Stupidity at work

[Cybrludite]

So, the new Customer Service Manager (known as The Smiling Man behind his back) has decreed that our tier 1 & tier 2 support will be merged. The way it used to work, Tier 1 would collect information, triage the call, and if it were more complex than a password reset, they would send it off to the tier 2 folks or the field techs. Now this guy has the folks answering the phones working the problems as they come in, with the result of them being on the phone with the users much longer. When I came in tonight, the evening guy was finishing going through 45 emails requesting support, leaving me to wade through 62 voicemails, all over 12 hours old, as well as dealing with my regular duties. These are major outage-levels of backlog during regular operations. I don't even want to think what it'll be like if we're still stuck doing it this way the next time the organic fertilizer impacts the rotary air impeller...

[Denis]

Sounds like a classic pointy-haired boss moment.

Is there any reason why you shouldn't put your preference for the old two-tier system on record somehow, just to be able to say "I told you so" when the new system goes pear-shaped? My experience is that stupid bosses who create stupid procedures will always try to blame their pawns when the stupid procedures (predictably) lead to a foul-up.

[Netpackrat]

At my workplace, we have doubled down on stupid. Even the people creating the stupid, for the most part recognize what they are doing, and are not happy about it. But nobody knows how to stop it, so it just keeps building upon itself, with stupid policy after stupid policy meant to solve problems created in the first place by other stupid policies.

[Cybrludite]

I didn't even know there was a new procedure until the evening NOC guy told me tonight. From midnight to 5:30-6:00, my workflow is actually like what TSM switched the dayshift to, but I'm the only guy here and I have a fairly low call-volume. Once the dayshift users start coming in, I've been switching to triage mode because I'm the only one here & the call volume is no longer low. (About half my tickets come in during the last two hours of my shift.)

[randy]

So, the new Customer Service Manager (known as The Smiling Man behind his back)

As in this Smiling Man?

[MarkD]

Wait, you mean a company will actually consider a change in policy, will be told by the people that implement the policy that the change will make things worse, they will then change the policy, things WILL get worse, and rather than change the policy BACK they'll make further changes that make things even WORSE?

I thought my office was the only one where Scott Adams had hidden cameras for getting ideas.

[Weetabix]

Take Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in to him and read him the part about division of labor.

In all fairness I should disclose that I did that once at a management meeting after the managers had begun insisting that everyone do everything (with a subsequent baffling and precipitous drop in productivity), and they didn't react well.

[randy]

So, the new Customer Service Manager (known as The Smiling Man behind his back)

As in this Smiling Man?

No, this one:

http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/smilingman/

yeah I figured I was missing a meme here. And would be corrected. Still couldn't resist inserting the link.

[Cybrludite]

I was thinking more like this guy, only with a faker-looking smile.