Surface Level Regret
Years ago, I became manager of tech support for a small startup with a half dozen techs. I’d worked in support for a dozen years by then, and I always told them that my job was to advocate for both them and the company equally and that by doing both, we’d get the best results.
My boss was the owner of the company. He got excited about things quickly but had the retention of a fruit fly. When he came up with ideas, stopping him was difficult, and more than once it became detrimental to the success of the company.
At one point in time, he managed to wander into a Best Buy when the Microsoft Surfaces had first been released. He was smitten with them and, after a few days, decided that everyone in the office should be using them.
So began the rollout meeting where I first heard his intention of replacing my tech’s desktops with three monitors and laptops with a single Surface Pro. I politely tried to steer him away from this idea, for at least tech support by suggesting maybe a pilot program, a usability study, or anything really would be a better idea.
Undeterred, he kept things moving along, talking about licensing and timelines for adoption. Whenever I was asked anything, my hesitation was noticeable and soon became an issue.
Boss: “What’s your problem? Everyone else is on board with this. Why aren’t you?”
Me: *Calmly.* “My techs required a significant amount of screen real estate to do things like work in SQL, do remote connections, and interface with upper support tiers.”
Boss: “So if I take away their computers and make them use Surface Pros, what are they going to do?”
At this point in time, it would have been more comical if his past whims hadn’t been detrimental to the company and us. But it wasn’t. He was dead serious.
Me: “Are you familiar with the term ‘mutiny,’ sir?”
English wasn’t his first language, but I think he finally understood what the results would be if he went through with this. I made a calm statement about what happens when you take away the tools that techs need to get their jobs done.
I was asked to leave the meeting, and I returned to my cubicle. Within a few days, the Surface Pros started to show up around the office. Everyone was enamored with the new shiny objects they’d been issued, while my techs never for a second considered that those would have been their fate had it not been for my advocacy.
Over time, the Surface Pros eventually all died in one way or another: broken screens, overheating, etc. If anyone knows anything about these, they were essentially unrepairable. The head of sales told his staff to keep important files on a USB stick in case theirs died, and when they needed a replacement, they could just get what they wanted at Best Buy as long as it wasn’t another Surface Pro.
