If You Work in IT, Please Write Clear, Objective Information

Google defines objective as:

undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena; “an objective appraisal”; “objective evidence”

This morning, my colleague starts sending me quotes from a service request (ticket) he’s working. Clear explanation isn’t expected from our customers (users), but anything coming from a system admin or technician in the field should have clear, concise, information. To provide some background as to what’s going on, a user has submitted a ticket explaining:

10/31/2007 12:56:18 PM: User(Customer)- There seems to be a problem with my Blackberry since my computer was “re-imaged.” I cannot do the auto sync to keep things updated from desktop to blackberry and vice versa. Thank you.

Here’s the log from the ticket, and no, this isn’t a joke, nor has this information been modified (except names).

10/31/2007 2:27:15 PM: SysAdmin - please check for a redirect on B A Server

10/31/2007 3:32:57 PM: Technician - The account is fine on the BES. It sounds like the user is simply missing the desktop software. 10/31/2007 3:33:26 PM: Tichnician - Ticket reassigned from Headquarters IT to local help desk

11/2/2007 4:27:10 PM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - installedsoftware 4.2 system is synching while atached by USB cable phone is wiorking wireless is on crashed system purposely still not recieving mail

11/5/2007 2:02:21 PM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - she is recieving emails from yahoo recieving calandar events no outlook email

11/5/2007 2:10:12 PM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - turned on …. send email save email to handheld

11/6/2007 8:30:56 AM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - the tech at verizon said that there is a software conflict internally and the Blackberry will transmitt but not recieve he will swap it out Wed

11/8/2007 11:49:46 AM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - blackbery is in will pick up on the way home

11/9/2007 11:44:51 AM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - still not recieving her mail it did recieve my mail the wireless is on her address is syncing

11/9/2007 2:40:59 PM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - works fine with my profile installed still cannot reciever version 4.2 installed on desktop no problem doing a sync Address book transfer with contacts new Blackberry from verizon same simm No problem with phone?? help is there a redirect in outlook?? 11/9/2007 2:40:59 PM: SysAdmin (LocalHelpdesk) - Ticket reassigned from local help desk to Headquarters IT

Based on the time and information in this ticket, work has been done to resolve the user’s issue, but that’s not the point. Without clearly explaining the steps taken to troubleshoot the incident, the technician at headquarters, my colleague, will probably end up repeating those same steps, wasting even more time. This is counter productive, and happens every day where we work. Sure, starting a dialog with the admin at the local help desk could decrease the amount of wasted time, but that’s even counter productive because the admin should have documented his work clearly the first time around.

What makes the situation even worse is the System Administrator is paid more than my colleague. Even more incentive to fix something he’s unable to.