Pennilenko
Silver Knight of the Realm
- 91
- 2
I get that man, and agree with you. IT people should absolutely not be assholes, they are definitely there to support normal business operations. However, you said it yourself, they are a cost center, and in your scenario if they do work without it being entered into the system then they have no way to track their productivity. If they do a bunch of shit for you without a support ticket how are they going to show their work? For you, you show your work with the output of test results. For them, there is no visible output to prove they aren't just fucking around all day. Your scenario basically paints doctors as arrogant assholes who feel they are above having to stick to company policy. Do you honestly believe that you or those same doctors are going to speak up when an IT job is on the line due to no productivity tracking?Honestly, in my experience IT departments in general have a real problem with arrogance and perceived self importance. They need to remember that they are a cost center and a support department, and act that way. There's a lot of really arrogant shit policies that IT gets away with that would never fly in any other support department.
Here's an example. I work in a hospital lab. If one of the doctors wants a test done, there's a computer program they enter it into and it shows up on my screen and I do it. I imagine this is very similar to the support request computer system where we submit IT problems.
Now, some doctors don't like using the system. They just call us instead and ask us directly, and we still do what they want. If you call the IT department with a problem, they tell you to fuck off. Submit a ticket or we won't do shit. This is not just something they get away with, it's apparently standard policy at most companies.
I would never, in a million years, dream of telling an MD that I'm not going to do his test unless he puts it into the computer. That is something that would raise enough of a shitstorm to get my boss fired for retaining such an arrogant employee.
Edit: I just want to add though, so you know I am not being combative. In your scenario the IT guy should let the person in need know that they are going to take care of their problems, but still explain how important the system is for IT, and ask nicely to input a ticket so they might have an excuse to expedite the process. I will be the first to admit that there are too many people in IT who look down on their users and often fail to communicate effectively or appropriately. Personally I view all of my users as customers of my services, I try to use as much diplomacy as possible to make sure both of our needs get met.