healthy working relationships among the staff. If I have one Teacher who we feel is being disrespectful to the Tech Department in general, we have an honest conversation with them. “What has Tech done to disappoint?” “What can Tech do better?” We would also expect the Teacher to come to us to complain about our level of Snark. Maybe we thought we were being funny, but it came across as insulting…

Hope some of this helps.

Update: 9/29/22

I can also add that, because of the culture of our school, our Teachers just met and agreed on a Social Contract for how they all agree to behave towards one another:

• Encourage healthy life balance
• Be proactive and consistent
• Collaborate to connect
• Assume positive intentions & seek understanding

This was not brought up because of a need to fix a problem, but rather a way for the Teachers to collectively bond over agreed upon working conditions that they themselves can control.