Serve, Serve, Serve

I have a lot of questions in my mind about how much we should serve users.  Is it EVER right to say 'no?'  (that's a rhetorical question, of course)  Having watched the discussion on ITdiscuss and elsewhere, there seems to be a lot of momentum toward doing WHATEVER a user asks.  Getting the "IT" Focus Right seems to go a long way in this direction as well.  Is this the right answer -- to ask users what they want, and make every effort to do it?

A colleague [who shall remain nameless] made the following comment:

"Interesting how many IT people are saying that serving users well is simply giving them what they want.  Can you imagine what our network (and database!) would look like if we told users to just tell us what they want and we'll enable them?  You want Shelby, great, here it is, admin rights.  You want to use Arena?  Give us a couple days and we'll get it up for you.  Oh hey, we just got a Linux guy, sure we'll support it for you.  Oh, you prefer Windows 3.1 ..."

I may just be the bad guy here.  I think there has to be a proper balance, and sometimes (often?) that will mean saying 'no' to requests, even to good requests.  One of the ways we've tried to achieve that balance is by defining our set of values.  Here's an excerpt for anyone interested.  It's far from perfect, but it helps (a little).  I'm a little fearful of exposing this information.  It's taken us years to put together, and we know it's not really the right answer.  Still, here it is, perhaps it will help someone else step forward with something better.

IT Values (what is most important to us?):

We deliver selected & standardized service and products with efficiency, integrity, cost-effectiveness, and teamwork.  Sometimes our values conflict with each other, which is why we have a hierarchy.  (see below)

[...]

V1 We work within a set of standards

Value:
We strive to make everything we do a repeatable process.  Consistency in hardware, consistency in software and configuration, consistency in the services we deliver.

Expectations/Notes:
Implied value which is actually stated in our Mission and Vision: we work within a set of evolving standards.

V2 Infrastructure up-time

Value:
Overall Infrastructure (Network, Servers, Telephones, Vmail) uptime - 99+% 8:00AM - 5:30 PM business days; unless  advance notice (bare minimum of 48 hours; 1 week for planned outages exceeding 3 business hours) given.  This allows for a maximum 25 hours/year unscheduled downtime during working hours.   From 5:30 PM until 11:00 PM, uptime of 90% plus.  Advance notice of 12 hours minimum.  {Which is relatively “soft” on IT}

Expectations/Notes:

• Not a license to schedule lots of downtime!
• Not addressing major outages, bomb threats, acts of God, etc.  We're focusing on having systems available when the building is available.
• We do not have backup hardware to handle a major failure, nor a second hot site.  In the past this was considered acceptable.  It may be time to rethink.
• How do we measure all this?

V3 Fast response to failed stations or software

Value:
Any loss of previous functionality (unless caused by abuse, etc.) will be addressed quickly [minutes or hours, not days].  We will attempt to resolve or provide an alternative, such as use of a WinTerm or another computer, until resolved.

Expectations/Notes:

• Failures are unpredictable.  Backup systems are expensive.  Alternative provisions might not be as convenient for the user as the original solution.  Functionality/productivity are the goal, convenience is not quite as important.
• Complete restoration may involve hardware replacements, substantial software work, or other time-consuming issues.  As long as the user is functional, this "final" solution may not be as fast and must be factored in against other pressing priorities.

V4 System & Data Integrity/Security

Value:
IT has the responsibility to keep our systems & data available, backed up (recoverable), and secure from intruders.

Expectations/Notes:

• What about staff abuse or negligence?  That doesn't change the value, just makes it more challenging.
• Immediacy of access is a different issue.  For instance, in the event of major catastrophe (fire, for instance), creating a new system may take time, but data should still be restored to "near current."
• During security challenges, availability may suffer.
• Physical security is outside our control and is a major concern.
• We have no control over nor responsibility for “outside” data, such as the public web site.
• Some third party applications (CP, CampTrak, SchoolMinder, Millennium, QuickBooks, etc.) are completely outside our control.  For data stored on Perimeter internal servers, we have file-level backup responsibility only.

V5 Support the Church/Staff Goals

Value:
We recognize the church/staff goals and values to be part of our own.  Where we don’t specifically say otherwise (clarification), then all staff goals and values are considered to be IT values.

V6 Readiness for new staff

Value:
We want new staff members to be functional and feel empowered from the very moment they arrive.  Providing service on day 1 is the desire, even if we don't receive adequate information in advance

Expectations/Notes:

• We still want to work with HR and staff in general for reasonable accountability (new hires should never be a total surprise), but the new staff person should NOT take the penalty for staff failing during the hiring process
• We may choose to not provide the exact hardware requested when we don’t have reasonable advance notice.  We can turn up a WinTerm and Citrix access much faster than any other hardware solution.
• If the user doesn’t NEED service day one, and that’s clear to us, we will adjust.

V7 Focus on Maintenance and improvements (vs. firefighting)

Value:
"Sharpening the saw"  Make time and take time to keep the systems running, updated, reliable.

Expectations/Notes:

• Maintenance takes real time, real people, and often real dollars.
• Lack of maintenance also takes real time, real people, and almost always real dollars.  AND it really stomps on customer service!
• The value includes basic software upgrades and staying reasonably current.
• Hugging customers is good, but doesn’t adequately replace having working product.

V8 Respect for Privacy and Confidentiality

Value:
We respect the privacy of our congregation and our users.  We want to set the expectation that data intended to be private remains that way.

Expectations/Notes:

• Security and data integrity supersede privacy, but should be used only as a last resort.
• Staff training on security is a part of this -- i.e., good passwords for those with access to confidential data, etc.
• Even when users don’t think they care about privacy and confidentiality, we still try to take exceptional care to protect it.  This often helps us show people the rest of the story with security.

V9 Customer Service - Hugs

Value:
Hugging our customers.  “Doing what customers appreciate, more so than what they expect.” 

Expectations/Notes:

• Concluding a helpdesk thread with a “thank you” or “glad it worked” type of response appears to be good ‘hug’
• AND watching the ROI.
• Finding good ways to say no, or better, to find a better alternative and say 'yes.'
• Responsiveness/Acknowledgment
• Flexibility -- we don't have to have "only one answer."
• "Five minute rule"
• In-person, or phone, responses, vs. email, for “sensitive” issues  {AKA, the “Don Sawtelle” rule}

V10 Ease of use (for software and services)

Value:
Select products, develop processes, train and support, such that staff can easily use the services IT provides.  This often means we want to choose the most popular product, even when superior technology exists.

Expectations/Notes:

• Given the [binary] choice of superior technology that's hard to use, or a basic technology that's easier to use, we choose easy.
• We should be continuously looking for ways to make things easier for our users.

V11 Document & Inform

Value:
Learn once, share the knowledge, store it for re-use.

Expectations/Notes:

• How to store and search are not trivial!
• This is not just for IT/Technical information.
• Staff KB and ITKB are both important, pending new technologies.

Overly simplified: if we learn something, we should document it!

V12 Accountability

Value:
We (IT) need to do what we say we are going to!  {or “keep promises”}

Expectations/Notes:

• We want to show Love and "hug," but that should not release us from doing what we say we're going to do.
• Likewise, need to be careful of making commitments if we’re not sure we can fulfill them.
• If we’re going to miss an expectation, we should take the responsibility to notify the user, in advance, of the issue. 
• Where is the corresponding general staff value for integrity/accountability?

Comments

[Dave Stone]

hmm...sounds a bit like "tough love." Instead of viewing good service (or love) as "always saying yes" you could view it as "providing the best solution" (or as in the case of love, looking out for the best interest of the other person). Offering full access to the database would certainly be more harmful in the long run and probably also in the short run (perhaps not in the "immediate run" - which is the realm in which most of us and our users operate). How does our culture of instant gratification play into our support offerings? How much should it? What are the alternatives?

[Clif Guy]

I started to reply here but then realized I had just written a post of my own! See:
http://appianway.blogspot.com/2007/04/three-values.html

[Chris Kehayias]

I have only been in the Church IT environment for about 9 months, and I have to say that what I have learned so far is that the "IT" part of our jobs seems easy for people to swallow, but the "MIS" part seems to be being missed. You are right on the money here. I come from a DOD contractor background, and there are a LOT of no's. Our jobs were once called MIS (Managing Information Systems), but the trendy IT has replaced what was once the real job....(Information management). When I got to my current posting almost 40% of our primary server was full of guess what...music.

OK, no more ranting from me...Good post. We need to employ the same ethics / morals / security for God's Information as we would have ever done for any worldly job we held. I believe in and say no to many ideas because they simply are not, in my view, the best use of God's resources...

[Tony Dye]

Thanks Dave, Clif, and Chris. Clif, I may "steal" some of your stuff -- I like the less-is-better approach!