Middle America's Worldview

Standardization is hard for most. Your use to doing something in a particular way, then along comes someone to force you to do the same outcome, differently.

We are having this pain in the company I work for. So the stress is high. We just moved over to our new ticketing system, and believe me, I fumbled through my first one.

They have it setup for you to "acknowledge" it. This sounds simple enough. Yet, simply adding comments or putting your actions in the ticket does not "acknowledge" it. You have to go through a certain pathway to change the status to "acknowledge" it. Grr. To compound things, a text page is sent to you initially, then another one in 5 minutes, if you dont "acknowledge" it. after 10 minutes, the page goes to the whole group informing the others this ticket has not been "acknowledged". Within 15 minutes, it hits the team and the supervisor. Yeah, no stress. Just go in there and "acknowledge" the da*n thing. What's absurbing is you cannot text an "acknowldegment". Ahh progress.


Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept. You have everyone doing the same thing, thereby everyone understanding the process, yada yada. This is pretty much where the company is heading. The writing is on the wall, so to speak. Bringing everything in house, rather than outsourcing contracts. The technology is there, so why not utilize it to it's fullest potential?

Same thing for websites. First HTML was pretty much the standard. Then scripting came in to jazz it up. Now PHP/MySQL is reigning. The technology is there for everyone, you just have to go with the flow. Note, you can't keep up with the demand, so you just try to keep up with the requirements.

This is where the other part of the stress at work is having on the employees. No-one knows what the next ball will be. Everything is changing. For some, way too fast for their comfort zone.

Personally, I don't care how you want me to do it. The outcome is the same, the means is whats difference. Just train me to do my job. I don't even care to read those 50 dollar books on my own time.

Another thing which would be a no-brainer, but fails in most levels is communication. People perceive things differently. So, when the gaps are not filled with direct communication, everyone fills them in with their own insecurities. Yeah, you can see what that causes, more stress.

Well, this post turned from a meaningful thought to a rant, unintentially.