I know that for me at times it has been a struggle to keep up with the volume of support that is required here. I have been quite distant and jaded towards helping people at times and it's gotten to the point where people would rather live with the problem then have to talk to me about it.
Obviously this is not a good position to be in for tech support, or for me as an individual. It is definately not displaying a Christ-like servant attitude.
Rachel Cunliffe over at the cre6 design blog had a very challenging post for those of us working in YWAM IT, or any tech support in general. The gist of her post is that those of us working in tech or web support need to be easier to approach and more accessible. Her post is from a web developers position, but it would work for us well.
This is something that we have been trying to cultivate a bit on on this site. Sometimes however some of the comments have actually gotten a bit too out of hand (especially that Mac vs PC post that is up here somewhere). I think that sometimes we need to pull our head in a bit, get over it and remember why we are doing what we are doing, and that is to Expand God's Kindom.
You can read Rachel's entire post here:
What are some things that you do to make sure that people can actually talk to you when they have problems? In addition to that, how do you balance being able to help people and still be able to complete all the other work that you need to do?
Comments
Deep issue
Bill, I think you're hitting on a very key issue here, one that is really a heart issue. The moment I saw the title of your blog in my news aggregator, I immediately thought of the t-shirts sold over at ThinkGeek.com, specifically the one that says, "No I will not fix your computer". At one point I had seriously thought of buying this shirt to wear when we joined staff here in Latvia. I have been guilty of just such an attitude.
What you see from the shirts over at ThinkGeek is that the IT subculture carries, at its core, the attitude of superiority over & disdain for others around us who don't have the same skill level as we do. This is *contrary* to Jesus' attitude, which was to leave his place of glory & to humble himself to become a baby born in a stable, endure ignorance & pride, & eventually be humiliated in death... all because of his deep love for us.
This is the attitude we should take when serving in IT. The people who are using the computers are more important than we who fix them. Again, I agree with you, Bill, on the example of debating between Mac or PC, Windows or Linux, etc., of which I've been guilty, as the replies to that post will clearly prove. I agree with you because this is just the sort of thing that I'm referring to in the subculture of IT people: "What I'm doing is better than what you're doing.*I* am the one to hinge your every IT opinion on. *I* have all the answers."
Honestly, I've thought a lot about computers & programming, specifically. I had always looked at programming with awe, as though it were some mystery of the cosmos. But once I finished my 2-yr. degree in programming, I realized that it's one of the overblown jobs out there. There is no mystery to programming. It's one of the most rudimentary forms of work out there. Many times I've felt like I'm taking advantage of people if they want to pay me for what I do for them. I look at working in the IT field much like a janitor works in a church. It's a very necessary job, but it's not to be revered. We should take the same attitude with IT as the church custodian does when cleaning the toilets... do it with humility & with joy.
Bottom line: computers are just tools!! And we who have the knowledge to use them must bear the harsh responsibility to use them with caution & with reverence to God & not to use them to put everyone else around us lower.
To answer your questions, we don't have a very large IT demand here in Latvia, so it's not too much of an issue of balancing workload. However, in response to the other question, if someone comes to me for help, I try my best to be as open & receptive as possible, & I try never to display an attitude of "oh how you bother me!". I want people to know that they can come to me for help, & I want them to know that I am happy to serve if I can.
The "if I can" part is key, too, to not becoming overburdened. When I was in school, one of my professors said, "When estimating the time needed to complete a project, whatever you come up with for a timeframe, double it & add two weeks." So, I also try to be honest with people that I can't work magic overnight. Things take time, especially when working with computers. Yes, there are so many things out there that are important & needed & urgent, but it's just like evangelism. In spite of all the needs & lost souls, you are only one person. It's been a hard lesson for me to learn in this area. I'm still learning.
Chris Bischoff
YWAM Latvia, Communications
www.ywamlatvia.com
www.chrisandlydia.net
humility is key
Bill and Chris you have hit on something that is not just key for us but the whole mission. We have been having a church from the US come and pray with us and they have been talking about pride that runs through us as a mission (with comments such as " We are in every nation" "we are decentralised and so are flexible"), yet to walk in the path of Jesus is to assume everyone is better then us, and that we need to look to serve.
Guys... to serve is the greatest priviledge of all, Jesus lived for it, but the attitude we do it with is far more important then the actions. Take time, think and I know I need to repent daily for how I act, think and behave (Bill can testify to that). If need be, ask someone to pray with you....lets break this pride and start walking in Christ-like humility and use our giftings to release people into their calling.
Serving - Whats the priority
First I will say that my first comment on MAC vs PC was only meant to be a playful harrassment. I have no ill feelings towards a particular OS, and I don not consider my opinion to be authoritative on the subject at all.
Here in Perth we have a larger Media/IT ministry. There is currently a team of 8 of us. I think the biggest thing that we might struggle with from time to time is choosing people over tasks. What I mean by that is that very often we have large projects that we are working on. ie: the website, (actually not the greatest example) and obviously this would be something that would serve the entire base. All schools and Ministries. But then someone could walk in the office and need help on something that minute, or at least feel like they need help that minute. Then the thing that we need to do is be able to put whatever we were working on previously aside, and help them with their task.
In this way we have given them as people value. Even though we were already serving them with the other task, we as people cant see it when we have something that seems more pressing and urgent. So the the tension for us as a ministry is really getting past ourselves and choosing to value the people. I mean lets be honest, we serve an amazing bunch of people and its an honor to do it. They are men and women who have given their lives to God and are going for it.
Thats my 2 cents...
Do what you say
People do not mind receiving a NO sometimes, what hurts is when they notice our unwillingnes to help even though we actualy do the job, or even our tone when we say yes.. or worse, the procrastination we so well exercise in IT - not always intentionally, but we do it.
Something we are going to try in our base is to give some basic IT training seminars to our staff and also make sure we show them how to solve problems instead of just doing it for them.
Maybe we need to see the role of "IT Help" as a possible part of our daily routine and not as a favour you do to someone every so often.
What are your strategies?
Approachability is definitely a heart attitude and Bill has cut to the heart of it "servanthood". I would like to take a step back and look at the kinds of work that we do:
e.g. Teaching, Evangelising, Coordinating, Publishing,
Reading, Communicating, Learning
e.g. Some Admin, Depending on size of system perhaps Backup, Adding a new User
e.g. Develop new website, Planning for new systems
e.g. Reconfigure Network, Recover from server being hacked,Fix errors in in-house systems
This chart breaks tasks into 4 quadrants. Work is broken down as to the skill level (Everyday, Specialised) and then what the work is is accomplishing (Moving us towards our goals, Maintenance). In each of the quadrants there are some example tasks. Here are some observations.
Quadrants 1 and 3 are where we want to be! People with everyday IT skills getting on with their roles and using IT systems to help them do their daily work and people with specialised IT skills getting on with development of new systems and planning for them.
In one small site where I worked, there was one developer and her personal attention was required to do backup and to add new users to the network! Also at that site, the rest of the developers time was spent patching an old database system that the school had outgrown. In this case, my recommendation was to upgrade to a newer Linux version which had a GUI interface. This meant that common admin tasks could be handed over to the secretary who could add new users and do the backup. They eventually replaced the inhouse database with a commercial package. Both these decisions greatly reduced the amount of time spent in Quadrants 2 and 4. Very often Routine and Specialised Maintenance (Quadrant 2 & 4) tasks seem to end up taking all the expert IT staff's time.
We need to move tasks from Quadrant 4 to Quadrant 2 i.e. Figure out how to turn maintenance tasks into "no brainer" routine ones that people with everyday skills can do. We also need to be smart about what in-house systems (hardware and software) we create since invariably the decision to create systems in-house will increase the amount of work in Quadrant 4.
What strategies have you employed to keep most staff happy in Quadrant 1 and you happy in Quadrant 3?
Ability to say NO
I pretty much agree with the statement "do what you say". Anyway, I would like to add that it's important to have the ability to say NO. Sometimes there is just so much around that it's impossible to do any extra. Well, the advantage we have here is the big base so that someone else most likely can take care of the problem.
However, when I say that I will have a look, than I mean it and I know that I need to make time for that. Even if I am not able to fix the problem, I at least tried my best then. But as I said, if there is no time than I have the freedom to tell people, which in fact can go up to the piont that I ask the people in the office not to interrupt me that, or I try to hide.
The other big thing is, we are asked to not do privat emailing, surfing, etc in office hours or at the office at all. So, I always help with privat computer problems after office hours & with that keep the time to help with issues in the office.
With the privat IT support it's pretty much the same like in the office. I already have a schedule to make time for all the privat stuff even to spend time with my wife, as bad as that is, but I need to schedule even that. So, if I'm not able to make time to help with computers I say NO & everybody understands. I don't like when people always say YES & nothing happens. But when I know that someone is bussy I know that I can come back later. So I try to tell people who else could help (sorry Steven I guess I sent quit some people to you ;-) ) or tell them when they should come back & ask me again.
That kind of system works pretty well for me. However, I think that it's very important to be accountable to what we say. Let your yes be yes & your no be no (in Matt. 5:37). I try my best to do that. So, I make sure that people know that I don't make any promises but try my best to fix the problem. If I have time I look into it, if not, I explain it & ask people to come back another time or ask someone else.
Greetings from the MatriX,
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