Is that a router on your pallette (or are you just trying to ping me)?

Our jobs, although technical by definition, are really about how we solve human problems in the workplace.  The art of our work lies in how we develop creative, technical solutions to workplace challenges.  We're artists and, instead of paints or clay, our palettes consist of code, scripts, cables, servers, and routers. Oh, and an ability to communicate in meaningful ways with our users.  This blog is about the human side of technologists' jobs.

Sure, we use technology to do our jobs, but our purpose is to help our end-users work more productively, efficiently, and creatively.  Technology is the means to achieve that end.  That’s why sociologist Daniel Bell was right when he wrote in his book, The Winding Passage, "Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination."

Most of us started our attempts to soar at very young ages. When I was 12 years old, I built a 100-milliwatt radio station in my backyard.  Taking a creative approach to systems design, I re-wired a piece of equipment from the station and, when I plugged it back in, flames shot out and set my bedroom on fire.

I still experiment and explore.  Today, however, I work with controls in place to prevent any permanent damage from my experiments.  Tools like VMWare, VirtualBox, KVM, or GNS3 minimize the possibility of flames, while still providing a safe environment for testing and exploration. (Have you checked out the recent major release of GNS3?  Major upgrade on 12/12/10.)

Maybe you're like me.  I still get excited when ping responses finally come through or a script runs like I planned.  Sometimes I yell with delight and my wife comes running.  When I show her the ping replies, I get the spousal eye roll and she says, "That's nice, Sweetie." That's when I know I'm a success.

Another measure of success comes when we answer technical questions in ways that work for our users. It takes more than just technical knowledge to do that.

In information systems and technology, there are three answers that apply to nearly any question that arises.

Answer number one:  "It all depends."  A user asks if he can do something and we answer, "Well, it all depends."

Answer number two:  "It should work."  "Try this.  It should work."

Answer number three:  "I've never seen it do that before!"

(Students often comment that answer number four should be, "Did you try a reboot?"  That's not an answer, that's a standard operating procedure.)

We could spout technical jargon instead, but while that might win us awe, it doesn’t help our users do their jobs any better than answers one, two, or three.  Answers that can help our users work more productively, creatively, and efficiently, however, are answers crafted using language they understand, framed in a way that is relevant to their workstyle.

When we make our systems run transparently to the user, we're really good at what we do.  When we can explain technical concepts in ways that are meaningful to non-technical people, without being condescending, we're also really good at what we do.  That is the art of the human side of technology.

Don R. Crawley is President/Chief Technologist at soundtraining.net, the Seattle IT training firm. A geek and nerdy kind of guy since sometime back in the 60s, today he pontificates at Computerworld, writes books for IT people, and speaks on command.

His full profile and disclosure are here. You can reach him at ftte@soundtraining.net.