Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. — Yoda January 11, 2010
Posted by Devin Akin in : Uncategorized , trackbackHow could anyone possibly say it better than Yoda?
What poked me to write this blog is the stark contrast between our Support Jedi Master Kobie and the hopelessly careless (or should I spell it out as ‘could care less’…) tech support at AT&T’s ADSL department.
Kobie stalks it, kills it, bags it, and brings it home in an organized binder.
By way of contrast… AT&T runs a line check, says everything is fine, has you run a speedtest against the SpeakEasy website, and then blames it on your internal house wiring when it doesn’t pass muster.
Nevermind that the connection has been perfect for 3 months, and nevermind that you’ve had an AT&T employee install Cat5e cable from your router’s RJ-11 port directly to the NID. No call to engineering to check on routing problems (like a router failure that over-subscribes its counterparts). No call to have someone check over-subscription of the DSLAM. Just blame the wiring and move on. Is it too much to ask for a support guy to want to figure out the problem rather than just following a support script? Their processes pretty much ASSURE poor customer service a significant portion of the time.
I believe that a large part of the recipe for success in support is hiring people who care, who want to learn, who want to be great at their job, and who won’t stop until they fix your problem. It’s about WANT TO. Kobie is a great engineer because he WANTS to be a great engineer.
Kobie reading from a script would be a good April Fools day joke. 
So, like Yoda, adopting an attitude of, “Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” will catapult you from ‘job doer’ to ‘industry professional.’ Why does this matter?
Have you ever heard…
“We don’t have any budget for that.”
Did this make you want to figure out how to do it anyway (without a budget) or did you just stop right there, whining that you could get your job done if you had resources?
Have you ever heard…
“That’s not your concern, so stop thinking about that and get back to work.”
Did this make you study to become something you’re not or did you go home and complain to your spouse and friends that life isn’t fair?
Failure is not an option, and whining is not an option. Doing is the ONLY option.
SO WHAT if you don’t hit the bullseye, and SO WHAT if you’re not perfect (or even the best).
If you have an ounce of WANT TO, then DO. Or do not.
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