Who Plays the 'Blame the Tech' Game? 99
An anonymous reader asks: "I work for a marketing services company, and it is my department's role to develop and maintain reporting systems for all the data we collect. When a department manager sees a dip (or rise) in one of there KPI's the first thing they do is ask me to 'check out the reporting', because '[they] think there is a problem'? It's this just the culture of my company or have other readers experienced a 'blame the technology first, ask questions later mentality'?"
no kidding (Score:2)
tell you 'the computer made a mistake'.
That seems to be so ingrained in people that use computers but don't program them.
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If one day the computer glitches and puts 20,000 in your checking account, they'd let you keep it rather than admit a mistake that could cause a run on the bank, or other investor panic.
Why do you think "bank error in your favor" is a monopoly card?
Re:no kidding (Score:4, Insightful)
If they screw up, and put someone else's money into your account, (had friends that have had this happen), they yank it right back out. If they screw up and charge you some fees you shouldn't have been charged, you have to bring receipts, statements, (even though they should have them) and spend lots of time getting it corrected.
I don't know where you get that impression (Score:3, Informative)
I have reversed checking overdraft fees and Visa late fees and interest this way. (I've had my bank account for 20+ years and my Visa for more than 10.)
Last month, I asked Visa to refund the $29 late charge on my account since I paid one day too late. "Of course!", they said, "and why don't we refund the $10 interest too?" And they did.
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Most banks will do that if you aren't a habitual late payer. If you slip up once, they'd rather refund the fee and keep you as a customer. If you do it often, you're a higher deadbeat risk, and the fees are intended to make up for that extra risk.
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It's a common practice. My GF actually worked in the customer service call center for a credit card for a while, and as long as this isn't your umpteenth late payment or something like that, they have a lot of leeway to help you out. Just remember to be polite and moderately charming when you call - the mood of the person who picks up that call will have a fair amount in whether you actually receive help or a stone wall.
Not only does removing the late fee generate a lot of good will and customer loyalt
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(a daughter of Chase Manhattan) and we would readily admit mistakes and fix them.
But then again, people here are not as sue happy so maybe that's why owning up
to a mistake is not such a big deal here.
One year the interest computations were off by a bit and the whole run had to be
done again, all the customers received a nice letter explaining the problem and
what was being done about it and it blew over without any problem.
But inst
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Never mind that the root cause is that a programmer somewhere made a mistake; the fact is that computer systems not infrequently produce invalid/undesired output. This IS a mistake. The action was taken by the computer. If I teach you how to do something, and I teach you incorrectly, you're still the one who made a mistake if you do something wrong; it's my fault, at least partly, but
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This is only true if you're writing software to run on the bare metal. If there is a BIOS, a DOS, or any other kind of OS involved, or any code over which you lack control, you are not giving the system explicit orders, or at least, not instruction-by-instruction. You're telling it "go forth and do some things; I will leave
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This is true. However, the computer did not make a mistake. The code executed EXACTLY as it was written. Your portion of the code may be correct, but underlying code (interpreter/compiler, whatever) was incorrect as written/entered by the programmer responsible for it.
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You're correct that it's not the computer's fault. If you're not capable of taking your own actions, then you're not capable of being at fault for anything. You're not a you at that point, you're an it.
But it's also true that any programmer not responsible for all code in the system isn't really dri
Unless it really is the car's fault... (Score:2)
Ingrained in programmers too (Score:3, Interesting)
It can't possibly be because the web app unloads a 1/4 MByte steaming pile of Javascript into the user's browser on first page load, can it?
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At least around here.
Any Clear Motives? (Score:5, Insightful)
So, if your manager turns these reports over to upper management or shareholders & these have dire consequences upon how your department is viewed--then maybe it's not such a bad idea to double check the equipment or software.
Also, you're employed for a reason. If your manager ever handed over a faulty report, who's ass is on the line? Probably not yours. It's their ass that should get canned if they give faulty information. Now, if your ass was on the line and some outlying data came out in a report, would you constantly double check it?
And, has it ever been wrong before? If this is the twentieth time they've asked you to check it and it's never been wrong before, then maybe they're overdoing it. But if it's been faulty before, give them some credit for just trying to get to the bottom of things. Maybe this isn't the blame game, maybe this is just extreme caution. I don't get this kind of treatment where I work.
The sad part of it is that they're your manager & if they're blaming you, then they're probably saying that to the managers above them also. However, if I were upper management, I'd see through that and can your manager for their inability to take responsibility for those reporting to them.
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helping family with computers is fun (Score:2, Insightful)
They're asking you to do the job, grow up (Score:3, Insightful)
If the problem isn't the reporting algorithims, it's in the data - maybe you need to check validation on the front end.
Do you always get so defensive about these things? I doubt it's a vast right-wing conspiracy.
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I agree. Clearly the left is to blame for this.
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Who said anything about 'right-wing?' (Score:2)
I think the guy asking the question probably knows more about the culture at his company than you do. You sound as though you are claiming that management never plays CYA and never makes inane decisions. Something along the lines of, "Shut up and do what your boss asks without question, wage-slave. Don't you kno
Re:They're asking you to do the job, grow up (Score:5, Interesting)
Garbage in, garbage out. Even validation won't solve your garbage in problems. For some reason our line operaters got it in their head that all they had to type was 123456 in a field when prompted. 123456 is a valid value and within the realm of possibilities, so it validates fine and the system accepts it. Then a manager actually wanted a report involving that field. The report was useless. And so began back and forth. This report can't be right. It's right, everything checks out and that is the data that's in the database.
Eventually we walked said manager out to the line and had an operator demonstrate data entry procedures. "On this field we just enter 1234546." Manager flips out. Operator calmly pulls out his manual, flips to the document describing the procedure. Sure enough 123456 is part of the procedure. Document created by: Manager who is flipping out.
Nothing like someone shooting themselves in the foot to make a report writer's day.
Blame game is everywhere (Score:5, Insightful)
Ford: Its not that our Cars are crap, and expensive, its cause the Japanese imports are utilizing a weak Yen
Sub-Prime loan companies: its not our fault these loosers we gave $500,000 to buy a 2 bedroom house with an interest only loan are defaulting, its the Federal Reserve for raising the interest rates!
Blame is everywhere, its not technology, its the data. The reports he's questioning came from a computer. If "Ted" had tabulated the results, your boss would force 2 other people to double check the data in the report, cause maybe "Ted" screwed up a decimal place somewhere, even though Ted has a masters in statistics.
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But you can't compare to this guys situation. We've all seen computer bugs. Anyone whos worked with reports has seen bugs.
If there had never, ever in the history of reporting, been any sort of computer bug - then maybe they'd be out of line asking the programmer they hired to check code to do his job.
To be truthful, I don't see any sort of "blame" in the article. Just a troubleshooting
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:golf clap:
Very witty.
Indeed, I've read that every GM car includes $2000 paid out in medical care to GM retirees. In order to stay price-competitive, this means that somehow, $2000 in labor and materials must be removed from every GM car. Which means that a $10000 GM car contains $8000 of engineering. No wonder they can't compete.
Probably within the next decade, they'll get congress
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It's not just technology (Score:1, Insightful)
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Though, I suspect that it's often the goal to have some projects fail. If you provide success after success, people will expect you to keep doing that, while slashing the budget because you would have failed if it wasn't enough. High profile failures provide an opportunity to request a bigger budget.
No matter whether you're
Actually... (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, if you're a computer-illiterate person, you get quite used to call the IT dept. as often as you can with problems which seem "strange" to you, so very soon it just goes as your natural reflex. In my opinion though, it has nothing to do with mentality, just the lack of computer experience. For example: "OH NOES, my mail clie
You're not crazy... (Score:2, Funny)
Cheers.
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You have no idea? Hm. That sort of suggests it may stem from too many bugs in your code.
Everyone's fault. (Score:4, Interesting)
My users do the same. Before I verify a report is accurate, I make them go back and verify the data they entered is correct. Oftentimes, its user error, a missing field, or in my last case, a slight change in business practices, where a field used to be required, but now wasn't, which the report somewhat expected to be there. After they think they've verified the data, I'll go into the database and verify it by hand. Sometimes the report is wrong, but usually it's just displaying something different than what the user expects. 90% user error, 10% system error -- if you don't let anyone report problems, you'll never catch those 10%.
I try to give my users as many reports as possible and encourage them to pull multiple reports and cross-reference themselves. I don't hesitate to add reports, either, since they really take little time to adapt from other reports, even if it is just to help out that 55-year-old sales guy on the third floor that doesn't sell much but everyone likes because he's been there for 20 years. It gets me major kudos (and free lunches) from other staff who see a new report, run it, and realize that they could use it, too. "You're reading my mind, man! You just saved me 3 hours of work a week! How's about some lunch on me?!"
In other words: it's your job, now STFU & GBTW.
Are You Serious? (Score:4, Insightful)
How many teachers have been blamed by parents for not teaching their kids enough or teaching them poorly and thats why little Johnny isn't passing his standards tests?
What about high ranking political officials who avoid bad-press/prosecution by passing the buck to an underling?
"Blame the [fill_in_blank]" game happens for every industry, for every body. What makes you think this is a IT-only issue?
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Well, there are *also* bad teachers..
When I learned Spanish, I had a very cool/lazy teacher two years in a row, now I've totally forgotten Spanish, I had also a very good English teacher two years in a row: very strict, but made students progress *a lot*, I remember how I shivered in horror when the English teacher the years after this st
That's not so bad (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyway, I digress.
I have experienced it before and it comes and goes as the people in charge move up the ladder and others take thier places. Often times it can be incredibly difficult to get past it. However, that is one of the challenges of being in IT. Convincing people that the technology isn't the problem is difficult. I think the difficulty lies in the fact that as an IT professional, if you are doing your job correctly, your work should be invisible to the users. They should think that you do nothing all day. If that is the case then you have already done your job effectivly unless they are complaining about something. Then, of course, you have to fix it.
However, users are funny creatures. They will not notice the systems and immerse themselves completely in the computing environment...until something goes wrong. Then it's like The Matrix is skipping a beat and Agent Smith jumps in and gives them the stink eye. Then the phones start ringing and you, you slackass, you ain't doin' nuthin'! Since they never realize the good because it works the way they have come accustomed to it working, problems that boot them out of the environmental warm-fuzzy are glaring. It's not only a work stopage but it's like waking someone up by dumping a bucket of water on thier face. It's jarring to them and leaves as much of an emotional/mental impact as a work stopage leaves a physical impact.
The reaction then becomes more of a fight or flight type deal. A work stopage or less then rosy data results can be devasating to anyone. When these people you are dealing with see thier numbers come up less desireable that expected, the first thing they tend to do is panic. The blame starts flying every which way to get them back to thier non-panic striken happy place.
You will never solve the "blame techonology" problem because it isn't really rooted in a lack of education. It's human nature to find a scapegoat to accept blame to avoid the pain, physical or emotional, of dropping the ball and getting called on it. About the only thing you can do is do you job as best as you can. If they call asking about the reporting program, be professional and calm and work through thier problem with them. Afterall, you know things are OK on your side and things aren't ok on thier side. They don't know that though. They are just trying to follow every path as quickly as possible to find out what is wrong so that they can get a handle on it and maybe put a stop to the downward slide, quickly.
Above all, don't take it personal, you likely do not report to them. If they become unmanagable, refer them to your management and have your manager act as the intermediary. If you are the management then it is your responsibility to find an amiacable solution.
They shouldn't blame IT (Score:3, Funny)
They blame the techs for things that try to have.. (Score:2)
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And yes, if your programming is as poor as your communication skills, I'm not surprised that you're frequently asked to double-check it. I agree with parent.
Experience (Score:2)
"and it is my department's roll is to develop and" (Score:1)
You may be too defensive (Score:2)
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Corporate Culture (Score:2)
That said, even if I were to get out and work someplace sane, I would probably do what your managers are doing. It just makes sense to check of there is a fault in the system before you stick our your neck.
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And whom do you blame spelling ("somone") and grammar ("they're problem") upon?
Friendly hints:
loose = adjective, meaning not connected
lose = verb, meaning to be lost
their = third person plural possessive
there = location
they're = contraction, meaning "they are"
its = possessive, "belonging to it"
it's = contraction, meaning "it is"
to = preposition
too = adverb, indicating excess
two = a number, the base of the binary system
Yes, I'm being a pedantic asshat (Score:1, Offtopic)
And yes, I know I'm being a pedantic asshat, but those four classes of errors really tick me off.
Not to mention "definately" (hint, there's no "a" in definite").
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I think I can smell the chalk and the flop-sweat from the nerdy guy in the high-waters in the desk in the front row.
Wait a minute, that's you, isn't it?
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ask questions later (Score:1)
They're asking questions now. "Can you check this out?". That's a question. They're probably asking other people questions at the same time, in parallel, rather than waiting for a reply from person 1 then asking person 2. Seems pretty efficient to me.
All the time! (Score:1)
Reinterpret the question (Score:2)
The manager used it. This is a good thing.
The tool revealed something. This is a good thing.
The manager may be seeking to decide what action, if any, is required. This a good thing. (I hear lots more complaints from people who build systems that aren't used or where the information supplied is ignored. As someone once said, "If you ignore your consultant's recommendations, fire him. It doesn't matter how good the advice is - if y
Absolutely. (Score:2)
Or the conversation in which I explained the problems inherent in data duplication and during which I w
Buying time.... (Score:2)
Not unusual (Score:2)
How the hell did this make it on Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
First, LEARN ENGLISH. ("role", "their") Until you do, respect will continue to evade you.
Second, if you submit something obscure to Slashdot, explain it. Specifically, WTF is a KPI?
Third, your manager DID ask you a question. If you want to avoid more of these questions, why not make the process of creating whatever a KPI is more transparent (e.g., make an interim detailed report available as a CSV) and let the questioners check their own work?
At the moment, people "don't trust the tech" because they don't trust the whiny, snot-nosed newbie churning out their KPIs. Prove yourself to be a reliable and detail-oriented person (OK, basically a 21st-century secretary) and maybe they will.
Coversheet (Score:3, Interesting)
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Stupid spell-check... (Score:1)
You should really check out that spell-check feature. It doesn't seem to be working. *grin*
-Nathan
I work for a large insurance company (Score:1)
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I'm sorry, but your IT dept is doing its job and covering its collective ass by requiring those specs. Now instead of saying "I need a report for the fourth quarter accident rates" and getting all huffy when IT doesn't read your mind and doesn't exclude accidents reported in the fourth quarter but for dates that were actually in the third quarter, you have to specify and know exactly what you want before you ask for it.
That's what specs are for, to get you to think about what you want
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Have you considered putting those into separate fields?
Good (reporting) systems are self-checking (Score:1)
IT often gets the blame (Score:2)
IT departments are often the first target when people don't get the results they desire, because IT as a whole has lost much of its prestige and clout [eweek.com] in firms over the past decade or so. That's why older people keep leaving the profession, and the rate of recruitment among younger people continues to decline.
People who were once in thrall to technology and computing now think it's unreliable and error-prone. There are many reasons for this, but mos
Data inconsistency (Score:1)
Your reports may not provide enough data for your managers to cross-reference and verify. Or they do and the data isn't consistent.
If the former then the solution to this problem of annoying doublechecks is right before your very eyes. You either need more reports or you've got a bug to solve.
Blame the poll game (Score:1)
A bit sensitive this week, are we? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry, maybe I'm just a bit narky on this subject. I had a job a while ago where week after week, month after month, year after year I'd get pulled up because the coversheets on my timesheet and job accounting reports were literally a sea of red, marking out dozens of supposed violations every day. Every time I got hauled up about this, I turned the page over to the actual reports and located the raw data for every single supposed "violation", showed how they were due to errors and incorrect assumptions in the incoming data and report generation, exactly where and how the errors were occurring, and exactly how to fix the data collection and reporting - or, failing that, the one thing they could do to prevent making the incorrect assumptions.
Their suggestion? To fiddle the system (which in fact broke other, less important, reports!) with the effect of slowing down my workrate, just so these particular reports came out "correct".
When I left that position 2 years later, it was still going on...
The problem, y'see, was the opposite to yours. In my case, the management's assumption was that the whole process of data collection and report generation was infallible. Despite repeatedly proving and explaining at least 100 times why it wasn't, it was still considered to be so.
Stop being so sensitive, and do your damned job.
Makes sense to me (Score:2)
If there is no problem, and the may you double check, then they have one digruntled employee.
If there is a problem, and they don't make you double check, they end up telling the customer that custard filled clown shoes are the hot Spring fasion statement.
Checking out the numbers is often a good idea (Score:1)
Reports being what they are, compendiums of data from some source which might fuck up, it's a real good idea to make sure that the numbers work out before you reorganize your business because of th