Bear with me folks, I’m going to go a little off topic here. But it’s Friday, my stomach is growling for some lunch, so here we go!
As I took my dog Ozzie for his morning walk around the park today, I realized he’s actually quite the problem solver & there’s a lot I could be learning from him. Although most decisions in his life revolve around one question: should I eat that thing? It’s a tough life, I know. But this morning it dawned on me that he actually has a pretty thorough process for approaching this life-long dilemma, and he rarely ever deviates from this tried & true 3 step process.
Step 1: the sniff test
First he sniffs the thing & really sniffs it good. If it doesn’t pass the sniff test, abort - you don’t want to eat anything that doesn’t pass the sniff test. If it passes the sniff test, move on to step 2
Step 2: the lick test
Well it smelled good, so let’s try a small taste before committing to putting the thing in our mouth. If it doesn’t pass the lick test, abort – you don’t want to eat anything that doesn’t pass the lick test. But if it seems to taste good – heck yah, move onto step 3.
Step 3: eat that thing!
It smelled good, it tasted good, so now’s the time to make your move. Go for it! Eat that thing!
I know, I know, it may be a little far-fetched for an IT analogy, but really, we should all have similar processes for conquering the many challenges we encounter day to day. In the support world, triaging & resolving issues isn’t that much different, right? Sniff the symptoms. Lick the logs. Fix that thing! Or an IT decision maker: sniff the requirements, weigh the possible options, pull the trigger! Stretch your mind around the analogy a little & understand that having a simple, repeatable process greatly helps you approach a lot of challenges that otherwise may seem daunting. So next time you’re overwhelmed by a problem/decision, just ask yourself: What would Ozzie do?
