TechworkLife

The Hubris of Tech Support

The sketch that Saturday Night Live (SNL) ran several times starring Jimmy Fallon made a connection with many office workers due to its true portrayal of "Nick Burns: Your Company's Computer Guy." The running joke was that befuddled workers were treated with disdain by Nick Burns (Fallon) at each turn. He was dressed "uber geeky" with pagers and cell phones as he swaggered through the office set expecting all the end-users to be ignorant. Their simple (and possibly ill informed) questions were met with derision and mocking. It was another obstacle that everyday people had to overcome to get their work accomplished.

Why was this a popular and memorable sketch? I attribute it to what the ancient Greeks labeled as "Hubris." After it was first described to me in college Classics class (or maybe high school English), I could easily identify with the concept. Hubris is the danger of being (in Hoosier parlance-- I'm from Indiana) "too big for your britches." Indeed, the Greeks felt that mortals that acted too mighty would be struck down by the Gods for not knowing their place (by Nemesis, the God of Retribution). Too many of technology's end-users have been subjected to the hubristic technician as they feel victimized by the tools they are forced to use. They hope, after their computer guy treats them poorly, that the tech Gods will mete out justice as well.

Conflicting tendencies of helping behavior and competition, along with a healthy dose of repetitive boredom and social awkwardness tend to move tech support staff into cultural isolation. It often is up to the the tech support person to defend the technology they support to the end user, even as they are also victimized by their inability to change much of the implementation. So the mix of these factors often results in an attitude of defensive bravado that is corrosive to the organization.

What is the answer? In my mind there must be a continual program by tech management to orient the tech staff in the organization's core tasks (the mission). The tech staff must also socially interact with the staff they support in a way that associates the tech staff with success and fun rather than always problem solving. Most importantly, tech support must honestly address issues that prove difficult to solve by support. Admit that you don't know everything (but will find out). This means engendering a cooperative atmosphere in the workplace so that (although there might never be a strong bridge) there is a bridge to the general organization that allows trust to form. The end-users must trust that the tech staff is making their best effort to reduce the obstacles in their way. In this way Hubris on the tech side can be reduced because everyone involved is working towards the same goals.