GBS 2 – I Ain't Good at Faking

 

GBS 2 – I Ain't Good at Faking

I was a computer programmer in Silicon Valley. Computers were still a new industry. Many things were being done for the first time, guidelines and standards lagged behind and were sometimes developed on the spot. Everyone was sort of inventing the wheel but not all those wheels were round.

Compared to my friends I was making good money but my job at General business Systems (GBS) did not pay well (starting salary was $800 a month) by computer programmer standards. Surprisingly the company had a lot of great people in it. There was a real family atmosphere. Due to the type of programming (no structure, no standards or guidelines) people's programming styles and skills were all over the map. Many of the programs were a mess. It was interesting and sometimes maddening trying to figure out other people's logic/thinking . Not everyone is good at logic and being good at logic is essential to being a good programmer. Many people (those not so good at it) ended up programming themselves into a mess they could not get out of. When they did this, the solution was usually to secure a job in another company and quit. This was 1978/1979 and if you had any experience at all, programming jobs were easy to come by, in fact, you were continually being contacted by job recruiters. Once I established myself I probably got called about a job opening every few weeks. As I was to learn, only a minority of those doing this kind of work actually fully understood it. I was a good programmer. People who weren't could get by but the percentage of those who really got it was somewhat south of 20 percent of all those doing it and within each company everyone knew who they were. At the time I just figured this was a function of being in a company that paid below the industry standard. I later found that was not at all the case as it was generally true in most IT departments.

As a programmer at GBS we not only made modifications but also wrote the documentation (instructions) for using them, installed the application at the client's site, trained the client's staff to use the application, and took calls to resolve problems they were having. Some times we would even do simple repairs on the computer itself like swapping out circuit boards or tinkering with the printers (I hate printers – they always have annoying problems). We developed and modified the applications mostly at the office but we also sometimes worked at the customer's site. Once you were assigned a customer or programmed a modification for one they became yours for life. We all spent significant time on the phone with our customers and we also spent time at the client's site. They all expected to be your number one priority. I had to quickly learn how to navigate all this. I learned how to set expectations, how to calmly listen to the ranting of an upset customer, and how to give acceptable answers without promising something that I could not deliver. It could be tricky. There were times when I would politely asked a customer to hold for a moment after listening to their screams of frustration so I could then let fly a few undesirable remarks to relieve my own frustration. Of course once I took them off hold I would calmly and nicely tell them I was back thanking them for holding when what I really wanted to do was cause them bodily harm.

Most of these companies were moving their financial information from paper to a computer for the first time. They were initially intimidated by the computer. They were leery, nervous, and uncomfortable as their critical business information now seemed less tangible. As a result, when they called in with a problem they were close to, if not already in, panic mode. When a client reports a problem over the phone it's generally difficult to ascertain exactly where or what the problem is. Is it the computer (hardware) or in the program code (software) itself? There's no telling how long it will take to find the exact problem. Only after the cause of the problem is found can you supply a reasonable guess as to how long it will take to fix. The customer doesn't care about that, they want to know what you are going to do along with how long will it take right now. The “I don't know yet” is a completely unacceptable answer, It's pretty much the same answer to them as never. Some of my co-workers would tell their customers that they needed to run one of the maintenance programs to help resolve the problem. Now that rarely if ever had anything to do with the problem and would do nothing to solve it, but it did keep the customer busy and gave the programmer some time to look into things. I tended not to do this even though it was tempting. I didn't like making someone do a useless task for nothing. It was bad enough they were having to spend their time dealing with the problem - why should I waste their time further with a meaningless task? Besides, it felt less than honest and as you will see I learned it's best to be honest with customers. I wanted to build trust and I think being straight with them works better in the long run. However, one of my friends in the office used the maintenance routine all the time and his customers loved him. So maybe I was a fool.

The first install and training mission I went on was for a small firm who's owner had passed away between his buying the new computer system and us installing it. His wife had to take over the company. She was an older woman (I would not think that way now) probably in her 50's. She was totally intimidated by the computer. I brought up the main menu and asked her to think about which option on the menu she'd like to try. After about a minute I asked her “Well?”. She replied “I've been thinking but nothing is happening”, like she thought the computer would respond to her thoughts. It was a long morning but I did get her to use the keyboard and try a few things, but she was clearly uncomfortable. Much to my relief (hers too, I'm sure), she got someone else in the office to take over operating the computer for our next training lesson while she watched.

After I'd been a couple of months on the job my boss asked me to drop by a new client and install the accounting application since I was going to be nearby. We needed to install the program so we could record the billing dollars before the end of the quarter that was coming up. I got there and found the whole office (about 8 people) sitting by the computer waiting for me. I did the install while they all watched. I then started to pack up to leave when the head guy said “Where are you going?”. I said “I'm done with the installation so I'm going back to the office.” He said “No you're not. Your need to show us all how this thing works.” I started to panic a little as I'd never looked at this particular application before. I thought that maybe I could figure it out enough to at least give them a general idea about how it works. So I sat back down, brought the system up, and tried to “wing it”. The main “Menu” appeared on the screen and I showed them how to move the cursor to a menu item and select it. They started asking questions about what and how they would use various options on the menu. I made some assumptions keeping it as vague as possible. I tried a couple of menu options, had no idea what to do so just said a few words, basically just reading what was displayed on the screen, and returned to the main menu. After a few minutes of this the head guy told me to stop and looked straight at me and firmly told me I needed to pack up my stuff and leave his office. It was more than a little uncomfortable. I packed up and got out of there in a New York minute. Now I had to go back to the office and explain this to my boss. My boss was waiting for me. I immediately started to apologize, attempting to explain what happened. My boss told me to stop talking. She led me into her office and told me to sit down. Ut-oh! She then apologized to me. She said she had no idea the they were going to ask me to demonstrate how the application worked. All she wanted me to do was install it and leave and the whole mix-up was on her. What a good boss! That was a relief, but then two weeks later my boss asked me to return to the scene of the crime to fix a problem they were having. I was not too anxious to go back to an office where I had previously embarrassed myself. With a fair amount of trepidation I returned. They were not super pleased to see me come through the door but they let me in anyway. Fixing a program was something I was very good at. I got to work and quickly solved their issue. They seemed pleased if a bit surprised. The head guy who had thrown me out, came over and thanked me. I decided the best way to service clients was to be up front and honest.