Flashes of Panic

The wonderful thing about the problems most end-users have with computers is that somewhat more than 75% of them will be solved by simply shutting down the machine, going home for the day or out to lunch, then starting back up on return. If I could enforce this step as part of my documented troubleshooting process, I’d save myself a tremendous amount of time researching error messages, symptoms, etc.

The problem with this technique is the time it requires from the end-user. Often, by the time they get to me, they’re on deadline, or they’ve reached a high level of frustration, and they want something done now. You can’t just say, well, turn it off and let the chips rest for an hour or so.

(Doctors do exactly this, of course, which is why “take two aspirin and call me in the morning” is a cliché.)

The drawback from my point of view is, I don’t get to figure out what the actual problem is. As Neal Stephenson points out in In the Beginning… was the Command Line, we learn the most about computer systems when they fail.

Still, it’s nice to say, “I’ll get back to you on that first thing tomorrow,” and come in the next day to an email along the lines of, “Never mind, it’s better now.” Wizard that I am…

Now playing: Anesthesia from Hologram of Baal by The Church