Supporting Users

Rules of Thumb: Supporting Users

Rule of Thumb 7: This job would be much easier without the users; it would also be pointless.

Corollary 1: It would also be unpaid.

Corollary 2: If you don’t have any experience with users, you don’t have any experience with system administration, no matter how complex the computer system you can build and keep running.

Rule of Thumb 8: The skills needed for dealing with a computer are not simply irrelevant to those needed for dealing with people; they are actually a negative.

Rule of Thumb 9: You cannot reboot, reinstall, or power cycle a human being, no matter how desperately they need it.

Corollary 1: You cannot please, bribe, or reason with a computer, no matter how desperately it needs it.

Rule of Thumb 10: For every statement made about users, you can replace “users” with “administrators” (and vice versa) and it will still be true.

Corollary 1: The primary reason that users are annoying is that they are people. System administrators are also people. Which means they are also annoying.

Users are not Lusers

Rule of Thumb 11: It is probable that the person you are dealing with is neither stupid or crazy. However, even if they are, the most effective way to deal with them is to pretend they aren’t.

Corollary 1: The single most effective way to make somebody behave as if they are stupid and crazy is to convince them that they are by treating them that way.

Rule of Thumb 12: No amount of intelligence and no amount of education can ever substitute for common sense. A brilliant Ph.D. engineer is still capable of being unable to figure out that if you disconnect the cable from the back of the terminal, the data will not jump the gap to get there.

Corollary 1: Brilliant Ph.D. engineers do not usually make good system administrators.

Rule of Thumb 13: It is more important for users to do their jobs than to answer the needs of admins. Unless of course their job is to answer that need.

Users are not customers

Rule of Thumb 14: A system adminsitrator's job is not simply to give the users what they ask for. Users never ask for backups, but they do ask for restores.

Rule of Thumb 15: A customer is somebody who chooses to pay you money in exchange for something. This only applies to your users if they get to choose whether or not you administer their machines, and they get to choose whether or not to pay you.

Dealing with users and other people

Rule of Thumb 16: Yes, I am a fascist, and it is all my fault. Now that we’ve agreed to that, how can we work together to actually accomplish something?

Rule of Thumb 17: Always say you’re sorry. There is no need to lie; “I’m sorry you’re so upset about this” is almost always true.

Corollary 1: If there is no way for you to apologize with everybody’s dignity intact, say “I can see how you would feel that way” – and if this is not true, find a new profession or a niche where you will not have to deal with people, because you must be able to see the other person’s side to help them usefully.

Rule of Thumb 18: Silence is not acquiescence. Contrary to what you may have heard, silence of those present is not necessarily consent, even the reluctant variety. They simply may sit in stunned silence and figure ways of sabotaging the plan after they regain their composure.

Rule of Thumb 19: Sit on your hands!

Rule of Thumb 20: Users very rarely ask exactly the question that they really want the answer to; the correct answer to most questions of the form “How do I do X?” or “Is it possible to do X?” is “What are you trying to achieve?”

Rule of Thumb 21: Always explain things to users as you fix them. Sometimes they learn to do things for themselves. Sometimes they just learn that you know something they don’t, and that’s often good enough.