Saturday, December 19, 2015

Why you might need to see the problem to understand what really is going on















Sometimes you have to see (or visualize) a problem to understand what really is going on. On November 20th the SHARK TANK troubleshooting section at Computerworld had a humorous story titled Is it the appendix? The spleen? The intestine?

An application analyst (software guy) at a hospital was working the Third Shift along with a support tech (hardware guy). At 2 A.M. the software guy got called to help troubleshoot a (nurse) user’s  problem: 

“User: ‘The thing on my computer stopped working.’
 

Which thing, ma'am?
 

User: ‘The thing attached to the computer.’
 

Yes?
 

User: ‘So I can see the patient orders.’
 

You mean the monitor?
 

User: ‘What?’
 

The TV?
 

User: ‘No, so I can put my password in.’
 

The keyboard?
 

User: ‘No. I am busy. I don't have time to play these games. 
I can't move the arrow so I can get the line into the box for the password.’
 

You are saying the mouse is not working?
 

User: ‘What?’
 

The oval-shaped thing with the buttons?
 

User: ‘Yes.’
 

I'll have tech support bring a new one as soon as possible.
 

User: ‘What do I do in the meantime? I am busy.’
 

I'm sorry, but is there another computer available in the area?
 

User: ‘The one next to me is not being used. I will move over.’
 

I called tech support to relay the message. The tech ran to the floor with the replacement.Turns out she is left-handed, and was using the mouse for the computer to her left."

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