Tonight I was approached at the end of the day by two folks I’ve been working with quite a bit lately.
They had a fairly urgent request and wanted to make sure that it was handled tonight.
Nothing unusual, right. Our users are constantly in need of some unplanned, “my crotch is on fire” item.
To me, the notable item in the exchange was that the two of them felt it was important enough to get this done that they would come down to our offices to make the request and address any concerns.
I think it’s very important for sysadmins to be approachable. Yes, we say no often, but how we do it can be as important as that we do it. Specifically, in this instance, the two were ready for no but knew that asking would give them an honest assessment at worst and a yes at best.
They were very pleased to get their yes. The fact that they felt that they could talk to me (and my group) is, to me, the major win here.
You see, whether my users like me personally or not, I want them to trust me. I want them to seek my counsel even when they know it may not be what they want to hear.
I got yer comments here...